Harder (The Unit #3) Read online

  “A boat,” she blurted. Once atop the stairs, the man removed her hood. She squinted at the bright, coastal sun. She wished she could remove the droplets of sweat from her forehead, but she couldn’t even bring her forearm up. Once her eyes adjusted, she saw many cargo containers aboard the ship—red, rust-colored cargo containers. Who could possibly want her? Was it Barone? The thought ran through her mind over and over again like a movie set to loop.

  She was on one of Barone’s ships. She remembered his words after her story broke. “You’ll pay for this, you bitch,” he vowed as he was led away in handcuffs and put in the back of a police car.

  “Move.” Frankie pushed her forward.

  She could smell nothing but metal mixed with the salty air. She was guided to another set of stairs, this time going down. With another shove, she walked down the stairs. She bet Frankie would love to push her down them. It was a steep and narrow passageway. When she arrived at the bottom, she was led into a large area with nothing but more cargo containers. It was hot in the belly of the ship, and sweat dripped from her brows and trickled down her face and chest. With one final push from Frankie, she stood before an old metal chair.

  “Sit now,” Frankie ordered.

  Where were the other two? Were they still operating on Dominic Barone’s orders, even as he was in prison? Or was it the ATG’s orders? She heard a phone ring and watched as Frankie pulled it from his pocket and hit the screen.

  “Hey. Yeah, we have her. Just like you wanted, boss.”

  He was on the phone with the father of the mob family. Surely they weren’t going to make her death a pleasant one. Tony, her brain screamed, save me.

  The hot metal chair heated the back of her legs.

  “Okay. Will do,” Frankie said before pressing End on his phone. Then he walked behind her and pulled her hair, yanking her head back until she was forced to look up. A giant hook hung from the ceiling. All of a sudden, it started to descend toward where she was sitting.

  “The boss man told me to string ya up and make you know exactly who you messed with. No one messes with the Barone family, especially no two-bit reporter like you.”

  As the hook approached ominously, she heard her heartbeat rushing in her ears over the loud motorized gear as it lowered. She couldn’t take her eyes off it. More sweat dripped from her brow. She was so screwed. No one knew where she was.

  Frankie picked up the rope already lying beside the chair and tied her ankles together. The hook was now laid at her feet. Frankie tied the rope on to it. “Good to go,” he yelled.

  All of a sudden the large hook started to move up toward the ceiling. Her legs pulled up over her head, and then she was no longer sitting in the chair. As it made its way higher, she knocked her head on the metal seat. When she was dangling four feet off the ground, all movement stopped.

  “Let’s get your clothes off.”

  He untied her hands and removed her button-down shirt. Then he unbuttoned her shorts and pushed them, with her panties, to the top of the rope. There she hung, completely naked and vulnerable. At that moment, she realized she might not survive whatever these monsters were going to do. Her heart constricted as her world went fuzzy. All the blood rushing to her head was giving her a bad headache and making her dizzy. She shook her head, trying to focus on her captors. Why hadn’t she said she loved Tony sooner? Why hadn’t she reached out to him?

  “First, we’re gonna make it so ya never forget who you ratted on,” Frankie said as he removed a knife from his pocket. He hit the button and the blade popped up from its sheath. He started at her left side and slowly carved the letter B into her flesh. She screamed in agony before forcing herself to be quiet. She wouldn’t show these assholes the satisfaction of her pain. Warm blood trickled over her body and dripped onto her face. She steadied her will and took herself to a different place entirely. As he carved the letters A and R, she heard screaming. She could taste the metallic warmth on her lips and smell it on her face.

  Was he going to carve her up into little pieces? Maybe he wasn’t going to kill her if he was carving a name into her body. All of a sudden, she realized it was her own screams she was hearing as Frankie carved Barone’s name into her flesh. Damn it. She didn’t want to show her pain, but it was unbearable. As the blood continued to run over her face and pool on the floor under her, Frankie grabbed her shirt and rubbed each letter so it was clearly visible.

