Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 47714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 191(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 191(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
Quickly, I bent and snatched the weapon from the ground, shoving it into the waistband of my jeans.
“Talk,” I ordered.
“I didn’t know!” he babbled, voice high and panicked. “She was a pawn, that’s all they said! They told me she was the weak link, that she had the access we needed. Just a name to use!”
“Bullshit.” My voice came out flat and cold. “You watched her. Followed her. Broke into her fucking home.”
“They made me!” His hands fluttered, desperate. “You don’t understand, these people—they’d kill me if I didn’t—”
I was sick of listening to his irritating voice.
My fist landed square in his face. The sound cracked sharp in the small room, and his blood spattered the side of a filing cabinet.
He gasped, holding his face, his eyes wide with disbelief. Probably wondering why the fuck I hadn’t shot him instead. I leaned in close enough to smell the fear rolling off him—sweat, cheap cologne, and copper from the split in his lip.
“They weren’t the ones you should’ve been afraid of.”
I walked calmly back across the room and shut the door. The latch clicked, the sound ominous in the reactive silence. Ethan looked around, his expression terrified, and I smiled.
When the door opened again, the building had quieted. My knuckles throbbed, skin torn across two of them, and there was some blood on my clothes. Otherwise unharmed, the rest of me was calm.
Edge leaned against the wall across from the stairwell, wiping his blade clean before tucking it back under his cut. Axle crouched over the courier’s case, checking the contents—drive, burner phone, and encrypted modem—all intact. Kane stood near the end of the corridor, posture relaxed but eyes alert, while Jax typed furiously, cleaning digital traces from the uplink servers.
“Feed’s scrubbed. Key network’s burned.”
“No traces back to us?” Axle asked.
Jax glanced up at him. “Next time you insult me, Ashlynn’s gonna have to find another way to get knocked up.”
Axle scowled. “You talk about Ashlynn and get—”
“You two done measuring dicks, or do I need to put both of you on your asses?” Kane didn’t wait for them to reply before his gaze found mine. “You get what you needed?”
I nodded once. “I’m good.”
A short, collective silence followed—mutual understanding, no need for questions. When it came to our women, there was no line we wouldn’t cross.
Edge straightened, stretching his shoulders. “That was fun. But let’s get the fuck out of here. Callie’s still fighting morning sickness, and if I’m not there to hold back her hair the next time it hits, I’ll be the one catching hell.”
Axle chuckled as he latched the courier case. “Softest psycho I know.”
Edge smirked. “Says the guy who almost cried when Racer’s kid called him Uncle Mace for the first time.”
“Fuck off,” Axle shot back, but his grin said he wasn’t bothered.
From the back of the hall, Tyre snorted. “You’re all fucking whipped.”
Edge turned his head slowly, his smile curving like a blade. “Careful, brother. You just jinxed yourself. Universe hears shit like that and starts shopping for your soulmate.”
Tyre blinked, then swore under his breath, which made Kane laugh—a quiet, deep sound that didn’t happen often. “He’s not wrong.”
Tired and anxious to get back to my woman, I grumbled, “Let’s move before you tempt it any further.”
We left the same way we’d come in, nothing but shadows. Except we were leaving bodies and useless circuits behind. But Nitro had made Edge a toy to take care of that too.
Outside, the air was cooler, heavy with the metallic tang of recent rain. As we made our way through a copse of trees to the field where we’d parked our rides, we felt a ground-shaking boom, then saw the orange glow of flames over the tree line.
Kane gave Edge a dry look. “Subtle.”
He grinned. “It was Nitro’s gadget.”
“Don’t pretend you didn’t give it a little boost,” I muttered.
“I can neither confirm nor deny.”
Our comments trailed off as we reached the row of motorcycles waiting just beyond a sliver of moonlight.
Jax slung his tablet across his chest and gave one last glance back at the smoke and ash swirling in the wind. His expression was blank, but I could see the guilt in his eyes. He felt he’d failed Alanna, which was complete bullshit.
“She’s safe,” I pointed out. “That’s all that matters.”
He exhaled through his nose. “Yeah. Still feels like I missed something.”
“You didn’t,” I assured him. “You gave her peace. That’s more than most of us ever get.”
He nodded once, then followed the others to their bikes.
Kane was already astride his, helmet resting on the tank and his engine purring. “We ride straight back. Clean-up teams will handle the rest.”
Edge rolled his shoulders, swinging his leg over his seat. “You think the brokers got the message?”
“They will,” Kane said. “If not, we’ll write it louder next time.”