Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 109368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 547(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 365(@300wpm)
Because they didn’t think I’d run.
As I armed myself, I laid out the plan to Silver.
“I’m not leaving you,” she hissed.
“I know.” Fuck, did I wish it weren’t true. “But I need you at a distance.” I took the rifle out of her hand and clipped the infrared scope to it. “If you get a clear shot of any of them, you take it.”
Exhaling shakily, she nodded.
“Ian’s on the east side of the property. I’m going to take out the guy on the west and north. By then, Ian will reveal himself. If you see him, you take the shot.”
“Okay. Who … who are the other guys?”
“No idea. Mercenaries more than likely.”
“Oh my God.”
I cupped her face, pulling her toward me. “You can still hide in this room. I’d prefer it.”
“I can’t. I’m sorry. I can’t leave you.”
Squeezing my eyes closed, I nodded, then pressed a hard kiss to her mouth. Then I pulled out my phone and connected it to the Wi-Fi for calling out.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
“I have the internet, remember.”
“So, I could have been calling people this whole time?” she grumbled under her breath.
I flashed her a weak smile as the call connected.
“I’m afraid to even ask why you’re calling at this hour,” James said in greeting.
“Ian Kingston has breached my island with two armed men.”
“Fuck.”
“My thoughts precisely. They have my house surrounded. I have Tierney with me.”
“I’ll send out a team.”
“Be quick. If … you’ll protect her if I can’t.”
Silver’s expression tightened with fear. And anger.
“I’ll get someone there as quickly as possible. What information can you provide?”
I relayed what weapons I could see on them, that they had infrared goggles, wore camouflage, and the formation I suspected they were taking to surround the house.
“Use the code name Silver to identify yourself to the team. ETA twenty minutes,” James said. “The helicopter will land on your island, so stay out of the northwest.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t die, my friend. Not now when you might actually start to live.”
“Aye, all right, no need to get sentimental.”
I heard his sharp, worried laugh before we disconnected. Silver held my gaze. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
I tapped the camera app on my phone so I could keep an eye on Ian and his men who had drawn as close as possible to the house without being seen. We closed the hidden room and then shut Akiva in the bedroom, much to her dismay. But I couldn’t handle it if anything happened to her, and she was too protective of me and Silver.
Silently, I opened the back door and as Ian stepped out into the clearing at the front of the property, I gestured for Silver to run into the trees.
My fucking heart went with her.
“I know you know we’re here, Logan!” Ian’s clipped, English-accented voice ricocheted around the entire clearing. Akiva began to bark from the bedroom.
I slipped out the door too, silently making my way along the rear of the house. At the gap between it and the barn, I checked the cameras on my phone. Seeing I was clear, I moved past the gap and along the back of the barn.
Ian’s voice continued to echo across the property. “You’re not a coward! So come out and face me!”
His men were starting to move. Towards us.
I prayed Silver stayed hidden as I moved straight into the path of one of the guys. We were close enough that I heard the crack of bracken under his foot. Slipping behind one of the thicker trunked oaks that sat among my birch trees, I controlled my breathing until it was barely perceptible. So the light from my phone didn’t give me away, I shoved it in my pocket and chose one of the knives strapped to my hip.
Another crack over my shoulder to my left had me practically shaking my head. Whoever Ian had brought with him could do with some training. Senses alert, I waited until I felt him draw up beside the tree. I whipped around the back of it before he even had time to process my presence.
He tried to fight.
Even attempted to aim his handgun.
In a series of rapid moves, however, I disabled him with knife wounds to his upper chest, gut, and arms. When he dropped the gun and tried to reach for his own knife, disoriented and dazed by the speed of my attack, I wound my arms around his neck and squeezed until he lost consciousness.
The prick was lucky I didn’t kill him.
I hid his weapons in case he woke up and then checked the cameras on my phone. As I noted the second man had moved and Ian was on my porch, the sound of a gun firing exploded through the trees.
It was so loud, I was sure it would be heard on Leth Sholas.
Fear crashed over me as I pulled up more feeds.