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)
“I’ve got it.” Devi stood and looked back, relief plain in her eyes. “It’s open. We did it.”
The ground shook, and there was no way to miss the sound of glass exploding around the property. Kala shifted, trying to see the monitor, and it sent her sliding to the ground, her head slapping against the concrete.
“Hey, I got you.” Her cousin started trying to get her up.
“It won’t work,” Kala said. She needed more time, and they didn’t have it.
“No, it won’t,” a nasty voice said. Lena stood at the top of the stairs. “None of this will work.”
Devi got Kala into a position where she could at least see what was coming for them. She could move a leg now. One. Fat lot of good that was going to do. And an arm. She had one leg and one arm. Lena didn’t need to know that.
“Whatever those boys of yours are trying to do, it won’t work,” Lena said, stalking down the stairs, a gun in her hand. “Manny is too well prepared. He has plans you can’t imagine. But for now, these nice gentlemen have orders to bring back Miss Taggart’s eyes. We’ll see if that loosens up Captain Reed’s tongue.”
Devi had an arm around Kala, propping her up, though she was holding almost all of Kala’s weight. Thankfully Devi was a gym girl, not that it would help her in a couple of minutes. Her muscles wouldn’t stop bullets.
“Okay, ewww,” Devi said, her nose wrinkling. “I think I will keep my eyes, thank you. You’re weird and super gross, lady.”
She would give it to her cousin. Devi was cool under pressure. She wasn’t wilting. She also probably noticed that the guards behind Lena had taken off when the explosion happened. They’d been flanking Lena but hadn’t gotten down the stairs. Now she couldn’t see them.
Lena’s expression turned to a resentful sneer. “Do you know what’s gross? The amount of families your family has destroyed.”
“Lady, I don’t care,” Devi replied. “I get it. Daddy hurt you by walking away. Get the fuck over it. Do what the rest of us do and suck it up. Find a fucking hobby. I would say get some therapy, but it obviously doesn’t work on you. Now are you going to put out the fire that just started or shall we all cook together?”
Kala could smell it, but she couldn’t get her head to turn. There was a fire? The monitors had fritzed out. Damn it. “He’s going to blow the whole place. Like he did in Toronto. He knows the team is here. He’s going to get away, and he’ll burn the house down to make sure he can.”
“Guards, take them,” Lena announced.
Dumbass. “They left. So you can shoot us, though you’re holding the gun wrong and the safety’s on.”
Lena looked back. “Fuckers.”
“Drop me and use the door,” Kala whispered.
Lena turned her attention to the gun in her hand, and that was when Devi proved she could follow orders. She might be a fashion designer, but she was still a Taggart. She let Kala fall as she kicked out, slamming the door right into Lena, who fell back and sent the gun clattering to the floor.
Kala tried to hold her head up. Devi was pushing against Lena, who obviously had some training. It was a chaotic mess, and smoke was starting to pour through the basement. She could feel the heat from the flames that were currently engulfing the computer equipment Huisman kept down here.
She managed to force herself up enough to see a ghostly image of a helo taking off before the last monitor fritzed out.
Devi was fighting, but Lena was better trained. She had Devi against the wall, a hand around her cousin’s throat.
Kala used her left foot to push herself forward. It took every bit of energy she had.
“I’m not about to go down alone,” Lena was saying. “Let’s see how well Taggarts burn.”
There was a thud as Lena smashed Devi’s head against the brick wall, and Devi slumped to the floor.
How was she going to get Devi to safety? Kala pushed the thought from her brain as she got her hand around the gun while Lena actually took the time to straighten her damn clothes out and kick a now unconscious Devi. It gave Kala a moment to force her fingers around the gun. Her arm was starting to work so she lifted, getting a line of sight on the woman who was going to try to kill her.
“As for you,” Lena said, turning.
Kala fired. And then fired again. And again.
Lena put a hand to her gut and then her chest. Not Kala’s best work, but she was giving herself some grace.
She fired one more time, and Lena hit her knees.
“I just wanted to know my dad,” she said, blood on her lips.