The Biker's Fate Chapter 367

"Now, wait one minute, you have already told me you are not a police officer, you can't search my ship without my permission." Captain Vasili's tone changed immediately.

"Sir, Fish and Wildlife wardens in the state of Georgia actually have greater authority than state or county police in the matters of search and seizure. I'm gonna need you to comply or we will be forced to detain you while we perform our search."

I don't know if Kahler was bullshitting about jurisdiction, but it sure sounded convincing. Captain Vasili's slimy smile returned to his face. "There will be no need for that, Warden, I assure you. You have the full co-operation of me… and my crew."

"Good, then you can start by taking me to your wheelhouse and showing me your manifest and log books immediately. We're also going to need keys, and/or codes for every one of your containers."

Sweat began to form on the captain's upper lip. His eyes darted to his lieutenant, then to an open doorway that appeared to lead to one of the ship's interior hallways.

"Captain. Do you understand my instructions?" Kahler asked, drawing his attention back to him.

"Yes, yes of course. But, surely, this can't be about some… silly fish?" the captain said, waving his arms in the air. "Perhaps you and your men are looking for… donations to the Wildlife Warden's retirement fund? Perhaps we should go talk somewhere privately and I can see what we can do for you."

"The only place we're going to go is up to your wheelhouse, so I can see your logs," Kahler continued.

While he was speaking, I spied the Lieutenant reaching into his inside coat pocket.

"Gun!" I shouted.

Agent Kahler drew his Glock 9mm, and got a wide shot off before his opponent could level his gun. The bullet hit him in the shoulder with such impact that he spun around and hit the deck. Kahler now pointed his gun at the captain, while Doc covered the unconscious number two man, and Alamo and I covered the crew, who all looked scared as shit. I picked up the discarded weapon from the deck and tucked it into the back of my waistband.

"He can't be the only guard on this ship," Kahler said before grabbing the captain by his stained shirt and sticking the muzzle of his gun directly into his enormous gut. "How many guards are on board? Where are the girls? Which container are they being held in?"

"What the hell is this? Who are you?" the captain protested.

"My name is Special Agent Kahler with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. These men are sworn deputies, and I'm only going to ask you one more time before I plug you full of so many holes, you'll instantly sink when I toss you overboard.

"One more," he said, his eyes starting to bulge.

Agent Kahler tightened the grip on the captain's shirt collar and dug his gun in deeper, causing the captain to wince in pain, his air supply now being cut off. "Tell me the truth, or this bad day is gonna get a lot worse for you, comrade."

"T..t..two," he sputtered out. "Two more, that's it, I sw… swear it."

"Where are the girls?"

The captain hesitated for exactly one second longer than Kahler was willing to wait. He pulled the hammer back with a click. "Container nineteen!" the captain sputtered out. "They are in container nineteen. It's red. Located on the aft, port side of the ship, lower level."

"What's the code for the container lock?" Kahler asked.

Captain Vasili looked at him surprised.

"There are two security panels. The code on the left panel is 1542 and the other is—?"

"Shut up, you fool! You'll get us all killed!" Doc's patient, now fully lucid, shouted to the captain, no doubt in fear for what their employers in Russia would do to them.

Doc pushed him squarely back to the deck, reminding him who he should currently be afraid of. "How about you take your own advice and shut the fuck up."

"And the guards?" Kahler asked.

"I don't know, I swear to you. They could be anywhere on the ship right now," Captain Vasili said.

Kahler let go of the bulky man, who hit the deck with a thud, then turned to Doc. "Cuff both of 'em, and see if you can stop his bleeding with what we have in the kit. Keep the others on the crew. I'm gonna go find that container before the other guards do something with the girls."

"You can't go up there alone," Doc ground out.

"I can't ask one of you to go with me. I can handle this alone."

"You're out of your god damn mind if you think I'm letting you run around the ship alone without knowing what's up there," Doc said.

"I'll go with him," I said.

"No way, Sparky," Doc replied. "I'm going."

"We don't have time to argue. You need to stay here and make sure he doesn't bleed out," I said, motioning to the wounded Russian who, as if on cue, let out a low moan which momentarily diverted Doc's attention to his newly assigned patient.

Before Doc could protest further, Agent Kahler and I made our way toward the open doorway that led to the ship's interior. The containers were stacked on the upper level, which was accessed via a stairwell. Honestly, I don't know what compelled me to volunteer to act as Agent Kahler's back up. Alamo was clearly a better candidate. In fact, I was probably gonna catch hell from the Sergeant at Arms when we got back. If we got back.

Which made me think of the other reason I shouldn't be doing this; Poppy. I told her I wouldn't take unnecessary risks or intentionally put myself in harm's way, but that's exactly what I was doing. Maybe I was trying to prove something to the club, or perhaps even to myself. Maybe it was my outrage at the fact that these men abused and sold women that compelled me to act. I don't know, but before I knew it I was right behind Agent Kahler headed towards certain doom.