Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 723(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 482(@300wpm)
Zach sent Kala a “see what you’ve done” look. “Pretty sure Mom knows nothing, but then I’ve barely talked to her. Finding her is one of my problems. How much has Kala figured out?”
“Enough to know she’s the bombmaker.” Apparently he hadn’t been listening the whole time. “Did she make the bomb you put on Rebecca’s car or did you learn how to do it, too?”
Zach’s head fell back on a groan. “I should have known this would get heinously fucked up. The truth of the matter is I panicked when I screwed up with Tris. If I’d been thinking and not worried about losing my friends, I could have saved it. You want a beer? There’s also whiskey, but it’s not what your dad drinks.”
She stared down at Cooper. “What was the dosage?”
She wanted to know if it was meant for a man or a bear. If it was a bear dose, she needed to get him to medical care.
Zach moved to the cooler, pulling out two longnecks. “Kala, I wouldn’t hurt my brother. It’s precisely why my aunt is carrying a tranquilizer gun with man-dosed darts and not something with real bullets. She’s an excellent shot, but she can be paranoid at times.”
“It’s not paranoia, son,” Joyce argued. “The damn Agency walked into my camp in the middle of nowhere looking for you. So it’s not paranoia. But he is right that I can shoot first and then really wish I’d asked some questions. Though I don’t think I would have seen that face and shot.”
So Cooper would be okay, and that was all that mattered. Now she had a job to do. She took the beer and pulled the cap off. She should throw it back in his face since the last drink she’d taken from an actual bartender had been drugged. She stared at it for a moment.
“It’s not the same as Canada,” he said quietly, tipping his own beer back and taking a long drink. “That asshole got you because you like super-bougie vodka. You watched him open the bottle. Watched him make the drink. If you weren’t so fancy, the bottle wouldn’t have had a cork that makes it easy to drug.”
“I also tested the fucker.” He was right, and honestly, if he wanted to drug her, the rifle was still loaded. Deep down she trusted this man. “How was I supposed to know Huisman spends his time developing new ways to rape women? Asshole.”
Zach tipped his bottle her way before taking a seat. “With you, sister. Now tell me what’s going on with Devi.”
She sat across from him and rolled her eyes. “Sure. Let’s gossip about my cousin. No, Zach. You either talk or I call Henry Flanders right now and maybe you get away. Don’t think I’m not serious. I just wrecked the only good relationship I’ve ever had. I would rather you tell me what I need to know than fight you.”
Zach sighed. “It’s two against one. I know you’re good, but I might have been holding back on you.”
Yeah, she got that. “I think I can convince your aunt to help me out since you didn’t talk to her about what’s going on. Joyce, your nephew has been working with the Agency for years. Now I believe he worked his way on my team because he knew about Cooper, but he’s also used that position to protect his mother, who is an illegal arms dealer.”
“Is this true?” Joyce asked.
“She’s not a dealer,” Zach returned. “She doesn’t want to be in this world, but once you’re in it’s hard to get out. She didn’t realize what Disrupt would try to do with her bombs.”
A laugh huffed from Kala’s chest. “She didn’t realize they would use bombs to blow shit up? Really? Do they have another use? Like an anxiety-inducing footstool?”
“You know as well as I do that sometimes war is necessary,” Zach replied evenly, his eyes on her. “She’s not what you think.”
“Shannon is a good girl deep down.” Joyce sniffled but kept that rifle close. “She thinks she’s helping people.”
Joyce was delusional, but she wasn’t about to argue with the woman. From what she could tell, Shannon and Zach were the only family Joyce had in all the world. Well, apart from her sleeping Prince Charming. Who’d lost all his charm.
He’d said all the right things, and she’d fallen for it. Because deep down she was just a pathetic girl who wanted some man to love her. Wanted a particular man to love her.
But she didn’t have to be. Lena could help her become something else. Lena could help hone her into the weapon she’d always dreamed of being in her darker moments. A weapon for good, but who didn’t have to feel this awful cloud over her head all the time.