Air Bound (Sea Haven/Sisters of the Heart 3)

Airiana felt the breath leave her lungs in a burning rush, terrified for the little girl. The garrote continued to cut off the prince's airway, his wild struggles only making it tighter. Maxim never moved. His face was set in hard, implacable lines. His ice-blue eyes had gone dark, a turbulent storm of absolute resolve.

He whispered in Italian, the thread of sound going straight to the child. "This pig will never harm you again."

Saeed made horrible gurgling sounds, his face purple and his eyes bulging. His efforts to escape became feeble as the garrote tightened relentlessly. Maxim continued to look at the man he obviously recognized, his gaze unblinking while he strangled the prince in front of the bodyguard.

"You know I'll kill her," Sasha warned.

Airiana was standing almost directly behind Maxim. He moved so fast she didn't actually catch the blurring motion as he whipped his hand behind him and withdrew a pistol, pulling it forward around the prince's body and aiming all in one movement. The bullet hissed out of the chamber and smacked into Sasha's forehead. A hole blossomed there, bright red and ugly.

The child screamed and twisted out of the Sasha's slackening grip. His gun fell to the floor. The prince was entirely limp now and Maxim allowed his body to fall as well. Grimly, he bent down to ensure Saeed was dead, using his knife to finish the job.

To Airiana's horror, the child picked up Sasha's weapon and turned it on herself, putting the gun to her head. "No! No! You're safe. Don't."

Maxim was only a foot from the girl, crouched on the floor by the prince's dead body. He reached out slowly, his hand closing over the child's, his finger preventing the gun from firing. He was extremely gentle, every movement easy and unhurried.

"He is dead. Both of them. They can't touch you again."

His voice was so gentle, so compassionate, Airiana's eyes burned with tears. In his company, she knew him as a lethal, dangerous and mostly rough man. He could be kind, but this was an entirely new side she hadn't experienced.

"Find her something to wear. I've got a couple of shirts in my bag," Maxim said, without turning his head toward her. "A dark color."

Airiana hastened to do so. When she turned back, Maxim had the child in his arms. She sobbed against his chest, her black mop of long curls hiding her face. Maxim took the shirt from Airiana and pulled it over the little girl's head.

"Tell us your name," he encouraged.

"Nicia." The girl's voice was muffled. She didn't lift her head, her arms around Maxim's neck.

He picked her up and rolled the prince's body completely into his opulent cabin with his foot and then closed the hatch firmly. "Nicia, we have to be very quiet. There are other men on board like Saeed. Bad men. Is there a place with other women or children where they kept you?"

Nicia nodded.

"How many women? How many children?" Maxim asked.

The terrible shaking that threatened to break the little girl's bones apart had lessened, but she clung to Maxim as if he was the only thing in her world. "My sister Lucia, my little sister Siena and my brother Benito. I think Sofia, my twin sister, is dead. Sasha and another man came and got her last night and she never came back." She began to sob all over again.

They both had seen the body of the child Saeed had killed. Maxim stroked the child's hair and rocked her gently.

"I'm sorry I didn't get here in time to save her, Nicia," Maxim said. "But we're going to do our best, all three of us, to save the others. Will you help us?"

Nicia nodded without speaking. She was so small, a little girl who should have been playing with dolls, not serving as entertainment for a depraved monster.

"The young girls had to be kept for Saeed. He had an insatiable appetite, and they would have brought more than one child aboard for him. Eventually he would have murdered all the girls."

"Could they have brought the boy and the teen for him as well? He was looking at me, and while I might look young, I don't look Nicia's age," Airiana said.

"He might want the teen as well, if she's a virgin," Maxim said. "But not the boy. There has to be another predator aboard. At least one more, possibly two."

"How do we find them?" Airiana asked. She picked up the assault rifle and the web of ammo and weapons, slinging it over her shoulder.

"First we're going to find the other children. I need Nicia in a safe place. We'll move them to one of the cabins not in use. They can barricade themselves inside while we take care of the others."

That made sense to Airiana. They couldn't very well sneak around the ship with children in tow. She was certain Maxim was unhappy about having to take her along with him. More than ever, after seeing what was happening aboard the ship, she wanted to help find a way to stop whoever was running the trafficking ring. She understood Elle Drake's need to put herself in harm's way in order to stop it.

She also understood Lev Prakenskii's need to try to find the source. Even if they stopped what was happening aboard this vessel, there had to be others, both on land and sea, where other children were being harmed.

