Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 46450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 232(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
“He told me,” I say.
Judging from Mom’s face, that’s hardly any better.
“Freya,” Felix says tightly. “If we don’t start moving now, I’ll be forced to take you.”
“Take her?” Mom says, voice rising. “What do you mean… take her?”
Felix leans forward, looking steadily at my mom. “I don’t know who wants to hurt your daughter.”
He glances at Julie, who’s still staring at the floor as if he wants to ask her more. But he can’t yet.
“I do know if my contact is telling the truth and people are going to come for her. I need to keep her safe.”
“With you?”
“Yes,” Felix growls without hesitation, sending solar flares of belonging through me.
“But you’ve killed before,” Mom says.
“Yes, I have. In war and here, three times.” Felix’s tone gets dark. “I won’t explain to you what these men did, but it was bad, Mrs. Abrams.”
“Then I don’t understand why anybody who would want them dead would ever want to hurt my Freya.”
“Listen.” Felix stands. “I’m sorry to do it like this, but you three need to pack. Now.”
Mom opens her mouth as if to argue, but she closes it when Julie bolts to her feet and walks quickly up the stairs.
Mom looks at Felix, then at me.
“Freya, did she already know all this?” Mom asks.
“No,” I say. “But she called me before, talking about Mike, her ex. Apparently, he’s been saying some bad stuff about me. I still can’t believe it’s related to this. Mike’s a computer programmer.”
“According to him,” Felix mutters. “But it doesn’t matter, not now. It’s time to pack.”
“What about the police?” Mom says.
“My contact has used police resources before. In fact, it’s how I verified the crimes of the last three targets. I don’t know how deep the influence goes, but until I do, we need to stay away from them. Please, Mrs. Abrams.”
“I wish I could figure out how this could be a scam,” Mom says. “Or why on earth would anybody want to kidnap any of us? And, if they did, why they’d do it like this.”
“As insane as it sounds,” Felix says, “everything I’ve told you is the complete truth.”
Mom stands, running a hand through her hair. “I’m sorry, but I can’t….”
The front window shatters, and then it’s like time is going slower.
I stare at the object on the floor for what feels like minutes, studying the metal cylinder, the place where the pin was supposed to go…
Bang.
Bright white flashes across my vision, feeling like it’s slicing right through my skull.
The bang noise resounds over and over in my head, clashing between my ears, as I raise my hands and instinctively let out a scream.
I can’t see or hear anything as my legs carry me backward, smashing me into the wall. I raise my hands instinctively as my vision begins to return, shimmering doubles and triples.
Felix roars as a bullet slams into the wall next to his head.
Then another shot goes off.
CHAPTER
TEN
Felix
Two men were wearing police officer uniforms, one of them aiming his gun at me for a third shot.
The first shot hit the wall and the second hit…I feel it, a pulsing in my shoulder where it clipped my skin, taking part of my shirt with it.
My head is reeling from the flash bang grenade, my vision splitting.
And maybe, before I met Freya, this would be it. The end for me.
I wouldn’t be able to push through this haze and find a way to survive.
But when I hear Freya scream again, my instincts awake in a blaze of fire, heat, and fury. My gun flies from its holster as I duck to the side, falling to one knee and firing four rounds.
Nobody is ever going to hurt my woman.
The first man – the one who almost killed me – collapses to the floor, clutching his chest. The other turns, yelling as he drags his leg behind him, struggling to deal with the bullets lodged in his thigh.
Rising slowly, I walk over to the first man. He’s breathing rapidly, his hand reaching for his gun.
I kneel beside him, softly removing the gun, keeping my senses primed in case another bastard tries something.
“Are you the one?” the man says, his voice clearer than I expected.
His face is pale, his police officer’s uniform bloodied at the arm but not the chest.
“With the tattoo?” the man goes on, gritting his teeth like he’s mad. “I told that idiot to wait. Just tell me I got the right one, at least. We should’ve checked. I don’t want to die.”
His speech picks up as I continue to stare at him coldly, giving nothing away. But my mind is spinning into possibilities as I listen to him.
“Mr. Red didn’t tell you,” I murmur.
The man shakes his head. “Just the butterfly. I had to go for you either way. You get that, don’t you? We were going to get you under control, search for the tattoo…it’s just business. But you clearly know what you’re doing.”