Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 70370 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70370 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
“She is sleeping. Don’t worry, Egan.” A grainy picture appeared on the screen. An old one that he assumed I would accept as real. “We are taking good care of your girl.”
Liar. He thought she was dead and that I had no clue. He was going to pay for it soon enough.
“You hurt her, you’ll be sorry.”
“Do you have a plan?” he asked abruptly.
“Yes. I need to ask Alex a question, though.”
“What is it?”
“Does he have experience with infrared technology?”
Ivan spoke fast in Russian, and I heard Alex’s snort of disgust. “Yeah.”
“He does.”
“Fine. I’ll need him tomorrow,” I lied. Now that I knew he was there, we had the confirmation we needed.
“What is the plan? How will you get into the building?”
“I have connections.”
“I knew you would. The deadly ghost always had connections.”
I shut my eyes. I’d hated that name years ago, and I hated it even more now. “I’ll tell you tomorrow.”
“I want to know now.”
“Too bad.”
I hung up and stood. I studied Sofia, my heart aching at the thought of leaving her. I wanted to stay and hold her, be there when she woke up. Hold her if she needed to cry again. But I had to go. I needed to take care of this tonight and end it.
“Let’s go.”
Julian and Matteo stood as well. “We’ll guard her with our lives.”
“Remember your promise. Look after her if I don’t come back.”
Julian nodded. “We won’t forget.”
We approached the house with caution. Two stories, set back from the road and private, it was newer and obviously well-appointed. It was only about twenty minutes from the old warehouse, but the difference in the two buildings was night and day. Typical narcissistic, overindulgent behavior of a criminal. They always loved comfort and cared nothing for those around them—either their victims or their underlings. I could guarantee his men were sleeping on floors or sofas, while he commandeered the best room with every luxury he could ask. We used heat sourcing and found five bodies inside. Three on the main floor and two upstairs.
“Ivan and his sidekick, I’m sure,” I muttered.
Marcus flew his high-powered drone around the house, careful not to get too close. It was stealthy and silent and gave us the information we needed. There were no cameras or security around the building, which surprised me, except Ivan thought he was invisible. His ego had overridden his intelligence, which often happened with criminals. They got sloppy.
Three men, including Alex, were in the living room, watching TV. Upstairs, the blinds were drawn in one room where we assumed Ivan was, and the scanner told us his sidekick was down the hall. I was certain none of them was remotely concerned that the building where Sofia had been held was gone, or the fact that she was supposedly dead.
“Did he think he would be able to fool me forever?” I muttered, my anger endless and burning.
“When you asked for proof, tomorrow he would show you another image they had captured. He would assume you were focused on the bombs and getting her back. Once you did your job, he’d kill you. He knew if Sofia was dead, he’d have no leverage over you.”
“As if I would ever work for someone like him. Fear and intimidation. That is his mantra.” I squeezed Marcus’s shoulder. “I had the best. Real leadership. Friendship.”
“Then let’s end this. How do you want to play it?” Marcus asked after acknowledging my words with a wink.
My plans for a long, slow death for Ivan had changed. I wanted it over so I could get back to Sofia.
“We go in the back. I get Alex. You kill the others. Upstairs, Ivan is mine. I’m just going to walk in. Make sure he knows he lost and end him. I am not wasting time.”
“Good. The house?”
“I have enough with me to blow it. I will attach it to the gas line. Eliminate every trace of them. Plus, I have a little extra something just for Ivan.”
“Then let’s go. Being this close to so much evil is making me nauseous,” Damien muttered.
We skirted the house, and I shook my head. No lights on. No motion sensors. Ivan thought he was undetectable.
Big mistake.
The back door opened without so much as a squeak, the lock easily picked. The kitchen was a disaster, food, empty liquor bottles, and dirty dishes everywhere. Marcus shuddered beside me. “Pigs,” he muttered.
The TV was blaring, and they all held glasses, their focus on the flickering screen, not their surroundings. They were drunk enough that they barely reacted to our presence, only glaring blearily at the guns in our hands. The silencers made the job easy, and two of them were dead before anyone could speak. Alex stood slowly, meeting my eyes, his baleful and belligerent. Rage, red and hot filled my body.