Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 58408 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58408 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
I nod, and then ask Zane. “How will you get it to blow?”
He grins. “That’s my job. We can’t have many men around, and I am the one who handles this stuff. Don’t worry, I got it sorted. If anyone else is down there, I’ll move ‘em out. The rest is remote. Safer that way. Least for us.”
“We’ll clear the house, too,” Wolfe says, “and have eyes on the exits. No slip-ups.” He’s looking at me, but I know he’s referring to everyone.
It’s almost a comfort to have everything reduced to logistics, schedules, the practical mechanics of destruction. I can hold onto that, at least, until this is over. I pick at a stray thread on my jacket, and ask, “And after?”
Wolfe tilts his head. “After, you do whatever you want. Ralston’s gone, your brother’s free, and you can make your own choices. We take care of the rest.”
I nod, fighting back tears.
“Thank you. Let me know how and when, and I’ll make sure he’s there,” I say, and I grab my bag. I don’t want to be in this room one more second, but I barely make it three steps before Knox speaks, finally, voice a rough whisper. “Callie, wait.”
I can’t.
I rush out the door.
He follows, my name on his lips as I hurry out the front door, praying he just stops and turns away. His fingers curl around my arm just as I clear the bottom step and I spin, jerking myself out of his grip. “No. Please. Don’t.”
He steps forward anyway, his face stern. “Just give me two fuckin’ minutes.”
I open my mouth to argue, but he talks before I get the chance.
“You ended up meanin’ something to me,” he says. “I didn’t know that was goin’ to happen and I was goin’ to tell you. I don’t want this to be how it ends.”
I am fighting a war in myself I am scared I won’t win. “You let me fall so hard for you, knowing all along I would find out. You should have told me.”
“I fucked up,” he murmurs, his voice low. “I know I did. It wasn’t about you, at first. But it is, now. Everything’s about you. I never wanted to hurt you.”
A stupid, bitter laugh leaves my mouth. “Well, you did.”
His mouth tightens.
He steps forward.
“Please don’t touch me,” I whisper. “If you touch me, I will crumble and I can’t crumble. I just want my brother free and this to be over. Please, just let me have that.”
I turn before I can see the expression on his face.
If I do, I’ll fall into his arms.
I drive home with my eyes so blurred that I can barely see the road.
I have a plan.
And this time, nobody’s going to fuck it up.
I need this to be done.
14
“Here, connect this,” Zane says, thrusting a cord at me.
We have been in this barn for about five hours, setting everything up. It took so long to get it out of the basement, but I think they have the right idea doing it in the barn. The explosion will be bigger, and it is a good reason to get Ralston close. After all, he will be coming to collect cows.
That’s what we’re going to use to lure him in: the promise of all the remaining cows being sold to him. A good amount of money to run through the books. It will get him here, I have no doubt about it. It’s a solid plan, and I can only pray nothing goes wrong.
For right now, though, we need to focus on this.
There are wires and cables everywhere, but Zane moves around them effortlessly, like he has done this a million times before. His phone keeps buzzing, so he keeps tossing it into piles of insulation to ignore it, only to dig it out a minute later when he inevitably needs to check something.
I snap a connector onto the relay and motion to him. “Where does this go?”
He takes it without arguing, opens up a metal case, and screws it in. “You’re good at this, you know that?”
“At following instructions?” I dust my hands off on my jeans. “Yeah, I’ve always been amazing at obedience.”
Zane snorts.
I’m untangling a knot in what looks like three yards of copper wire when the barn door creaks open. Sunlight flares in, followed by the silhouettes of Nia and Mera, both carrying brown paper bags and laughing about something.
“My God, look at the mess you two have made,” Nia calls as she drops the bags on a hay bale, hands on her hips. “Here.” She rifles for a sandwich and tosses it my way without waiting for me to answer.
Then she throws one to Zane, who takes it very appreciatively.
Mera looks around, eyes wide. “This is terrifying. I’m not even going to ask how you know how to do this.”