Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“Are you ready to answer all of my questions now?” Kierse asked with a wink.
Graves shook his head with a slight tilt to his lips. “How about over dinner tonight?”
“I thought lessons were starting after I woke up.”
“We’ll talk over dinner.”
Her eyes moved up to meet his—dark, swirling gray. There was something in those eyes. Something she just could not decipher. “Fine. Dinner it is.”
“Isolde will prepare a menu. It will be late. Nine o’clock?”
“I’m a night owl. The later the better,” she said. “I’ll have to head back to my place to get clothes.”
Graves shook his head. “Give your preferences to Isolde, and she can buy you new clothes. Whatever you need. You’ll begin spear training with Edgar immediately after this.”
“Yeah, I wanted to ask about that, too. Why would I need to learn how to wield a spear?” she asked askance. “I’m stealing it, not fighting with it.”
“It will be the best weapon with which to fight your way out if something goes wrong.”
She didn’t like that sentiment one bit. “I prefer stealth to fighting, but guns and knives if I must.”
“I’d rather account for all possibilities.”
“All right.” She’d already agreed to do it in negotiations, so she’d train with this spear, but she sure hoped that it didn’t come down to needing to use it.
“I also got you some other things while I was out,” he said.
He stepped out for a minute and then returned with a light, stealthy backpack. “Everything you need. I retrieved some cash for you as a small advance. Half of our agreed-upon sum has been deposited into a bank account for you, card included,” he said, offering her a black card, “and the rest will go to the same place at the end of the job.”
She took the bag and unzipped the top. Inside was the promised hoard of cash, two brand-spanking-new, top-of-the-line handguns with built-in silencers and extra ammo, and a sleek cell phone with a giant screen display that turned on at her touch. Only one number was programmed into the thing.
“This is you, I’m guessing?”
“That’s me. Answer when I call.”
“Will you be calling often?” she asked.
He slid his hands into his pockets. “Let’s hope not. For the both of us.”
Then he nodded at Isolde and disappeared without another word.
Kierse turned back around in her seat. “Is he always that cryptic?”
Isolde smiled. “You have no idea.”
Kierse laughed and then went in search of the training facility. Edgar was waiting when she arrived, and from the very moment she had a spear in her hand, she didn’t like it. Not compared to a knife or a gun. One for close range and one for distance. This spear felt all wrong. It was meant for thrusting and throwing, but she couldn’t get the hang of either. They worked methodically on thrusting motions, trying to get her knife reflexes to take the bulkier spear. The weapon was steel-tipped and fire-hardened, attached to the tough ash end with a charcoal iron, making the whole thing nearly impossible to break. The force it would take would have to be incredible. Thankfully, they were working with practice spears, so no one accidentally got gutted.
Edgar was an unrelentingly impressive teacher and made her do the same maneuver over and over again, until her hand blistered and broke and her muscles ached for release. She knew the training method. He wanted her to have so much muscle memory built up that she wouldn’t freeze in a combat situation. Didn’t make it suck any less.
When she finished, she wandered the halls of the house as her cooldown. Most of the rooms were locked, which led her to the one room completely open to her—the library.
She walked up and down the holly-lined shelves, admiring the endless books and looking for all the hidden treasures within. One day, she was going to be able to look at a place and not calculate how much it cost or whether there was something inside worth stealing. One day.
A soft noise came from the stacks. It didn’t sound human. She froze, wondering what else lived in this library.
Just as she was sure her imagination had gotten the best of her, a small black cat appeared at the end of her aisle. Kierse laughed. She’d been about to bolt all because of a cat.
“Here, kitty,” she called gently. She dropped to one knee and held her hand out in front of her.
Of course the cat ignored her. Stared blankly at her with its uncanny gold eyes.
“You trapped in these walls, too?”
The cat made a disconcerting sound and flicked its tail.
“Well, we can be friends,” she suggested. A cat was better than loneliness.
So, she did what she knew from the streets worked best with cats. She ignored the thing and went back to her perusing. Within ten minutes, the cat had strolled forward as if it owned the library and wrapped itself around Kierse’s legs, purring.