Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
I brought my scope up to my shoulder and started counting. “Fifteen outside. All armed with AR-15s. I can see two in the windows.” I called back quietly.
I scanned the windows of the house one by one until I came to the very last one. I don’t know if it was instinct, or just basic knowledge that she would be in that room, but with everything that was in me, I knew she was behind that wall.
It took everything I had to turn away from that window, but I continued to scan the area. Listening while everyone continued to check in on where they were, and Sam gave instructions.
“All right, James. We’re in position. Take the ones out on the edges. All that you can. When you’ve got them all down, let me know.” Sam commanded.
Piece of cake.
My sniper rifle was sporting a shiny new silencer, which was also why it’d gained a good three pounds in weight. Resting my back against the trunk of the tree I was in, and the stock up against my cheek, I started taking my shots. All fifteen men, who were scattered over an acre of land, went down within ten minutes.
Not my best, time wise, but it would do. “Alright, you’re green.”
A wave of exhaustion seemed to pour through me after I was done, but I didn’t remove my eye from the activity surrounding the small cabin. Although I scanned the area, I mostly kept my scope trained on the furthest window, praying I’d see my girl.
***
Shiloh
I’d nearly killed myself two separate times.
Although Glen had never returned to make his threat a reality, I knew it was just a matter of time. I’d tried to escape not even ten minutes after arriving at this shit hole, only to be caught as soon as I’d tripped one of the motion detectors, enabling them to find me easily.
Then I’d played possum, acting as if I was passed out, and tried to escape again, only for the same results.
Needless to say, the men were not happy campers. They didn’t like that a woman had given them the slip, and were more than happy to show me their displeasure.
My escape attempts had only earned me another broken arm, the same one that had just healed only a few short months ago, a broken leg, and a broken nose. My jaw was still just as broken as it’d been in the van, and I passed out every time I tried to push even the minutest amount of bread into my mouth that they’d provided me.
Thus, I’d stopped trying to eat. Only drinking the water from the tap with a straw that they’d been nice enough to provide me.
Every time I looked at my broken arm the bile would rush up my esophagus, and I’d have to choke it back down, or risk suffocating on my own vomit since I couldn’t open my mouth enough for the vomit to escape.
I hadn’t seen Glen since the van incident, and prayed to all that was holy that I wouldn’t. There was just no way on earth I’d be able to keep him away from me. I had no fight left in me, which was why I’d been laying in the same spot on the lumpy futon for the last half a day.
A sound, almost imperceptible, whispered through the stagnant room, and I moved my eyes, looking for the source. When I didn’t see anything, I let my eyes drift closed, thinking this was surely the end if I was hallucinating, when the same sound, louder now, came from behind my closed lids.
My eyes snapped open, sure now that I’d heard the sound, and I came face to face with a green man.
Great. My fucked up mind had conjured The Hulk. Wonderful.
Then The Hulk gently picked me up in his massive arms, and carried me towards the bedroom door.
I was like a ragdoll in The Hulk’s arms, limp and in pain, with no recourse but to lie there, and go wherever The Hulk wanted me to go.
“Got her.” The Hulk said.
My eyes closed on their own accord, staying closed as the sway of my body being moved at a high rate of speed caused my broken bones to jolt with each pounding step. Bile rose in my throat again, and I swallowed convulsively to keep it down. Then, blessedly, I passed out again.
***
Sam
“James? Copy?” I called quietly.
No answer.
“James.” I snapped.
No answer.
“Sebastian, I need whoever you left behind to check on him. Make sure he doesn’t fall out of the tree.” I called into my mic.
“Copy.” Sebastian answered.
Shiloh was curled into my arms like a Cabbage Patch Doll. I noted that her nose and jaw were well beyond swollen, as was the arm she’d broken a couple months prior. Her hair was matted into a messy ponytail at the top of her head with blood, indicating a head wound of some type.
It’d taken a while for the thought of a sister to grow on me, but now I couldn’t imagine my life without her. To know that she’d suffered at the hands of these men set me on a course that I’d never thought to be on. I’d always prided myself in making sure that I complied with the law, but over the past four years, the letter of the law hadn’t done me shit. In fact, it’d only hindered me when all I wanted to do was save the woman I loved.
It took us fifteen minutes, exactly, from the time we left the cabin to get back to the tree that we’d left James in. Everyone was gathered around, looking up at James hanging from the harness we’d managed to get him in.
“What are y’all waiting for?” I snapped to the men ogling James. “Get him down.”
“How?” Diablo, one of the members of the MC asked.
“Climb up there, dipshit.” Sebastian said as he, too, walked up.
James was a big man, so with him being dead weight, and not being able to help at all, it was some time before they were able to get him down safely.