Retaliation

 
 
 
 
Sky Ghosts: Retaliation
by Alexandra Engellmann
Sky Ghosts: Retaliation
(Book 3 of the Sky Ghosts series)
Copyright © 2020 by Alexandra Engellmann
All rights reserved
This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and events are products of the author’s imagination, or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental.
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Published by Alexandra Engellmann
http://www.engellmann.com/
Cover artwork and design by Alexandra Engellmann
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Table of contents
 
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Epilogue
About the author
Acknowledgements
 
 
 
 
 
 
To C. B.
You were my shining star; you always will be.
Prologue
 
“What are you doing here?”
The man’s hairy fingers grasped her jacket, lifting her from the chair. He reeked of cigarettes and rotten teeth, and she held her breath, afraid she might pass out from the smell alone.
“I wasn’t doing anything,” she hissed, using what little air she had in her lungs. “I was just looking for a place to sleep, I told you. Let me go!”
The big man shook her once before letting her flop back down onto the chair. She watched him pace in front of her as she restored her breathing. Behind him, two men were carrying crates out of the dim warehouse, acting as if she wasn’t there or maybe used to scenes like this one.
She swallowed hard and shifted on the shaky chair when another goon joined her captor. “Still not talking?” he asked, chewing on a toothpick.
“Either she’s workin’ for someone, or she’s really bad at pickin’ places for sleep. She ain’t a beggar either,” the first man drawled. He reached out and pulled at one of the straps on her stylish leather jacket, making her flinch.
“I ran away from home,” she snapped. “I’m not a beggar.”
The men exchanged suspicious looks.
“That’s a second guest today. Something tellin’ me the boss should know about this,” the first man said. He stepped closer and gripped her chin with his dirty fingers. “That’s one ugly beak ya have. No surprise ya stick it where it don’t belong.”
She glowered at him but remained silent.
The other man came up to her with a chuckle. His hand closed on the back of her jacket like a claw, and he yanked her forward. “I’m telling you, she’s one of Garcia’s snoops. She’ll change her mind after a couple days in a cell,” he said as he dragged her deeper into the warehouse. She stumbled and shoved at him, and he shook her with an angry look. “Use those feet, girl, or I’ll drag you down there by your hair!”
Reluctantly, she walked by his side as he headed to a low door in the far corner. He shoved her through, into a long, dark corridor.
She whirled, pummeling at his chest with her fists.
“Where are you taking me? Let me go, please, I want to go home!” Her shouted words echoed off the bare walls.
“Quiet! You’re not going anywhere till our boss takes a look at you tomorrow. We’ll see what he has to say.”
His hand shot forward, hitting her shoulder with so much force that she lost her footing and flew a few feet before falling down with a scream. Tears sprang to her eyes, and a sob escaped her mouth as she breathed in shallow, quick gasps.
Before she could get up, the man was already dragging her forward, and then he picked her up unceremoniously and kicked open another door. Behind it was a big, dark room with bare walls and only two small, dirty windows. And there were cells, three on each side, barred with thick iron rods.
She started to struggle again, but the man quickly opened one of them and pushed her inside, then snapped the lock shut. Eyes wide with terror, she threw herself at the bars. “Please! Let me out! I didn’t do anything!”
A manic grin spread across the man’s face. In a flash, his palm slammed into her fingers gripping the bars.
Her wordless cry of pain pierced the air.
“Be quiet. If I have to come back here, you won’t like it,” he threatened, then looked at the cell next to hers. “Hey!” he shouted, making the man inside bolt upright from his sleeping position. “No sleeping!” He spat and stalked out of the room.
She let herself slump to the floor, her face wet from tears. A couple of minutes passed, and there was no sound from the other captives or from behind the door, so she wiped her eyes and peered around.
There were four of them, two on each side of the room.
The man to her left, the one who’d been woken by the guard, lay curled