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)
“You know there’s a bathroom down here?”
“This is where Julia Ennis took me and Kyle.”
Devi’s eyes widened. “I’m so sorry. What did he do to you?”
“Gave me a paralytic and sent a couple thousand watts through me,” she replied. “Trust me, he’s done worse. I didn’t nearly break a rib from this. He’s working his way up, though. What can you see on the monitors?”
“They rotate through the cameras.” Devi glanced up. “There are a lot of cameras.”
“I need to know if you see Cooper,” Kala managed to get out. She could wiggle her toes again. It was starting to come back. “Can you sit me up? I’m pretty much going to need you to pose me like a doll.”
Devi’s brows rose, but she did as Kala asked, getting her into a seated position, her back against the concrete wall. She managed to hold her head up but she couldn’t point. “See. There. He’s walking through the damn door. Idiot. How the hell did he find me? If he’s here…”
A brilliant smile broke over Devi’s face. “Then Uncle Ian’s here.”
She tried to shake her head. “That’s not possible. How would they know?”
“The tracker,” Devi said as though it should be obvious.
“I assure you they disabled my tracker before they ever tossed my body in the car,” Kala replied with no small amount of bitterness. Had Zach convinced Cooper to come with him? They were stepping into the foyer.
Devi stood, looking down at her with a quizzical expression on her face. “They already figured a way around the new system Lou designed? Damn. That’s disappointing.”
The new system… Lou talked about it. Holy shit. Kala hated to admit it but the science stuff Lou could spout from time to time almost always made her fall asleep. She’d slept through the big lecture on why they all needed new trackers. Now she kind of wished she’d listened in. “Lou designed trackers that get around the tech that Huisman uses to disable them?”
“Uh, yeah,” Devi said as though she should know—which she should. “Sorry. She was talking to Kenz about it in the locker room one night and Bri made me be quiet because she wants to use it in a book. She listens in way too much.”
They would have a talk about that, but for now hope surged through her. Somewhere out there her parents were waiting for their shot. Cooper was here, risking everything. Her team had come for her. Lena could fuck right the fuck off. Her bestie was getting a big old hug. After they got out of here. Huisman seemed to be doing that annoying thing where he talked forever. “Devi, I need you to find something we can dismantle that lock with.”
“Like what? I don’t think it comes apart. It looks solid.”
“I assure you it comes apart. I know that system. My father makes us study all the new systems to ensure we know how to use them and how to best break them if we have to.” She was never again going to complain about those long sessions they spent in the conference room at the MT building. “But we need something to spring out the back cover. It only looks solid state. It requires batteries, hence we can get in, but I need something like a pen or a paperclip.”
“Sorry. I don’t have office supplies on me,” Devi replied.
They might be spending some time in the ring when they got back. Female Fight Club was how some of the women of The Hideout handled their issues. She stared at her cousin, who had her hair in a high ponytail. Devi was incredibly careful about her appearance. She didn’t like flyaways messing up the line of her hairdo. “How about the bobby pins holding your hair up?”
Devi’s jaw dropped, and her hands went to her hair. “I do have one. Two, actually.” She pulled one out. “What are you going to do with it?”
Oh, if only it was so simple. “Well, I sit here and try to stay upright and you’re going to slide it underneath until you feel the slightest indentation. You won’t be able to see it, but you’ll be able to feel it.”
“You want me to do it?” Devi asked and then seemed to get the message Kala was sending. “I’ll do it.”
She got to her knees and straightened out the pin. Kala kept her eyes on the monitors. Huisman was talking. She could guess. Chaos. Blah, blah. New world order. Blah, blah, blah. Women bad. Yeah, Huisman thought he was, like, bringing something new to the world. That dude was obviously not on social media or he would know how tired his takes were.
“I’m not feeling anything.”
“It’s the smallest indentation.” Kala tried to be patient. It had taken her hours to break this one. “Close your eyes and take a deep breath. Bring all your senses down to this one thing. It only seems solid. It’s got a very small place where you can press down and the battery slides open. From there we’ve got roughly thirty seconds when the locking mechanism is open to use the factory setting code.”