Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 105398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 527(@200wpm)___ 422(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 527(@200wpm)___ 422(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
“Alright, boys. Still no movement on any camera. I can see the boy’s room crack open every now and then, but nothing besides that.” Luke said into my ear.
“Copy.” Sam said.
“Copy.” I said.
“Copy.” Elliott said.
“I’ve got James coming up to your right, Sam. Try not to shoot him. Looks like he’s waiting for you.” Luke voice broke the silence.
“Got him.” Sam said.
We continued to make our way down the maze of hallways and finally stopped once we were at the training room door. Planting myself in front of the door, I watched the hallway as Jack entered the room using the key I’d had made when all the gang business started. Not that I’d thought I would be using it for this.
“Clear.” Jack said.
Easing into the room, I closed and relocked the door and headed for the supply closet. Lowering my weapon, I unlocked the closet door and swung it open while Jack covered my back. I wasn’t sure of what I would find, but never in a million years did this possibility cross my mind.
I honestly thought that Ember would be just fine. I thought I’d get in here, and she would jump in my arms when she saw me. Seeing this young girl with the wide brown eyes standing behind Ember with a knife to her throat was the last thing I would have expected.
“She fell for it perfectly. I was told if I came in here acting hurt, that I could be backup in case the others couldn’t get to her. Looks like they were smart to have a plan B, huh?” The little girl said.
“Mari. You don’t have to do this. Drop the knife; I don’t want you to get hurt.” Ember’s voice quivered in fear.
The little girl looked like she was standing on her tippy toes to see over Ember’s shoulder. She looked barely old enough to graduate high school, let alone be in college.
“What about your kids?” Ember asked. “Don’t you want them to have a mommy in the morning?”
“Shut up, bitch. I’ll be there for them in the morning, but you won’t be.” The girl snarled.
“You’ve got about two seconds to get that knife away from her throat or I’m going to put a bullet in your brain. I don’t care how old you are, or how many kids you have.” I said calmly.
I felt anything but calm though. Here I was watching while the woman I love has a knife up to her throat.
The other kids that were in the closet huddled in on themselves. Each had their head down with their ankles and hands tied together with tape. How this girl managed to do this by herself and hold Ember hostage was nearly impossible.
I also wasn’t stupid.
“Sleeper.” I said to Jack.
He must have been under the same frame of mind though because his eyes were already moving over the rest of the group.
“Let the hostages go. You can keep me. Just don’t hurt my June bug.” Ember said pleadingly.
June’s head snapped up and her eyes furrowed. She looked completely confused. I wasn’t though. She was saying bug because of the girl who was sporting a ladybug tattoo on her foot. Jack and I knew each other so well that when I shifted my gun from the one who had the knife on Ember to the ladybug girl, he never even questioned.
Ladybug tattoo girl’s eyes went glacial once she realized we were on to her.
The next instant was a complete blur. Knife girl went low with the knife. Ladybug lunged forward gun in hand, and two things happened at once. Jack’s weapon and my weapon discharged simultaneously.
Two barks of our firearms discharging split the still air. One went into the heart of ladybug girl. The other went into the left side of knife girls head. Ember went down with startled cry, and everything returned to real time.
Jack kept his weapon trained on knife girl who was still moving, and I went to Ember and lifted her up into my arms. One glance and I knew she was in pain. Standing her on her feet, I scanned her body and found the knife protruding from her left side just to the right of her kidney.
“Stay still, baby. I know it hurts. It’s gotta stay there though, I don’t want to risk pulling it out without knowing if it hit anything vital.” I said to her.
“Locker room cleared. Looks like the boys cut a fucking hole in the fucking ceiling and went out that way.” James said into our earpieces.
“Need a couple of ambulances. Ember has a knife wound to the left side, I think it’s just in some fat, but I won’t be able to tell until someone can bring me a kit in.” I relayed.
“Copy.” Luke said.
“I don’t have any fat. You’re a butthead.” Ember said weakly.
“That was weak, my dear.” I whispered into her hair.
“Gabe, I have to tell you something. Don’t freak out. Okay?”
Conversations that started with ‘don’t freak out’ normally didn’t turn out good. For Ember’s sake, I would try not to freak out though.
“What, baby.”
“I’m premmmmt.” She mumbled into my shirt.
“What?” I asked confused.
She lifted her face from my chest before whispering “Pregnant.”
Seconds passed before it finally sank in with what she said.
Sweet Jesus.
“Did you just say what I think you said?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“How do you know this?”
Before she could answer, the door opened and the boys filed in, along with the rest of the Kilgore PD, two firefighters, four paramedics, and Ember’s boss. One set of medics came to Ember, and another went to the girl on the ground. The other girl was most definitely dead. They only glanced at her. No other reason to stop. Her blood was lying in a pool under her body. It was slowly spreading outward, creeping bigger and bigger by the second.
“No casualties. I don’t know what the fuck the show was for, but I’d kill to find out. I feel like we’re missing something here.” James said.
“We probably are.” I said to James.