Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 58752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Tamsin glanced toward me, and I nodded. “We’ll let you know when we’re on the way.”
She ended the call before he could press for a time.
Stryker leaned one hand on the desk. “A fucking trap.”
Tamsin looked at me. “He expects me to arrive protected. You’ve been beside me all week, so showing up alone would warn him faster than bringing the club.”
“I know, pretty girl. You did exactly the right thing,” I assured her, keeping my voice even while every instinct demanded I put her somewhere three locked doors away from the range.
“You’re not going to fight me on going there?” She stood and faced me, making herself hold my gaze despite the hurt still sitting behind her eyes. “I need to be there. I know the normal layout, so I can tell you what he moved. And the range covers too much ground for you to recognize every wrong thing from the road. If I don’t come, he may clear the property before you find whatever is left.”
I studied her face while everyone waited. Tamsin understood the invitation for what it was, and there was no reckless need to prove herself in the set of her shoulders. She was offering knowledge the club needed while trusting us to build the protection around her.
“I know. But you stay beside me. Anything feels wrong, the inspection ends. You don’t follow him through a door, you don’t step away to check something, and you don’t argue when I move you.”
Her chin lifted slightly. “I can work with that.”
Stryker nodded. “Show us the range.”
Tamsin pulled up the basic site plan on Cipher’s larger screen and walked us through the property. The administrative office sat at the front of the main building and opened into the prep and equipment bay, while the front security door required a company credential. A side maintenance entrance fed into the corridor along the building, and the rear service door opened toward an old maintenance trail used by utility trucks.
“The first bend hides the building from the rest of the trail,” Tamsin explained, tracing the road with one finger. “After that, it connects with the county route about a mile east.”
Stryker looked toward Nomad. “Put two teams beyond that bend before our visible group arrives. Leave the first stretch looking open.”
Nomad studied the contour lines and nodded. “They run that way, they drive straight into us.”
“Hawkeye takes the county side,” Stryker continued, moving his finger to the outer road. “Trigger, Wraith, Breach, and a visible group ride in with us. Everyone else closes the terrain before the manager knows we’re moving.”
Tamsin listened without interrupting. Once the map had given the brothers what they needed, Stryker sent the first teams out ahead and told the rest of us to gear up. I took Tamsin to my office across the hall, shut the door behind us, and picked up the low-profile ballistic vest I’d retrieved earlier and had left on the desk.
She pulled it over her shirt while I adjusted the fit. My fingers worked beneath the edges at her sides, tightening each strap until the vest sat snug without restricting her breathing.
“Arms up,” I urged.
Tamsin obeyed, lifting them while I ran my hands along her waist and ribs to check the fit. Her breath changed when my thumbs pressed near the soft underside of her breasts, and pink began spreading across her cheeks as she looked down at me. I made one final adjustment, then tested whether the vest shifted when I caught her waist and pulled her sharply against me.
“Most men bring flowers when they take a woman out,” she murmured, placing both palms against my chest.
“I brought armed bikers.”
“That’s your idea of romance?”
“Flowers don’t shoot back.”
Her mouth curved despite the nerves shadowing her eyes. I slid her jacket over the vest, checked that the hem and zipper would not catch, then left both hands resting at her waist.
“What do you say if something looks wrong and you don’t want him to know?” I asked.
“I need the updated site map.”
I moved one hand to the back of her neck. “You say that, I’ll know you spotted something. We leave the conversation, and the brothers move.”
“What if he tries to keep us there?”
“He won’t succeed.” The cold promise beneath my answer made her pupils widen, but she stayed close. I gave her the rest without softening any part of it. “You stay beside me at the range. If I say down, you hit the ground, cover your head, and wait until I reach you.”
“I hit the ground and wait for you,” she repeated, her fingers gripping the front of my shirt. “No questions.”
I raised an eyebrow. “No arguing?”
“Not when you’re trying to keep me alive.”
I watched her for another beat, seeing certainty instead of bravado in her expression. She knew my everyday unreasonable shit from an order meant to keep her alive, and she trusted me to know when the difference mattered.