Chapter 274.

The sea was black beneath the moonlight.

Christian stood at the front of the small boat, his hands tucked into the pockets of a dark jacket that didn’t belong to him. The wind came off the water in cold, sharp gusts, lifting the ends of his hair and carrying the smell of salt into his lungs.

He barely noticed it.

His attention was fixed on the ship ahead.

It wasn’t the largest vessel he’d ever seen, but it was large enough to make disappearing aboard it a problem. Its dark hull rose above the water, lights glimmering along the upper deck. From a distance, it looked like an ordinary cargo vessel making its way through the night.

That was the point.

Nothing about it was supposed to attract attention.

Noah’s uncle had chosen his hiding place well. The ship could travel without drawing much interest, and the surrounding water offered enough distance from the coast to make a quick escape difficult for anyone who didn’t know where to look.

Christian had spent the better part of an hour studying the vessel’s movements.

The information his team had gathered wasn’t perfect. The signal from Kylie’s phone had been intermittent, and by the time they narrowed the search to a handful of vessels, the trail had already started moving again.

But they had found this ship.

And they had found a reason to believe it was carrying Kylie.

Behind him, six men sat quietly in the boat. They wore dark clothes, carried concealed weapons, and had spent the last twenty minutes going over their instructions.

No unnecessary movements. No eye contact with anyone who might recognise them.

And, most importantly, no attempt to rescue Kylie until they had located her and understood the ship’s security arrangements.

Christian had listened to every instruction.

He had agreed with every instruction.

He understood the risks.

He knew that walking onto an unfamiliar vessel without knowing exactly how many men were aboard was reckless. He knew that one wrong answer could expose the entire operation. He knew that if Noah’s uncle discovered who they were before they found Kylie, the situation could become considerably worse.

He understood all of it.

What he could not understand was how he was supposed to sit somewhere safe and wait for other people to find the woman he loved.

He had tried.

For hours, he had stood in the security operations room, watching the same footage, listening to the same reports, and forcing himself to remain still while his people worked.

Every minute had made the room smaller. Every unanswered question had made breathing more difficult.

Where was she sleeping? Had she eaten anything? Was she injured? Had someone touched her?

That last question had nearly made him lose his composure.

"Sir."

He looked up.

The team leader was beside him, checking the small earpiece concealed beneath his hair.

"We’re approaching the vessel. The signal we received is consistent with the location we were given."

Christian nodded. "Anything else?"

"The man we’re expecting should be on the lower deck. We have no confirmation of the number of people aboard."

"How many do we know about?"

"At least six, based on the limited information we’ve gathered. Possibly more."

Christian’s jaw tightened. "Then we’ll assume more."

"Yes, sir."

The team leader hesitated.

"Once we’re aboard, we follow the plan. You don’t move away from the group until we’ve established where we are and who is present."

Christian looked at him.

The man held his gaze for a moment, then added, "I’m not questioning your judgment. I’m reminding you that finding Miss Benneth is the first objective. Getting her off this vessel is the second. We need to accomplish both."

"I know."

"I wanted to make sure."

Christian’s expression remained calm. "I know."

The team leader nodded and moved back toward the others.

Christian turned his attention to the ship again.

A small light blinked near the railing.

He glanced down at his hands. They were steady. That surprised him.

He had expected to be shaking by now. He had expected his fear to become something visible, something that would betray him before he had even stepped onto the vessel.

Instead, he felt frighteningly calm.

It was the kind of calm that came when there was nothing left to do with fear except put it aside and keep moving.

Christian swallowed. "Hold on, Blue." He mumured to himself.

The boat slowed.

A rope came down from the vessel, followed by a short ladder that swung above the water.

One of the men aboard called out. The team leader answered with the agreed response.

A pause followed. Then the rope tightened.

"Come aboard," the man called.

Christian waited until the others moved first.

He climbed the ladder without looking up at the figures waiting above him. The metal rungs were wet beneath his hands, and the wind pushed at his back as he ascended.

At the top, a man reached down and grabbed his forearm, hauling him over the railing.

Christian landed on the deck.

For one brief second, he stood with his head lowered, pretending to steady himself after the climb.

He used the moment to look around.

Two men stood near the entrance to the lower deck. Another was stationed by a stack of equipment. A fourth leaned against the railing with a cigarette between his fingers.

All of them were watching the newcomers.

Christian counted them without moving his head.

Four visible.

Possibly more below.

The man who had helped him aboard released his arm. "You took your time."

The team leader answered before Christian could. "Had to make sure we weren’t followed."

"Nobody was supposed to follow you."

"Then you have nothing to worry about."

The man gave a humourless laugh.

He was broad-shouldered, with a shaved head and a scar running from the corner of his mouth toward his jaw. He looked at each of them in turn, studying their faces with an attention that made Christian’s fingers itch.

"Where’s the package?"

"Below."

"All of it?"

"All of it."

The man looked at Christian. "And you?"

Christian kept his gaze lowered.

He had already been warned that Noah’s uncle might question them. He had also been told that the man was accustomed to people who tried too hard to appear trustworthy.

So Christian did not try.

He stood quietly, shoulders relaxed, hands visible, allowing the other man to believe he was someone who had been dragged into an inconvenient job and had no particular interest in being there.

The man looked away. "Come with me."

They followed him down a narrow passageway.

Christian kept his pace even.

Every instinct told him to search the ship, to open every door, to demand that somebody tell him where Kylie was.

He did none of those things.

He listened.

The vessel creaked around them, the sound travelling through the metal walls. Somewhere below, an engine vibrated steadily. Voices drifted from an unseen room, followed by the clatter of something being moved across a hard surface.

The ship was alive with activity, and Kylie was somewhere inside it. The thought nearly stopped him in his tracks.

He forced himself to keep walking.

The man leading them turned a corner and approached a heavy door. He knocked twice, waited, and opened it.

"Got them."

A voice came from inside. "Bring them in."

The room beyond was larger than Christian expected. A table stood in the middle, cluttered with papers and equipment. A map of the surrounding waters had been spread across one wall, and a row of monitors displayed different views of the vessel.

Noah’s uncle stood near the table.

Christian had seen photographs of him during the investigation into Noah. They had been taken years earlier, and the man in front of him looked older than those images suggested. His hair had begun to grey at the temples, and deep lines marked the corners of his eyes.

His gaze travelled across the group. Then it stopped. "You’re not the ones who came last time."