Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 77961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
“Let's find these assholes.” Diesel's already striding down the hall, his gun ready. I follow right behind, and then Shrapnel limps after. Fuck, when we get back, first thing I'm gonna do is get Doc or Emily to give him a look. He's gonna hurt himself.
First door we get to, Diesel kicks it. It slams open. Empty.
A couple of goons come around the corner from a second corridor, guns up.
Not fast enough. Diesel's gun barks in time with mine, but we're both a hair behind Shrapnel's two quick shots. Both of the fuckers go down, and I'm pretty sure Shrapnel beat us to both of them. That man is fucking furious.
We kick open another door, and it's as empty as the first one.
“How many of these offices are there?” he groans.
“Too fucking many. And there's upstairs too.”
Shrapnel limps ahead to the next one and kicks it open with a wince, pointing his gun in to cover the room. “I don't fucking care how many there are. I'm going until we find Rory. And I pity any fucker who gets in my way.”
As more of our boys come down the hallway, I nod to him and move to the next. “We're with you, brother.”
“Bet your fucking ass,” Diesel adds.
Fuck, Rory, you better hang on, because we're coming.
33
RORY
“What the hell is all that noise?” Haney glares towards the door. “Leon, send someone to check it out.” She seems half annoyed, half scared. If we've been found out, are there soldiers coming? And if they are, will she convince them that I’m working with her and just arrest me with everyone else?
Hopefully arrest me. If they see the dead soldiers by the entrance, they might not be in a mood to take prisoners.
I shake my head, trying to calm down. I can't think like that, because I'll just drive myself crazy.
I have no idea how long I can keep Haney thinking that I'm making progress. I've started up all the processes, everything looks like I'm doing things, but without the dongle to run the final routines on it, nothing's going to actually work.
Dad groans in the chair. He's been dipping in and out of consciousness, and I'm so worried about him. We've never had the closest relationship, but no one deserves this.
“Are you in yet?” Mary asks.
I nearly leap out of the chair. How does she move so quietly, when I feel like she's bitching the whole time? Wasn't she checking the noise out in the hallway?
“Almost there. Military systems are tricky.”
“So much for revolutionary technology. Your program bypasses advanced encryption, huh? Tell me it's not all smoke and mirrors.”
There's faint yelling carrying through the building, followed by the much louder crack of a gunshot. Holy crap. I start to get up, but Haney puts all her weight on my shoulders, pushing me back into the chair. “You stay right there, Florence. Your only job is to get into the system and get me the things that I need. I know you can do this faster, so how is this for incentive? You have exactly one minute, and then I execute your father.” She pulls a gun out of her suit jacket from a shoulder holster and aims it at Dad's head.
“Don't.” Gripping my chair, I have to stop myself from leaping out and making her twitch.
“Then hack faster. I know you can.”
“D—don’t do it for that b—bitch,” Dad whispers.
“I’ve got it under control.” But I don’t, and if I don't start to produce something, things are going to get bad, fast.
Another gun goes off, startling me. It takes a moment to convince my brain that it wasn't Haney shooting Dad. That one was closer, or at least louder.
A surge of hope fills me. I need to draw out the time, distract her. But how? Do I tell her the truth? Will that change anything? She probably won't even believe me, but at least if she kills us, I know she’s screwed, too.
“Ms. Haney!” Leon comes rushing back into the room. “We're out of time. The bikers are searching the first floor.”
Wait, did Shrapnel get away? Bikers? Are Bull and Diesel here? I need to buy them time.
“What?” snaps Haney with disbelief. “I thought you said you took care of him.”
Shrapnel. My heart sinks. I knew I shouldn't have trusted Leon, but we didn’t have much choice. I just hoped, probably stupidly, that without a reason to kill him, they’d do the right thing. Closing my eyes for a moment, I try to find enough calm to not show my panic.
Haney doesn't even notice. “How did they—doesn't matter. Quick, build a barricade. Cover the hall. You have guns for a fucking reason and I'm so close!” Her voice cracks once and her gun hand is shaking. She's going to fire it by accident at this point. I don’t get the feeling she’s used to this sort of thing. “Prepare to shoot our way out of here, if necessary. You're trained professionals. They're a bunch of criminals with two damn brain cells to knock together between them. Go!”