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)
“Can you see the basement?” Charlotte asked. “It’s almost surely where Kala will be when they’re not…”
Torturing her. Charlotte might not be able to say the words out loud, but it didn’t change what was likely happening to the woman he loved.
“The basement is one of the rooms they have blacked out,” Tris admitted. “I can see there’s a camera there, but it’s offline. Same for a couple of the rooms upstairs.”
“That’s where she’ll be,” Ian said firmly. “We need to access those rooms. The ones with cameras on aren’t important beyond letting us know where the bad guys are. But you have to consider that the blacked-out rooms will have potential threats in them.”
“Like more guards?” TJ asked.
“Or traps,” Charlotte replied. “Don’t trust anything in that house at this point.”
“My wife found a bunch of medical equipment being shipped to this address within the last three weeks,” Drake said, staring down at his tablet. He was in touch with his wife, Taylor, who also worked for the Agency. “It appears they’re trying to show this as some sort of clinic on paper. That’s disturbing. He’s done a good job. He had the whole area rezoned as a mental health center. Like a rehab for wealthy people. It allows him to legally ship drugs in without gaining the eye of law enforcement.”
“He did all of this for her,” Kenzie said, not quite able to hide the horror in her tone. “He bought the house because it was attached in a way to our family, but he prepped it after he took her the first time. We have to think he’s got some kind of fascination with Kala. What’s happening to her? I wish we had that twin thing where we can feel each other.”
“He won’t kill her right away.” Ian’s tone had gone stony. It was how he talked when he was in focus mode. No sarcasm. No emotion.
But the emotion was there. It simply didn’t control him. Like Cooper was learning to do with his own. Kala didn’t shut down because she couldn’t feel. She did it so she could focus on the problem at hand and not give the enemy information they didn’t need to know. He felt a steely resolve harden in his gut. “She’ll survive. No matter what he throws at her, she’ll survive it, and we’ll all be there for her.”
“I don’t know if my sister can,” TJ said, for the first time sounding a little on edge. He’d been a soldier for a long time and he’d had to fight for his teammates, but Devi was his baby sister. And she didn’t have the training the rest of the family had. “Survive, that is.”
“Kala will do everything she can to make them look at her instead of Devi,” Cooper promised. He knew his girl. She would take the pain so her cousin didn’t have to.
And she thought she was some kind of villain?
“Devi’s tougher than you think,” Kenzie added. “She’s got a core of strength inside her. She won’t break.”
“We have movement to our left,” Drake said. “About a hundred feet away. There’s someone out here moving through the trees.” He pulled his comms unit. “Tash, are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
The radio crackled and then Tasha’s voice was heard. “Yes. I see him. He’s roughly six and a half feet, and he’s wearing fatigues but not the ones the guards wear. He seems…familiar to me. It’s something about the way he… I think it’s Zach. Don’t shoot. He’s making his way to the van. Are you out of camera range?”
It was precisely why they were parked where they were. Cooper stared out the window and then opened the door.
“Hey,” Ian began.
“He’s here to talk to me,” Cooper replied, hopping out of the van. In the moonlight he could see the shadowy figure moving toward them. Every few seconds he would stop and ensure the guards weren’t on their rounds to his left and then he would move again, gaining ground.
It was definitely Zach. Tasha was right. The man moved with predatory grace, clinging to the trees like a shadow. And then he was simply striding toward the van.
TJ had gotten out and stood behind Cooper, obviously lending his support. His hand was on the M16 on his chest.
Zach’s hands came up. “Hey, brother. I’m not here to hurt anyone on this team.”
Big Tag now stood at the front of the car, his eyes staring out at Zach. “I’ll decide that.”
Charlotte had other thoughts. She got out of the van and walked right up to the man, throwing her arms around him. “Are you okay?”
“Charlie,” Ian barked out.
“You know damn well he’s not here to hurt us.” Charlotte stared up at Zach and gave him a maternal once-over. “Are you all right?”
Zach’s eyes closed, and Cooper thought he was trying hard to not get emotional. He was dressed for battle, but Cooper noticed he didn’t have a holster on him. If he was carrying, Cooper couldn’t tell. Zach opened his eyes again and gazed down on Charlotte. “I’m as best as can be expected. I miss you. I miss everyone.”