Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 34381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34381 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
I was taking a chance that security would be a little lax with Rico and Anurak gone. I knew it was a slim chance, but it was all the chance I had. Because when Alfonzo wasn’t home, he was like a ghost. No one could ever find him. He was never seen on security feeds, never spotted in a store. Hell, even traffic cameras never caught him.
It’d made these past several weeks of hunting him down frustrating, to say the least.
I paused right at the edge of the woods and stared at the house. Two guards stood posted outside the backdoors, so that would be a no-go for me, as I didn’t have backup. Security cameras were set up at every corner, but I was sure there were more hidden that I couldn’t see.
Fuck, this was going to be a disaster. The moment I stepped out from the cover of these trees, I was a dead fucking man. I had no idea why Anatoly put me on this job. I didn’t have much fieldwork beneath my belt to rely on, and when I had done fieldwork, it was simple things like gun exchanges or acting as security. I’d never been tasked with taking someone out before. Not on a team and certainly never on my own.
Something else was at play here, but I couldn’t figure out what. The only conclusion I could come to was that Anatoly was sick of me and knew I wouldn’t survive this mission. What I’d done to piss him off, I had no clue. But defying his orders would only get me tortured, then killed. Maybe this was the easier way to go out.
Someone made a small tsking noise right in my ear, and I damn near jumped a foot into the air. I managed to bite my tongue before I shrieked. With my heart in my throat, I spun around, coming face to face with my target.
Alfonzo fucking Aguado.
I was so dead.
“I’m a bit disappointed,” he murmured, cocking his head to the side. He leaned one shoulder on the tree next to him, and his eyes slowly perused me like he had all the time in the world. “You didn’t hear me coming up, and you came right into my lair. It’s almost like you have no training at all, mouse. Does Balakin really think so low of me?” He pressed his hand to his heart dramatically. “I’m wounded. Truly.” He dropped his hand back down and gripped his pistol. “I have to say though…” I didn’t have time to react, to even reach for my own gun before he was pressing the barrel of his beneath my chin and forcing my head up to look at him. “You certainly are pretty.”
“If you’re going to kill me,” I rasped, swallowing thickly when he ran the tip of his gun along my jaw, “just do it already.”
He stepped closer—so close, I could feel his body heat radiating onto mine. “Nah, mouse. I don’t think I will. I’m supposed to kill you, but I think keeping you alive a little longer will be more fun.” My heart dropped to my feet. Reaching up with his free hand, he pushed the bill of my cap up a little, revealing more of my face. “After all, I like to savor my kills. I need them to be enjoyable. And taking you out when you made it so easy…” He shook his head, tsking. “There’s no fun in that, now is there?”
I stared at him, wide-eyed. “You’re a psycho,” I breathed before I could stop myself.
He laughed. “Probably,” he mused. “Never bothered to get diagnosed.” Leaning in, he skimmed his nose along my jaw to my ear, and fuck me to hell, I couldn’t stop that shiver that rolled down my spine. Here I was, being held at gunpoint and more than likely about to fucking die, and I was getting turned on by the son of a bitch.
“I think we should play a game—something like…” He leaned back to look at me again, those dark eyes glinting in the moonlight. “You can be Jerry, and I’ll be Tom. A little game of cat and mouse.” He tapped the steel on my cheek gently, almost akin to a caress. “But just a warning, mouse, I’m not as stupid as Tom was in the show.” Stepping back, he tucked his gun away, then jerked his chin in the direction of the woods behind him. “Go on now. Your time to die isn’t tonight.”
I swallowed thickly, terrified to turn my back on him. But when he ushered me along, I somehow managed to make my feet move. I was several feet away from him, the darkness of the woods shrouding me, when he softly called, “I’ll be seeing you around, mouse. More than likely when you least expect it.”