Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80014 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80014 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 267(@300wpm)
A few moments later, Josh and Darwin rushed into the room with Romy on their heels. “We need to go meet my dad,” Josh whispered, “but we’re under strict orders to sneak away without Nana. They might have a lead on where your boyfriend is, and she’d definitely try to go in guns blazing.”
I quickly stuck my feet into my Crocs, and Romy grabbed his medical kit before we all slipped out the front door. As Darwin locked up behind us, he whispered, “I feel bad about ditching Nana.”
“Me too, but you know she doesn’t do stealth,” Josh said. “Just the opposite. If we needed a huge parade and a fireworks display, she’d be the first person we called. But we’ll make it up to her once we rescue her new grandson.”
While the rest of us climbed into one of the rented SUVs, Josh took what looked like a mini helicopter with four rotors out of the trunk. Once he was situated in the back seat with it, Darwin pulled out of the driveway, and Romy turned around in the passenger seat and asked, “Why do you have a quadcopter?”
“I’m studying filmmaking, and I usually use it for aerial shots,” Josh explained, as he inspected the machine. “But the reason I brought it to Vegas is because I thought it might come in handy, in case we needed to do a bit of search and rescue. It looks like I was right, too. My dad and uncle got a tip that Greco leases a place out in the desert, so this could be a good way of getting close enough to check it out.”
I asked, “Was it one of the addresses from Adriano’s journal?”
“No, but the journal led them to an underground gambling parlor, which is where they found an informant,” Josh said. “Apparently this guy was on Greco’s payroll for a while, but he got sick of working for a douchebag and quit. Once Uncle Dante plied him with cash, he gave up the address of an isolated desert compound.”
“A compound? That’s not good,” I said. “It implies a big fence and guard towers.”
Josh shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out when we get there, assuming my dad lets Darwin and me come within fifty miles of this place. He’s so overprotective. In fact, the only reason he let us come along to Vegas was because we promised to stay in the house.”
“Yeah, you don’t seem to be doing that,” Romy said.
“No, and Dad’s going to be pissed when we come rolling up. I was just supposed to tell you and Jack where to meet him, but there’s no way we want to sit back and miss all the excitement!”
As predicted, Vincent was livid when we joined him and his brother in a parking lot on the edge of town. He crossed his arms over his chest and said, “No. Absolutely not,” as Josh climbed out of the SUV.
“You need Darwin and me to work the drone,” Josh pointed out. “We can do that from a half-mile away, so it’s not like we’re asking to storm the place with machetes and hand grenades.” His dad was still scowling, so Josh turned to Dante and pleaded, “Come on. We’re not kids anymore, and you know you need us and the quadcopter to do some surveillance. If this place is by itself out in the desert, there’s literally no way you can go driving up to it without putting every evil henchman on high alert.”
A tall, muscular brunet joined us, and as he took Dante’s hand he said, “You know, Josh has a point.”
Dante had been scowling as much as his brother, but his expression eased a bit and he said, “Fine. They can come, but they’re staying way, way back when this starts to go down.”
The brunet smiled at him, and Dante drew him close and nuzzled his cheek before remembering the rest of us were there. Then he said, “Romy and Jack, this is my husband Charlie. He flew in this afternoon to lend a hand.”
“I also flew in to keep an eye on you,” Charlie teased, with a sparkle in his eyes. “Someone needs to talk you down if you start going all Rambo.”
While the adoring husbands grinned at each other and started kissing, Vincent gave Darwin the address of the alleged compound, and the kid pulled it up on Google Earth. “Yeah, that’s definitely in the middle of nowhere,” Josh said, as he took a look at the satellite image on his fiancé’s phone. “If it turns out Adriano’s in there, I’m not sure what you’re going to do. It’s exactly like I said—you’ll never be able to drive down that long, private road without alerting everyone in the compound.”
I looked around and asked, “Does anyone have a bobby pin and a hundred bucks?”