Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 100561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
“It’s not the worst idea I’ve ever heard,” he says.
I turn to Annie, who nods reluctantly. With a sigh, I unlock my phone and search for Vince in the contacts. I type out a text:
Are you around? We need to talk.
Less than a minute later, I get a reply:
Great timing. I assume you’re missing something? I’m going to send you an address. If you want to see it again, bring the dog and everything you have about Compound Y. Don’t talk to anyone.
Crash reads the message over my shoulder. “Did this dude really include a winky emoji and complete punctuation in a menacing text? What a weirdo.”
“He really did it,” I say, stunned. Vince tried to kill Luca—he did kill Luca. And he has him now. “He had the nerve to talk about being unethical, all while he—”
“Breathe, Em,” Annie says for at least the sixth time today. “We can do this. I’m hoping you still have Emery’s Menstrual Vitamins in your fridge?”
“I’m sorry, what?” Crash says from behind me.
Holy shit, I do. Thank God we never took them back. “Yes, but listen, I’m not taking Honey to him. No fucking way. You guys stay here with her. I’ll get everything and—”
“Have you lost your mind?” She shakes her head firmly. “You’re not going alone.”
“Luca would kill me if I let you do that,” Crash says. “I’m going with you.”
Betty steps forward. “They’re right. We’re going. Besides, I have a nine-millimeter in my handbag.”
“You have a what?” I hold up my hand, shaking my head. “No, Betty. There’s no we.” I look at each of them in turn. “Thank you for your help, but I can’t drag any of you into this. It’s not safe.”
“In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re already in this. Besides, if this person hurt Luca, you’re going to need my evidence.” To emphasize her point, Betty reaches for her laptop and closes it with a decisive click. “And my help.”
44 EMERY
And that’s how I end up with a veterinarian, a landscaper, a senior citizen, and a resurrected golden retriever–husky mix in my car as I race through San Diego.
“This secret compound is how you brought Luca back?” Betty asks from the back seat.
“Something like that.” The GPS calls out directions and I make a right turn too fast. Everyone with hands grabs on to something to steady themselves. Honey is safely buckled into her harness in the middle seat, but the momentum sends her over to Betty, whose face she happily licks.
“I take back what I said before, Emery,” Betty says, petting the dog. “You really were doing important work. Imagine all the people who could be saved.”
“That’s what we’re hoping for,” Annie says, reaching over to squeeze my hand.
“My late husband died of a heart attack,” Betty tells us. “What a blessing this would have been.”
“A couple of mad scientists, am I right?” Crash says proudly.
In the rearview mirror, I see Betty nod and run a gentle hand through Honey’s fur again. “And you saved her, too?”
“We did,” Annie says with a proud smile.
“With medicine that’s in that cooler?”
“Partly,” I say.
“Amazing,” Betty muses, followed by a brief pause. “Why is it labeled ‘menstrual vitamins’?”
“It’s a long story. And speaking of long stories”—Annie leans over dramatically to eye the speedometer—“please don’t make me come up with one when you get pulled over for speeding. Girl, slow down.”
“Sorry.” I begrudgingly ease my foot off the accelerator, stress rising as our speed drops. Luckily, according to the GPS, we’re almost there. “What is this place anyway?” I’d been in such a hurry after Vince’s text that I’d grabbed everything related to Compound Y and entered the address without looking any further.
Crash gazes out the window. “It’s an industrial complex. I knew a contractor who had a shop out here.”
I turn into a parking lot set back from the main road. There are rows of single-story brick buildings, most of them with large garage doors on one side. And because it’s after hours, the entire parking lot is empty.
“I do not feel good about this at all,” Betty says.
“What part don’t you feel good about?” Annie asks, turning around. “That four completely out-of-their-depth and with no sense of self-preservation idiots are attempting to rescue someone who’s been kidnapped and being held against his will? Or that the bad guy is telling us to bring the supersecret compound to a bunch of empty, dark buildings where nobody will hear us scream?”
“I was going to say that I don’t have any cellular service here, but thank you for the perspective, Annabella.”
My headlights cut across the front and illuminate the addresses. “It’s that one right there. Number twelve.” Of course it’s the one set back from the others.
Betty leans forward to see out the front window. “It seems relevant right now to mention that I once watched a television program where they said prostitutes know never to go with a john to a factory or a warehouse.”