Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 138588 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138588 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
He wasn’t worried about his cell. “They shot the deputies, so I don’t hold much hope. Why are you here, Henry?”
“Because I was the closest one, and I couldn’t let Elisa go in without backup. Van offered but he’s not much of a… How do I politely say the dude would get killed? Because he would. I’m honestly a little worried about Elisa, but at least she’s got training. I told her not to fire unless she absolutely has to. I’d rather get all the hostages out before the gunfire starts.”
“No gunfire,” Wyatt said, struggling to his feet. “Henry, you have to let me distract my brother. While he’s paying attention to me, you can get the staff out.”
Henry stepped back into the shadows, his eyes on the tiny slit where the door wasn’t quite closed. “I’m not worried about the staff. And you know the term is torture. Not attention. But I believe you, Wyatt. I believe you would do whatever it takes to save a couple of people you haven’t known for very long. I’m an excellent judge of character, and I’ve always known you’re a good guy.”
He wasn’t so sure, but Henry was right about one thing. He wasn’t leaving the staff to pay for his mistakes. Sawyer had them trained. They would have gotten to the office and locked themselves in. And that meant Elisa was going to…what? Knock? “The staff would go to the office and put it in lockdown. Elisa can’t get in.”
“She’s already in,” Henry replied. “Sawyer gave her the code before we came down the mountain to save you and Sabrina. Elisa’s going to wait until she can get them up on the roof and maybe out of here. Van should have called Nate by now and warned him about where we are. It won’t take long for Nate to figure out they’ve got jammers and hostages. I’d like to hand over as many to Nate as I can before this thing goes down. I overheard this asshole confirming someone from the MC will be here with a suitably large vehicle they can transport you across the state in. It better be big. Not that we’re going to allow them to take you.”
There was something about what Henry said that caught Wyatt’s attention, but then a spike of pain went through his brain. “Is that what we’re waiting for? A driver? And how about you do a guy a solid and you give me your gun and then get the hell out of here. You’re a dad. This is dangerous.”
“So is fatherhood, and I don’t have a gun, son.” He held his hands up. “I promised my wife if I had to kill anyone else, I would use my hands. A knife is acceptable if I can’t do the deed in the neatest way possible. But if she asks, you remember me talking to him and asking him if he wants to reconsider his life choices. I offered him help, right?”
Nell was a woman of mysterious ways. In this he would absolutely back up Henry. “I don’t think he would have been swayed… He wasn’t swayed by your logical and kind arguments as to why he should give up his life of crime. But a gun really would help.”
A rowdy shout went through the bar, and he wondered if the entire Horde was here. It slightly shook the floors. They were happy about something. Most likely his upcoming torture.
“Sorry,” Henry offered. “But I promise we’re going to get you out of this. Nate won’t let them get away. Unlike your brother, Nate knows all the roads. There won’t be anywhere to go. Gosh. I should have texted Van about the babysitting rules. I worry she’s going to get hungry and Van will give her a ham sandwich, and then she’s almost certainly going to break her mother’s heart and become a rabid carnivore. What was I thinking?”
Henry was questioning his parenting choices, but Wyatt would rather know why he’d come into a den of vipers without so much as a gun. And he’d managed to take out the man who’d earned the nickname Brutus. Bru was a nasty piece of work. “Are you sure he’s dead? And how exactly do you kill a man quietly with your bare hands? I would think a fight like that would attract attention even though they’ve got the music too loud.”
In Wyatt’s experience, fighting was a loud thing. It was something that took time and spent blood, and he didn’t see a drop of Brutus’s on the floor or on Henry.
Henry turned to him, a serious expression on his face. “I know you think I’m a mild-mannered dad, but I haven’t always been. The CIA operative is still in here, though he’s happily controlled through love and sex. John Bishop gets to come out to play when things go wrong. You assume he even knew I was here before I got my hands on his head, twisted in the exact right way, and internally decapitated him. He didn’t have a chance to scream or fight or even pray to whatever god he worships. He threatened my town, and I took him out. I do not need a gun, Wyatt, and you don’t have to worry about me. I assure you I’ve seen and dealt more death than you can imagine.”