  Remembering that her hands were free, she found herself clawing at her face, smearing the blood. She would’ve hit the bastard who did this to her, but God, did it hurt to move her arms. Her hair was in clumps and stuck to her face. She worked feverishly to brush it away, but because of her position, it was useless. Her breaths came in short, quick rasps between screams. She squeezed her eyes shut so she didn’t have to look at the man doing this to her. Off to her left, she heard metal clash with metal and it caused her to jump. Her nostrils flared. Finally, the agony stopped, leaving a throbbing pain where he had carved the letters.

  “Please stop. No more. Just tell me what you want from me,” Jules begged.

  “That is for us to know, and for you to find out,” Frankie said with a devious grin lighting up his face.

  “Okay, but which one is it?” Tony questioned his Unit. They had reached the shipyard, and there were dozens of ships lining the port. They had no way of knowing which ship belonged to the Barone Family.

  “Let’s just ask,” Michael replied.

  “Right. Who are we going to ask?” Tony grumbled.

  “Tony, don’t forget who we are or what we do. I know your mind’s messed up over Jules being taken, but we’re are highly skilled, professionally trained Green Berets. We’ll get the information,” Michael reassured him as he brought the SUV to a stop outside what looked to be an office. “If they won’t give us the information willingly, then we’ll take it.” Michael grinned.

  Right. They were highly specialized operatives. Tony opened the door and planted his feet solidly on the ground. Each man followed his lead. When they were gathered and ready for anything, they headed up the stairs to the office.

  They didn’t bother to knock, instead kicking the door open. A shocked, heavyset man sat behind a desk, bringing a donut to his lips.

  “We need to know which ship belongs to the Barone family and we need to know yesterday,” Tony demanded as he raised his gun to the man’s head.

  He lifted his hands in surrender. “I don’t know, and even if I did, telling you would be my death sentence,” the man said, visibly trembling with fear.

  “If you don’t tell us, we guarantee you excruciating pain, which will last for hours or until you tell me what I want to know,” Tony said as he approached the man until they were face to face. Tony looked at him with all the anger and rage he was feeling inside. He could tell this man just worked here, and he didn’t really want to hurt him, but he would if he didn’t give up Barone’s ship. “I’m only gonna ask one more time. Which ship belongs to the Barone family?” Tony was so close to the man’s face that he could smell the man’s horrible halitosis.

  When the man met Tony’s eyes, Tony saw raw fear. He silently gestured to ask Tony for permission to get his log hanging on a clipboard on the wall. Tony nodded. The man grabbed the clipboard and started flipping through pages. “The Barone family has two ships docked here right now. The Maria and the Bella.”

  “Would you kindly point us in the direction of the ships,” Tony insisted.

  The main pointed to a spot off to the right. “They’re docked together,” the man whimpered.

  “Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Tony smiled and lowered his weapon.

  “Will you go now?” the man asked as the sweat beaded on his forehead.

  “Thank you for your time,” Michael said.

  The men traveled back down the steps and into the bright sun of the afternoon, making their way to the SUV. They drove over to where the man had pointed, and sure enough, they found the Bella and the Maria.

/>   “We’re gonna have to clear them both. How do you want to do this?” Rob asked.

  Since it was Tony’s girl, he took point. “Let’s clear one at a time. I want to be very careful not to spook them. I don’t want them to get scared and kill her.” At that thought, Tony sat back down on the passenger’s seat of the vehicle. Kill her. What the fuck would he do without her? She was the love of his life.

  “You can’t think that way, man,” Rob chided. “I had hope until I knew there was no more to be had. Lizzie was gone, but I believed she was alive until I saw otherwise. That’s what you have to do here. Believe. Otherwise, you’ll be useless to this mission.”

  “That’s easier said than done. I just got her back. I just started picturing our life together for real. No more imagining. She said she loved me.”

  “And she does. From what I’ve seen, she’s strong and capable of holding her own,” Michael reminded Tony, squeezing his good shoulder.

  “That’s true. Enough sitting here pouting. Let’s get her and go home,” Tony said before climbing out of the SUV and walking to the back.

