Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 116(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 116(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
Just as I’m finishing up, I hear the sounds of sirens behind me. Roger taps me on the shoulder, and I stand up, then look down at the two broken and beaten men. They might still be alive, but they might not, and I don’t have an ounce of guilt over it.
“What happened?” Agent Moss asks as he walks up on the scene. He takes one look at my bloody knuckles and shirt and then at the two guys on the ground.
“They tripped,” I offer and then shrug.
“I saw it happen,” Roger backs me up,
“Sounds good to me.” Agent Moss turns around and yells over his shoulder for someone to get the men out of here. “These are the two you were telling me about?”
“Yeah, and you’ll find Sherman Hawthorne at his house right now trying to get out of the country.”
I’ve had someone watching him from the moment I married Phoebe because I knew that coward would run. He was trying to make a deal, and when it didn’t work out, I knew he was heading south to disappear and leave his wife and daughter to take the punishment. Earlier today, I sent all of the information on what was happening to my contacts at the feds. Agent Moss was the point person, and when my informant told me Sherman was loading up his car with luggage, I knew it was time to bring in the big guns.
The only thing I didn’t anticipate was them coming to get Phoebe first. I thought they’d go for his home and his wife, and that was my biggest mistake in all of this. I know how precious Phoebe is and knew if anyone saw her they’d try and take her from me.
The agent was all too eager to bust this network of crime and take out as many of these mob loan sharks as possible. Sherman will be the one that actually goes to jail, but the rest of them he will make disappear.
“We’ll take it from here,” Agent Moss says, and then he and his entourage drive away.
“Get a doctor here. I want Mrs. Birch and Phoebe looked over.”
“Already done, sir.” Roger nods to the car pulling up.
“Thank you.”
He and his men walk the perimeter to make sure we’re still safe, and they have a team standing guard at the gate. I look down at myself, and I know Phoebe can’t see me like this. I need to get cleaned up first, and then I need to find my wife.
Chapter Thirteen
Phoebe
“Boone, the doctor has to be able to touch me to check me over,” I point out the very obvious to my husband. “He needs to take a look at you too.”
“I’m fine.” He ignores his raw knuckles. Boone is far from fine because he’s acting like a caged beast. He’s already gotten his blood, but he’s still on edge.
“I am too.” I reach over and place my hand on top of his thigh. At my touch I feel some of the tension leave his body. He places his hand over mine, locking our fingers together.
We’re both sitting on the side of the bed together. He’s been next to me since he came bolting into our bedroom and through the three armed guards he had on me. He’s been hovering close but barely touching me. That’s not my Boone.
The poor doctor is standing in front of us wanting to do his job and check me over. All I really want is to be left alone with Boone for a moment. My head is still spinning from everything. I can’t believe any of this happened. I knew my dad could work with some shady-looking people, but this was something way beyond that.
“Check her.” Boone takes a long breath. “I’m calm.”
“Calm and fine?” I bump his shoulder with mine, trying to tease him a bit. Anything to get him to relax.
“Check her,” he growls. The doctor looks skeptical that Boone really wants him to check me over.
“I’m going to have to touch her,” Dr. Adams says.
I don’t blame Boone, but he caught the man around the wrist when he reached to touch my chin. He was only going to tilt my head back to get a better look at me.
“I said I’m calm,” Boone grits out.
Dr. Adams nods, still looking unsure, but begins to check me over again, asking me questions about my pain and how I got each injury. It’s all a bit of a blur. How can things seem to happen in both slow motion and on fast forward?
Mrs. Birch jumped into action, trying to give me a chance to run. As if I could actually leave her. Still she'd knocked one of the men’s guns from their hands before she got tossed back into a wall and it knocked her out.