Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86177 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86177 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Minutes ago, I’d had a one-track mind—find the girl in the silk dress. I’d taken off after her like a bullet, shooting the man in the kitchen. Put that Russian out of his misery and the dogs that turned on me, too. Now, I stood again, prepared to fulfill a decades-old promise.
Push past the pain, Jamie. Get Jordyn to safety. Panic carried me like a hurricane wind. My breath, though heavy, locked in a rhythm. Combat mode.
My brain filtered through every threat and angle until I set eyes on her again. Running like hell. Then I saw what Jordyn didn’t—two more guards.
Oh, c’mon. How had I forgotten? There were ten of them. Leith had gone through the front—hopefully taking out the two guards that remained outside, and on my way to Jordyn, I’d taken out all but the two.
The guards circled away from the gate, cutting her off. One flanked near a greenhouse. The other ran around it, rifle raised.
The man closest to Jordyn lifted the butt of his rifle, probably to slam it against the side of her head. Good. They wanted her alive.
I didn’t hesitate. I’d spent most of my life hesitating until becoming a Marine and wouldn’t go back to that cowering little boy. I lifted Denis’s handgun and squeezed the trigger. A bullet struck the back of the Russian’s head. I’d given away my position. The other armed man turned toward me.
While still running forward, I sighted the center of his forehead and fired. Click. Click.
Out of ammo. Prepared to charge, shoulder dropped, I slammed into the man’s chest like a wrecking ball.
The force knocked the weapon away from us. The Russian reached for a knife sheathed in his belt. I snapped my wrist upward and buried the paring knife I’d gotten from the kitchen into the man’s neck. A wet gurgle preceded the pulsing spray of blood from the man’s severed artery. Drop. The Russian hit the ground in silence.
At the sound of barking, I pivoted. Not fast enough to stop a Siberian Laika from landing on my chest. How many dogs did Chelomey have?
Claws tore through my suit jacket. Teeth sank into my forearm. Locked on. I grunted and slammed the paring knife into the animal’s rib. Quick stabs like a prison house shank. Again. Again. Again. The dog went limp on top of me, whimpering. I kicked it off, rolled to my feet, and went to where Jordyn stood. The rifle from the man I’d downed was in her shaky hand.
“I’m here to help you!” My voice was sharp, chest heaving with each word. She seemed frozen in shock, and I removed the rifle from her fingers.
One shot was all it took. The Laika stopped whimpering and dropped without a sound. I’m sorry they trained you like this. I had my life saved so many times by Belgian Malinois, who’d sniffed the dirt for explosive devices and tangos alike.
I went to Jordyn and held out the rifle in a safe position. “Do you want to hold this?” I flicked my fingernail into the torn flesh of my thumb. A habit. I didn’t know how to talk to girls, not if they weren’t wearing military cammies.
“I-I don’t want anything from you. You left—”
A shout echoed across the land.
“Aleksandr?” she whispered. “He’s alive.”
What did her facial expression mean? Surprise? Elation? Anger? I didn’t have a second to process it because light flooded the night on the opposite side of the fence.
Leith climbed from a Ferrari Purosangue. “Let’s go! Let’s go. The cops, bràthair!”
While Jordyn ran to the fence, I wiped a hand over my face to clear my vision. I kicked up the rifle until it rested against my shoulder. Glanced through the scope, tracking for movement. C’mon. Where are you? I needed to sight my mark. Too blurry. I adjusted the dial.
“Jamie, your friend needs help!” Crouched, Leith had thrust his hands between the fence opening, and Jordyn stepped into his palms. With a grunt, he tried to push her upward.
While she reached higher up, she grumbled a cussword, falling.
I swooped her up into my arms. The dim moonlight did nothing to obscure the intensity and clarity of her glare. It was as if we stood under a thousand suns. I lifted her onto my shoulder and then higher until her bare feet found purchase between the jagged fence toppers.
“Ouch,” she screeched, her ankle abraded by the sharp metal.
“Just jump, lassie,” Leith ordered from the other side.
I spun around and searched for movement again. I’d downed every last one of Aleksandr Chelomey’s men and assumed the crack I heard when hitting the Tsar with my briefcase had been enough to snap his neck. Sure looked like it under the circumstances.
Sirens sounded closer.
Gritting my teeth, I wiped my prints from the weapon, threw it into a bush, and pulled myself up. Since the driver’s side was closer to the fence, I assumed Leith hurried to the passenger side to give me less ground to cover when I jumped down. Behind the wheel, I slammed the door and pressed the pedal to the metal.