  “That’s what I’m talking about,” Tyrrell said as he followed Tony to the rear of the vehicle. Each man grabbed their extra magazines for their side pieces and pocketed them in their vests.

  “Let’s look at the Bella first. If she’s there, then we will find her.”

  “We should have asked that man if either ship was pushing off today,” Michael said.

  “Let’s not go there either,” Tony said.

  They spent an hour and a half clearing the Bella. Nothing. No sign of Jules. It would figure that she would—hopefully—be on the last ship they boarded. The Unit made their way down the steps to the dock. Tony looked to his right to where the Maria had been docked. It wasn’t there. “Fuck. It’s gone. And they have her on that ship. I know it,” Tony said, defeat heavy in his voice.

  “At the most, they have an hour’s head start,” Michael said. “Tyrrell, can you call your contact at the Coast Guard and have them locate the ship for us?” Michael asked as he placed his remaining extra magazines back into his gear bag.

  Tyrrell got on his cell phone and walked off into the distance. Upon his return, he was grinning. “Well, gentlemen, that wasn’t hard. They are two miles from here headed south. And the best part, we have ourselves a boat. It’ll be here in an hour to pick us up. We’ll board the ship and get your girl,” Tyrrell said, looking Tony square in the eyes.

  I hope she has an hour, Tony thought to himself. Two ships. What were the chances? Why does everyone want to keep her aboard a ship in the middle of the ocean? They had saved her once from the terrorists but lost Steve in the process. Now they had to save her again. They couldn’t afford to lose anyone else. Fortunately, they weren’t dealing with terrorists this time, just thugs. But still, these thugs were able to gain the upper hand on Tony, so they had to be somewhat good at what they did.

  What are they doing to her? Is she still alive? These questions plagued Tony’s mind. With nothing to do but wait, Tony sat on the bumper of the SUV contemplating Jules and her safety. After shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he gathered with the men at the back of the vehicle where they were doing weapons checks.

  After each weapon was placed safely into their gear bags, fifteen minutes remained before the Coast Guard was to arrive. Tony couldn’t take it.

  “Rob, can I talk to you over here?” Tony asked, motioning for Rob to follow him out of earshot of the rest of the group. Once they were a good twenty feet from the rest of the fellows, he asked, “How did you do it? How were you able to handle it when they had Lizzie? And then Lola?”

  “It wasn’t easy. I had to have hope that my skill set would be enough to save them. With Lizzie, I just arrived too late, but I was able to save Lola, and look at me today.”

  “I know, but I don’t know what I’d do if I lost Jules. What if they’re torturing her?”

  “They probably are, which is a good thing because that means they want to cause her pain and not kill her. Jules is strong. She has your love to hold on to. She’ll make it until we get to her.”

  Jules’s throat burned from screaming so much. They had finished carving into her torso. They had done it so that when she looked down, she would always read the name Barone. She was still bleeding and her head was pounding from being strung upside down. She felt the pressure building behind her eyes. She had to get down soon. Her arms and legs felt like they had needles coursing through them, and her hair stuck to her bloodstained face in clumps. What could she say? What could she do to get herself down? Frankie had since left the room. And God only knew where Joey and Antonio were. What did they have planned for her next?

  “Frankie,” she screamed. “Frankie?” She waited. No one appeared. It appeared that whatever they were doing, she was of no concern to them. “Frankie,” she yelled louder, her hoarse voice cracking in pain.

  Frankie finally appeared, holding a bottle in his hand. “There’s my good girl. I have something for you. I don’t want you to get an infection. After all, the boss said alive,” he reminded her as he held the bottle at her eye level. She was able to read the word “Iodine.” Shit, if he poured that in her wounds, it would burn like a motherfucker. She could handle it. She just needed to get down.

  “Frankie, after you clean my wounds, would you let me thank you?” she asked in her most seductive voice.

  “What? Like you really want to thank me,” Frankie said with an evil grin.

  “I’m willing to do whatever you ask if you let me down. I can’t take hanging here much longer. Please, Frankie,” she begged, batting her long eyelashes at him.

