Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 90685 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90685 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
I manage to get some sleep before the sound of the buzzer from Iris’s front gate sounds.
As usual, the minute I’m awake, I’m on alert. Sleeping somewhere different again, I take a few seconds to get my bearings, but like I did back in my basic training days when they’d wake us up at all hours for a random training drill, I stumble out of bed and get dressed as fast as I can.
Dylan doesn’t even stir, and I’m not surprised. We’re both exhausted, but unlike me, Dylan isn’t used to it. Hopefully, he’ll be down for a while longer, and by then my guys will have come up with a useable plan.
I don’t just want Walker. I want him, Rowling, Rowling’s son, and hell, I’m tempted to go after the mercenaries they’ve hired to take Dylan out. Forget professional respect between private op groups. Anyone who’d accept the job knowing my ranch was their target broke that first.
I hit the head and then make my way into the living room, where Ghost is already set up next to Saint, and they’re both typing furiously on their keyboards.
I blink at Ghost. “How long have you been here?”
“About an hour.”
“I didn’t hear you.” That’s weird because I hear everything.
“It’s cute you think I didn’t know if I used the buzzer to be let in that it would wake you. Domino told us to be as quiet as possible as we arrived.”
“Then who—” Before I can ask who rang the buzzer, Zeus walks through the front door.
“What’s up, fuckers?”
“Dude,” Ghost says. “Did you not get the message about being quiet?”
“Unfortunately, that is Zeus’s definition of quiet,” I point out.
“If I have to be up at dark o’clock, everyone has to be,” Zeus says.
Atlas walks in behind him and slaps his shoulder. “A real team player here.”
“Hey, there’s no I in team. Therefore, if I’m suffering, everyone should be.”
“I don’t think that’s the meaning of that phrase,” Atlas says.
“Eh. Semantics,” Zeus says. “So, who’s the coffee bitch?”
I look at him, and he slumps.
“It’s me because I said coffee bitch, isn’t it?”
I clap his back. “Yep. There’s no I in team, Zeus.”
He grumbles all the way to Iris’s kitchen.
“How long was I out?” I ask.
“A couple of hours,” Saint says.
“How long have you been up?”
Using Ghost’s words, Saint says, “It’s cute you think I went to bed.”
“Please tell me you came up with an amazing plan for me.”
“Not a plan, but we’ve done some digging and have some names, and I think we have a way to flush Walker out personally.”
“That’s what I like to hear.” I raise my voice. “Now, if only the coffee bitch would hurry up.”
Zeus appears with coffee.
“Okay, I was only joking because it usually takes longer to make than that. What did you put in it?”
“Don’t trust me, boss?” Zeus asks innocently.
“Nope.”
“Fair enough, but it turns out Decaf is here. He already made a pot.”
“Of course he did, but the important question is how many cups has he had?”
“He’s on his third. We will be allowed to talk to him in a couple of minutes.”
“Good. We’re all ready to get to work, then.” I take my coffee from Zeus’s hand, but then I pause with it halfway to my lips.
Zeus is watching me with a smile on his face.
“Wait.” I switch his cup out for mine.
“Really? You really don’t trust me that much?”
“I don’t know.”
He shrugs. “Eh. I got what I wanted anyway. More coffee.” He drinks the stuff in my cup before I look down and realize he was already halfway through his.
I down it like a shot because I need the caffeine and then hand him back the cup. “And now you can go get me more. Thanks.”
“Sure thing, boss.” He looks way too happy about it.
“Damn it. I’ll get it myself.”
Zeus throws himself on Iris’s couch and puts his hands behind his head triumphantly. “And that, friends, is how you get out of doing things you don’t want to do.”
“I’d tell you I hate you for being a lazy-ass, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, the lazy ones are the ones who get shit done because they find the quickest and easiest way to do something.”
Iris enters the room at that moment, hair wet from a shower. “Who’s quick and easy? Zeus? We already knew that.”
“Hey, someone has to pick up the slack after you went off the market. There are people with needs everywhere.”
After I get a fresh coffee, I join the others in Iris’s living room, which has been set up like a command center with laptops and computers, and Ghost has even brought a whiteboard and markers so we can map it all out.
Old-school. I like it.
I sit in an available armchair. “What have we got?”
Saint stands and moves to the whiteboard. “Okay. We know how Rowling’s kid is linked to Walker, but we’re not sure how deep everything goes, right? There are things we need to know. Like who hired us to watch Councilman Rowling?”