Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 149641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 748(@200wpm)___ 599(@250wpm)___ 499(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 149641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 748(@200wpm)___ 599(@250wpm)___ 499(@300wpm)
It was good to know Manny kept all the proper records for his evil empire.
It was taking too long. He needed to get to Kenzie.
This was why the military guys were way better at this. They’d been trained to wait and not go strictly on their guts. His was telling him that Kenzie was in trouble, that she needed him, and all he wanted to do was run screaming for her.
What had she already been through? What had Manny done to her? It didn’t matter because he would do everything he could to help her heal. He just wanted her alive. He would deal with everything else.
He was going to trust. It was a start. He was going to trust one person, and that person was Ian Taggart. He was going to trust Ian and not allow himself to panic, not allow himself to give in to the need to meet Manny so they could finish this.
He didn’t want to finish because he now knew what he would be finishing was his life, and that wasn’t acceptable anymore.
He’d spent years working toward a point—defeating Manny—and not seeing anything beyond that moment.
He wanted a future now. A future with her.
Kenzie needed him. He saw her in a way no one else did. They were meant to be, and he wasn’t going to fight it one more second. He was going with it, and if his heart got broken then at least he’d fucking used it, given it to a woman who was more than worthy.
“Oh, we have a friend. Looks like Zach made his flight,” Tasha said. “He’s coming in with Cooper and TJ. Unit two, you have a go.”
“Zach, welcome home,” Big Tag said.
“Happy to be here, sir. You should know Henry Flanders is taking care of everyone we have in Bliss, and he’s monitoring the situation,” Zach said over the line.
From what he’d learned Henry Flanders was Big Tag’s mentor and Lucy’s father. “How did Zach get here so fast?”
Taggart kept his voice down, his eyes on the door about forty feet away. “He asked me to call him when I thought it was going down. I called the minute Lou was taken. He’s been making his way here for two days. I wouldn’t leave him behind, and he won’t leave Lou.”
The ground beneath them shook slightly.
“That’ll be Lucifer,” Kala said quietly. “She was going to blow two of the vehicles. I tried to get her to take down that weird wall thing, but I got a lecture on pre-Christian European architecture and why we shouldn’t explode it. See, that’s her real evil superpower. The power to bore me.”
He heard a whooshing sound as the door came open and then booted feet on the concrete floors.
“All right. You lost four of seven,” Tasha informed them. “And they left the laptop on. So if someone would like to murder a couple of assholes and take a look, that would be great. We need key cards. Tris is having some trouble with the interior security system, and that’s where we’re sure they’re keeping Lou and Kenz.”
“I’ll take the laptop. Tim’s taught me a lot.” Ben looked to Kala. “Don’t let them kill me.”
Her eyes rolled. “Like I would. I want to do it.”
She was going to be such a fun in-law.
There it was. The future. He was thinking about it more and more now, and without fear. He thought about marrying Kenzie and starting a life with her.
He wasn’t sure how they would do it, the logistics and all, but they would work it out because they were end game.
Tag nodded his way and then looked to his wife. “You got a spot, Charlie baby?”
She gestured to the stairs behind them. “I’ll take out the guy on patrol. Kala can get the two by the desk, and then I’ll have a perch for anyone who comes in. We’ll meet back here for extraction.”
“Mom, they’re not watching. You can take the perch on the west side without too much trouble.” Tasha proved she’d worked with her parents and knew exactly what her mom would do. “I’ll move the van in once we get this party started. Tris says he’s got eyes on the lab and we need to move. Kenzie is in a medical lab. It’s the fourth door on the left. He says it’s bad, so Coop, you might want to make your way.”
“Does he have eyes on Huisman?” Ben asked. He wasn’t going to call him Manny anymore. Manny had been the dude who was his friend. He might never have really existed, but Ben wasn’t going to argue that now. Huisman was a target. Nothing more.
“He’s in the medical wing. Lou’s got three guards on her. She’s in a lab working with some dangerous shit, from what Tris can tell,” Tasha replied. “No weapons should be fired in that space, and now Tris is worried about oxygen tanks. He’s got Kenzie on one.”