Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
I didn’t know anything, and it didn’t matter. I had minutes left to live.
I twisted at my hands, leaning into whatever was binding me to the chair, hoping I could get some leverage—something. I couldn’t—wouldn’t—acknowledge how hopeless this was. The end was rushing toward me. I couldn’t dodge; only meet it head-on.
I heard rumbling, pounding, and then a clank—a door opening.
I couldn’t see what was going on.
“Back up.” Was that Eli, or was I just hallucinating through the pain?
“That was fast,” the bomber said conversationally. “Put your fucking hands up. Back against the wall.”
“I don’t think so.”
That was definitely Eli. My heart froze in terror. There wasn’t time.
“Run, Eli,” I screamed, my voice so much weaker than it should have been.
“Sylvie says you haven’t found Silas.” The bomber’s voice was curious and unafraid. Eli didn’t respond, and he went on. “Kind of funny, as tight as your team is supposed to be, that I’ve gotten further running him to ground than you. Don’t you want to hear what I know?”
I knew Eli did.
“Don’t move,” he said.
“I think I will,” the bomber said, his tone contemplative, as if considering his options. “You’re one of the few people who could disarm this bomb before it kills her. You can either save Sylvie, or you can catch me. I don’t think you have time to do both. I’ve heard you’re the best. You’ll have to be, especially considering—”
“Considering what?” Eli snapped.
He didn’t finish the sentence, and without my eyes, all I had were my ears. I couldn’t see what the fuck he was talking about. A metallic clatter sounded on the far side of the room.
A loud bang filled the room. A gunshot? It couldn’t be the bomb going off, because I wasn’t dead. The acrid smell of smoke filled the room. There was pounding, and I was moving.
“Hang on, baby,” Eli said. “I’m getting you out of here.”
“Where’d he go?” I choked out.
“Got away. Just sit still. I’ve got this.” Eli was tugging gently at the straps binding me, then stopped abruptly and sucked in a breath. “Sylvie, I need you to stay very still. The bomb is wired into the straps.” He tugged at them, murmuring, “Goddamn, he is good.” There was a thread of admiration in Eli’s words, twined with cold fear.
More pounding, and then another voice I knew. “Report,” Maddox ordered. “Where the fuck did this smoke come from?”
“The bomber tossed a smoke canister for cover and took off up the stairs behind you a minute ago,” Eli said.
“Sylvie?” Maddox asked.
“There’s a bomb strapped to her chest. I’m on it.”
Feet pounded on concrete, and Eli kept working, mumbling to himself. Numbers. Counting wires? I had no clue.
I wanted to ask him to take the blindfold off, but the thing on my chest beeped again. Another thirty seconds gone.
I wanted to see him one more time before I talked him into leaving. Eli wasn’t going down with me.
“How much time?” I asked. Fuzzy-headed from fear and the taser, I couldn’t keep track.
“Enough,” Eli said, pulling at one of the straps. There was a click and a satisfied rumble in his throat.
“Eli,” I urged, “you need to get out.”
“I’m not leaving you here,” he said. “Not a chance.”
“Eli, no, if you can’t get it—”
“Hey, don’t you remember?” I heard the strain as he forced confidence into his voice. “I’m the best. I’m going to get it, and we’re going to walk out of here, okay?”
“But Eli, if you can’t—you have to go. Promise me you’ll go.”
“Stop distracting me. I’m not leaving you, so shut up and let me disarm this bomb.”
I shut up. I couldn’t stand the idea of Eli dying beside me. But maybe if I kept my mouth closed, he could get this thing disarmed, and nobody would have to die.
“Hold on, baby,” he said again. “Got one.” He tugged at something else. “Got another. Got—oh fuck.”
“What?” I spit out, my mouth dry.
“There’s a secondary device. If Mad hasn’t caught him, he’d better get his ass back here. I don’t have time to hit both.”
For the first time, I heard stark fear underpinning Eli’s words.
“How much time?” I asked, my voice harsh in my ears.
Eli didn’t answer. “Got one more,” he said instead, his hands working at a strap that crossed my ribs to the left.
“I couldn’t find him,” Maddox said over the sound of his feet pounding down the stairs. “Sylvie clear yet?”
“Working on it,” Eli said.
“You got no time left, man.” Maddox’s voice held a heavy warning. “Two forty-five. We have to think about—”
Eli cut him off. “There’s a secondary device up in the corner.”
I couldn’t see what they were talking about, but Maddox spotted it immediately.
“Fuck me,” he said. “I’ll see if I can get to it.”
I heard something being dragged, a clatter of wood and metal, then creaking as I imagined Maddox climbing up.