"Don't cry," Maxim said, his voice firm. "I mean it, Airiana. I've already got this little one weeping, I can't have both of you doing it. Nicia, tell me where you and the others are being held."

"It was very dark. There were big containers everywhere. We were inside one of the containers. It was hard to breathe sometimes."

Maxim swore under his breath. "Let's find an empty cabin. Airiana, I'll leave you with Nicia while I get the others."

Airiana caught her breath, stopping herself from protesting. She didn't want Maxim out of her sight, but she wasn't going to complain. She knew too much time had passed. Saeed had been occupied with Nicia and the other child he'd murdered, so while the teen and the youngest child were probably safe, the boy wasn't. Maxim was going to go after the boy. She wasn't going to whine because she was afraid. He'd given her an assault rifle and she knew, deep in her heart, that she would protect Nicia against anyone trying to harm them.

Airiana's gaze clung to his. Maxim wanted to comfort her, but he needed her strong. When planning his escape from the boat, he knew he had to stop the engine to allow him to get Airiana into the water, but he hadn't planned on rescuing children or having to leave dead bodies behind.

He couldn't take the children with him, and he couldn't leave the crew alive to kill them, which they would. The crew of the ship would have to destroy all evidence of human trafficking in case they were boarded. Airiana didn't have a clue as to the extent of their problem. He glanced at his watch. He was under a time constraint as well. The sub was going to rendezvous with him at night, the best chance for him to get Airiana away without anyone noticing. Now . . .

He put Nicia down, but she clung to his leg, terrified all over again.

"He needs his hands free to protect us," Airiana said, in perfect Italian. "Stay with me, behind him. It's the safest place."

Nicia studied her face for a long time. "Does he belong to you?" She spoke in English, a little halting, but she'd clearly been raised using both languages.

"Yes," Maxim answered her firmly. "I belong to her. I won't ever let anything happen to her--or you. Just stay close and be as quiet as you can."

Maxim followed the passageway down the corridor to the next hatch. No bodyguards were present. There were four luxury cabins on this floor. Saeed would have wanted complete privacy, so the odds that the cabin on each side of his was empty were very good. There would have been some activity already, but no one was moving around at all. Still . . . he wasn't going to take chances.

Maxim signaled Airiana and Nicia to move to the far side against the wall, out of sight of the hatch. He noted that Airiana pushed Nicia behind her and br

ought up her weapon in a very businesslike manner. It was difficult not to feel admiration for her.

She looked darned cute in her black pants and makeshift scarf covering her bright hair, with a MP-5 cradled in her arms and a webbing of weapons and ammunition slung over her shoulder. He sent her a small salute before banging with his fist on the hatch. Silence met his demand for entry. He quickly spun the lock and stepped back to swing the door open. The cabin was empty.

Relieved, he signaled to Airiana. She took Nicia's hand and they went inside. The room was equipped with a large bed, mirrors, a closet, and drawers that locked in place. There was a private bathroom. Along the walls and on the floor were bolts to loop chains and cuffs through. An array of devices was displayed in cabinets locked onto the wall. Everything from whips and floggers to canes.

"I'm sorry, honey, I can't do anything about the room," Maxim said. "But you'll be safe in here. No one will know you're here. I'm going to leave some extra ammo, a knife and a couple of grenades, just in case. I should be back soon."

Airiana nodded her head but she didn't speak. Tears were already welling up in Nicia's eyes and he had the feeling that Airiana wanted to cry right along with her. Nicia took the nearest chair, sinking into its luxury and drawing up her knees beneath Maxim's shirt, unable to control the shivering in her body. He knew it wasn't from the cold, she was terrified of him leaving. Airiana immediately tucked a blanket around her.

Maxim turned to go, but couldn't do it. Not like this. Not without giving her something. "Come here, Airiana," he ordered softly without turning around. He stood facing the hatch, away from the room.

Puzzled, she stepped around him to stand directly in front of him, tilting her head to look up at him. Her eyes caught him like they always did. Sky blue eyes that could signal sunshine or rain, a coming storm or a hurricane.

He caught her wrist and lifted her palm straight up facing him. "In my family there is a small thing a man does when he belongs to a woman--when the woman belongs to us. We have to feel it, not with our bodies, but deep in our soul. Mine was ripped to shreds a long time ago and there isn't much left. But whatever remains belongs to you. I'll come back for you. No matter what, I'll come back."