  Frankie paused for a moment. “A blow job. If I let you down, I want you to suck my dick, and you better do a good job too or back up you go.”

  After a minute of hesitation, Jules reluctantly agreed, “I’ll do it.” Then she formulated a plan. “I would love to suck your cock. I bet you have a nice, big one that would fill my mouth up nicely.” Jules hoped she was convincing him that she would do whatever it took to get herself down.

  “Okay, let me clean out your wounds. Hold still. This is going to burn like a son of a bitch.”

  As Frankie poured pure iodine over each carved letter, she screamed and writhed in pain. Each scream only served to make her head pound in further agony. At this point, she would suck his cock just to get down. She wasn’t above doing what had to be done.

  Frankie finished with the last letter, and after the intense burn subsided, she exhaled a sigh of relief. She had made it without passing out.

  As promised, Frankie lowered her to the floor placing her back to a seated position. He took care to tie her ankles to the chair but left her hands free.

  “I want to feel those delicate fingers wrapped around my cock.” Stepping up to her, he unbuttoned his pants and removed his already hard dick

  Jules’s mouth was dry from screaming. She had to come up with some saliva, so she took the length of him into the back of her throat. When Frankie moaned, she thought she was going to throw up. Having this bastard’s cock in her mouth was almost worse than having letters carved into her torso.

  Trying to make a good show of it, she spat on his cock and used her good hand to stroke up and down his shaft. He moaned again as he roughly grabbed the back of her head and shoved his length back down her throat. When she managed to work him into a nice rhythm, she bit down with all her might. Blood immediately filled her mouth and his cock went limp.

  Frankie jerked back. “You fucking whore,” he spat. Blood now covered the floor beneath where he was standing. He dropped to his knees and then to his side, curling up in the fetal position. It didn’t take Jules long to untie her ankles. Once she was free, she took off running, trying to find a place to hide. She knew if Frankie caught her, she was a dead woman.

  The men cautiously boarded The Maria. In standard formation, they made their way up the stairs and onto the main deck. They had no way of knowing how man
y men were on the ship. Once they made it to the top deck, Tony put two fingers in the air and circled them, signaling for the men to take cover amongst the cargo containers.

  Tony made his way behind a container, waiting to see who would come on deck. It didn’t take long before a man of grizzly proportions armed with a Sig P222 made his rounds of the upper deck. Tony had to take him out quietly to avoid alerting the other men to the Unit’s presence. Pulling his knife from his ankle holster and gripping it in his right hand, he made his way in and around containers until he was able to sneak up behind the man. Before he could turn around, Tony reached around his neck and made a clean, neat slice. As blood spurted from the man’s neck, Tony laid him gently on the deck. One down, who knew how many more to go.

  Eventually, Tony caught up with Rob, Michael and Tyrrell. “Are you ready to go below deck?” It wasn’t really a question Tony was asking, more like an order put politely.

  They nodded and the men traversed their way downstairs. At the bottom of the stairs was a man Tony recognized as Joey. He was armed and ready. Jumping from the fifth step onto Joey’s back, Tony wrestled him to the ground, but Joey was able to get his gun up and point it at Tony’s chest. Tony gripped Joey’s hand and bent it sideways, hoping he would drop the weapon. It worked. Once the gun was gone, Tony took out his rage on Joey. He straddled the man and began to beat the shit out of him. With each blow of Tony’s fist, Joey’s head would bobble to the side. Blood dripped from his nose and mouth, but Tony didn’t stop. Instead, he brought his forearm down and smashed the man’s face harder and harder.

  He would kill Joey for taking Jules, but before he could, another man appeared, pressing a gun to Tony’s head. He had been so lost in what he was doing, so vengeful, that he failed to notice the man coming down the hall from his right. Luckily, Michael and Rob hadn’t given away their positions. Michael jumped the man from the side and took him to the ground. Tony continued to bloody Joey’s face until he lay unconscious. Michael didn’t waste any time removing the gun from the other man’s grip. Rob kicked the gun down the hall in the opposite direction the man had come.