Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
“They’re going to be okay,” I grunted, not sure exactly who I was promising.
“Fuck.” A low roll of dubiety dropped from Ezra’s lips when an SUV came into view, coming at us from the opposite direction.
Flying fast and kicking up a storm of dust behind them.
A black bullet speeding our direction.
“Is it the same one you saw taking off from Hailey’s?” I could barely squeeze the question from between my lips.
“Yup,” Ezra said.
The asshole didn’t slow as the lights and sirens came at him.
He accelerated.
Dread and disbelief whipped through my insides as this monster gave way to a dangerous game of chicken.
“Hold on,” Ezra ordered, his voice calm, but I could feel the tension radiate from his pores as he slammed on his brakes and cut hard to the right. Our SUV skidded, dust flying and the cab jostling. My heart vibrated a manic beat as we came to a quick stop sitting sideways across the road, fully blocking it from the SUV that was still barreling our way.
The cruiser behind us did the same, though they went left. The two vehicles came to a rest completely obstructing the road and shoulders, trees rising up high on each side to create a full blockade.
There was nowhere for them to go.
My eyes were wide as they just kept coming.
No care for the lives that were hinged inside that metal box. No care for themselves. No care for us.
They weren’t more than fifty yards back when the fucker finally slammed on his brakes, skidding hard and coming to a screeching standstill about forty feet away. Both front doors flew open at the same time as Ezra was out on his feet, using his door as a shield with his gun propped in the opening between it and the windshield.
“Hands up!” Ezra shouted.
Douglas stepped out of the passenger’s side, and he did lift a hand, only that hand wielded a gun. Brent, the motherfucking ranch manager who’d gotten me trapped, stepped out from the driver’s side, holding up what was likely the same gun he’d shot me with earlier.
“How could he?” Lolly croaked from the backseat. “Shameful. Wrong.”
“Toss the guns to the side and get onto your stomachs on the ground,” Ezra shouted.
“I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to accommodate that,” Douglas called back, his voice firm and confident, like he was in control and Ezra was subject to his command. “We have a plane we need to catch.”
Fucker had gotten so used to getting away with this bullshit for so long that he held no fear.
But the bastard should be very, very afraid.
“You don’t, and I shoot,” Ezra called back in warning.
I could see the two officers from the cruiser behind me were also out of their cars, crouched and angled, ready to fire.
The back door suddenly opened and Pruitt slid out, dragging Hailey with him. He had her back to his chest and a gun was pressed to her temple.
My lungs fucking collapsed.
I could hear her whimpering. Crying as she flailed in the barbarity of his arms. Those eyes that were the color of the river so wide.
Bottomless and toiling with terror.
A blister of fury snapped across my skin, the blood boiling in my veins overflowing, bubbling out from the bullet holes the monster had left in my body.
Hands shaking, I pulled out the handgun I’d grabbed from the small gun safe I’d stowed in my duffle under the bed when I’d gone into Hailey’s room to get my boots.
I’d known all the way to my guts that I was going to need it.
I’d known it was going to come to this because I sure as hell wasn’t going to allow Ezra to be the one to stand in the line of fire for me.
Not when he had three kids and another baby on the way.
Cranking open the door, I stepped out. A swell of lightheadedness nearly dropped me to my knees. I’d lost more blood than I’d thought.
Or maybe it was just the blinding rage that made it that I couldn’t see straight.
I could see the gasp rip out of Hailey when she saw me.
Energy slashed through the air.
The connection thrumming.
Her relief and my desperation.
Pruitt frowned in surprise and loathing.
Yeah, I’m not dead yet, motherfucker.
Ezra’s shouts filled the air. “Do not get out of the truck, Cody! Stay inside!”
But I wouldn’t sit there and do nothing.
I’d made a lot of promises in my life.
Ones to my father.
Ones to my mother.
But the one I’d made Hailey blared.
A siren in my soul.
I wouldn’t let him hurt her or Maddie.
I angled up to the front of the SUV just as Brent edged to the side of the door, douchebag aiming at me. I popped off a shot in his direction before he got the chance. Scum toppled to the ground like the pile of shit he was.