Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
“All I care about is getting Devi and my mom out of there.” Zach wanted to be on a plane now. He glanced over at Lucy, who was excellent at putting together logistics at a moment’s notice. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d helped him out.
Cooper stood and pointed a finger his way. “You are not ditching us and making a run for the facility. Lucy, if you help him, I’ll find a way to make your life hell.”
Lucy’s head shook. “Well, you already did by bringing your psycho wife here and ruining years of undercover work. No. I will be going home with my parents and licking my wounds. I can’t help anymore. I have to figure out what I can do and hope I don’t get fired.”
“She’s been ordered back to Langley, and so have I.” Henry’s expression was grim. “We’re taking a flight back tonight. My wife… Well, she’s pretty emotional right now since she’s worried she somehow screwed up.”
“I’ll talk to her, Dad.” Lucy crossed her arms over her chest, a defensive position. “None of this is her fault.”
“No. It’s not.” Henry held a hand out to Tag. “I’m sorry it’s gone this way. If you need me, I’ll tell Langley to go to hell.”
Tag’s head shook. “We need to go in fast and tight. Kenzie will handle the Canadians. Lou will work tech. Tash, you need to find us a base of operations close to that mountain. Zach and Cooper’s only job is to get our people out. Tris and I will find the anthrax and ensure Huisman can’t use it against anyone. Henry, we’ll talk when we get back. I’ll handle things through Drake for now.”
Kala held up a hand. “Uhm, hello. Still here.”
“Still shot,” Tag countered. “I should send you back with Henry.”
“Please don’t,” Henry said.
“I’m not going anywhere but to Nepal.” Kala stood, and if her side was bothering her she didn’t show it. “I’ll stay in the background, but I’m not going home. My cousin is out there, and my team needs me.”
They started arguing, but Zach couldn’t take it anymore. He stood and walked back toward the bedroom where it was apparent Devi had tried to get away. There were tiny pieces of safety glass all over the bed they’d shared. Proof of how low he’d brought her. She should be home and safe. She should be applying for the internships she wanted or working on her business. She should not be trying to survive being kidnapped by a fucking terrorist.
“Whatever you’re thinking, stop.”
Zach turned and Cooper stood there, his mouth a flat line. “I’m thinking I got my fiancée killed.”
“She’s alive. I know she’s alive, and we’re going to save her.” Cooper walked in, avoiding the glass by the bed. “From what I can piece together, she saved Kala and likely Lucy, too.”
“Devi shouldn’t have to save anyone. I should have been here. I shouldn’t have left her.” The guilt was starting to eat him alive. He felt so fucking numb, and he knew it was a way to delay the pain, but it was coming for him.
“Devi would always save whoever she could. Don’t make her less than she is. And if I’m reading Huisman right, Devi was likely taken to force Shannon to do Huisman’s bidding. I think he was trying to take either you or me. I had to fight off a guy.”
“You mean you killed him.”
Cooper shrugged. “It was him or me. He had a syringe. Lou will run it through one of her many instruments and come up with what was in there, but I think we all know it was a sedative. It’s how Huisman works. He didn’t get either of us, so Devi will have to do. I suspect he always meant to try to get Kala back, and Devi was an insurance plan. We can’t blow the place up if Devi and your mom are there.”
That was an excellent point. He needed Devi alive.
“He’ll hurt her.” Every possible scenario was going through his brain at this point.
“Not if Shannon complies. Do you think she will?”
He hoped she would, to a point. “I think this is my mother’s worst nightmare. I don’t know. I don’t know if she’ll shut down. She’s capable of anything. The truth of the matter is I don’t know her. I know the facts about her life, but she’s been in and out of mine for so long that I don’t know if she’ll build a bomb to save the woman I love. I only know I put her in this position.”
“You didn’t,” Cooper insisted. “Look, man, I know how you feel. I know what it means to do something and have the consequences be so over the fucking top you can’t imagine it. I didn’t mean for anything to happen and yet it did, and I was a fifteen-year-old kid.”