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)
She looked around. She’d gotten to know where the cams were. It was a risk but one she was willing to take. She moved away from the wall and faced the camera in the corner, waving her arms. She held up the gun so Lou would know she was armed.
“I don’t think it’s on, honey.” Shannon stayed by the wall, a grim expression on her face.
Devi stopped bouncing like she was on a deserted island trying to flag down a plane. “Why do you say that?”
“That one moves, and it’s not moving. It was working when we first walked in, but it’s dead now.” Shannon seemed to think, and whatever was going through her head did not lift her mood. “Something’s happening, Devi.”
“I’m sure it’s my uncle. He likes to shut down systems. Or all the gunfire hit something important.”
Shannon’s head shook. “No. I’ve studied a lot of military philosophy and how battle plans are mapped out. Your uncle would have a plan, and it wouldn’t consist of taking the power out. Doing that would lock us in when he needs to move quickly. Remember when Huisman brought us into his residence?”
It had been their first full day here, and Huisman had them brought to his sleek and technologically advanced apartment. He’d had one of his staff bring them tea, which she did not drink, and had told them the rules. “I remember.”
“I studied the place. I’m absolutely certain his bedroom is wired to act as a safe room like the one you told me Nell’s daughter had in Liverpool. The door had a specific panel that goes beyond a simple keycard or even biometrics. I’m worried Huisman is going to lock himself in his safe room and blow up one of the bombs. Even with a vaccine, I think it will kill everyone who comes into contact with it.”
“There’s a vaccine? Did I get it as a kid?” If there was a damn vaccine, what was everyone worried about? She still didn’t get the whole bioweapons thing, but she was going with it.
“It’s not the kind of vaccine they give to kids,” Shannon said as they moved around the back wall, avoiding the area that led to the kitchen where they had no line of sight. “Mostly military or medical professionals and first responders who might come into contact with it. You and I will die quickly, but with the way the winds blow, everyone in the village below will likely die as well.”
“You think he would destroy this whole place?” Were they on borrowed time or had Zach already taken him out?
“Sweetie, you said it yourself. I believe if that man thinks he’s going down, he’ll take everyone with him.”
They needed to find Zach and get out of here. She was sure they had brought a helo and hadn’t climbed the mountain. Cooper could pilot anything that flew. He would have brought them up.
She was not panicking. She was calm and cool and steady. She was Erin and Theo Taggart’s daughter. She was Captain Zach Reed’s fiancée.
No. She stood there for a second, and something deep settled in her.
She was Devi Taggart, the sum of all those parts, but her own person. She was made from everything that happened to her and how she handled it. She was made from love, but she was her own person.
If she survived, she wasn’t going to sit and wait for some design house to notice her.
She would build her own. She would build a house for her creativity, a home for her soul, and she would let her family help her. A home for her husband and children built on her strength and her dreams.
But she had to survive first. It had only taken three damn kidnappings, but she was ready to move on with faith in herself and her family.
“Then we have to figure out how to stop him. If he blows the place up, we won’t exactly have time to get out. The team will have to split up,” Devi said. “So how do we stop it? If we pull the wires, would that help?”
“We need to find his system.” Shannon’s voice was quiet but certain. “I’m sure he has one system that controls the entire base of operations.”
Devi had paid close attention when she was allowed out of the lab. “I think the control room is one floor down.”
Shannon’s head shook. “He wouldn’t keep this in the control room. It’s in one of the four rooms that make up his residence. One floor up. That’s where we need to go. That’s where he’ll have it.”
“Do you think it’s possible we can shut it down remotely?” Devi asked.
“I find it hard to believe he doesn’t have a wireless connection. He’s obsessed with technology. Being able to remotely detonate is one of the things he wants from me. I told him I couldn’t do it in the time he needed, but I could,” Shannon admitted. “He wants to be able to stand anywhere in the world and have power over some place far away. He’s a megalomaniac. I know he’s smart, but his downfall will be his arrogance. He views everything as a game, and he doesn’t imagine he can lose.”