Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 89985 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89985 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Maybe it was Niamh. Knowing the scars I detected told a story. She had lived her own kind of horror story, and she was constantly keeping me at arm’s length.
Leaning against the hood of my car, I stared off into the distance, not really paying much attention to my surrounding area.
Ivan had wanted a meeting, in person, but private. My home wasn’t private enough, but I did have nosey neighbors. I’d already made multiple excuses to them declining dinner invitations, as well as game night invites. I was not here to make friends or to play that part. I had one mission in mind, and I’d already been at it for a month and a week, and nothing.
Niamh always showed up for training. She was never late, and she always made sure to keep an eye on the time. Not once had we run over, nor did she show any signs of being aroused by my closeness. No matter what I did, she seemed completely oblivious to my touch.
“Are you going to update me?”
I’d been so lost in my thoughts, I hadn’t noticed that Ivan had approached from the side. This sent alarm bells off in my head. I hadn’t been paying enough attention, and if Ivan was able to sneak up on me, there was no telling who else might do it.
“Where did you come from?”
There was no car, and Ivan didn’t even have his cell phone. He stood, arms at his sides, looking like he could blend in as any ordinary man. Only, Ivan wasn’t an ordinary man. He was a king. I didn’t like that he was out here alone. There was no telling what our enemies could do.
“You shouldn’t be alone out here,” I said.
Ivan smiled. “I’m not alone.”
I knew Ivan was more than capable of taking care of himself, and I accepted that, but we had a lot of enemies, new and old. The last few years should have taught him to be more careful.
“Is Slavik with you? Andrei? The Beast? The Butcher?”
He waved his hand in front of his face, and shook his head. “That is no concern of yours, Peter. Give me an update on what is happening with Niamh Long.”
I stood up and ran fingers through my hair. “She’s … learning to trust me.”
Again, I had my doubts about that. She wasn’t a foolish woman. She didn’t trust easily, which told me her father had done a number on her. Even though she tried to blend in the town of Pickle Quest, she hadn’t made any friends.
While she’d been working and during one of my lunch breaks, I’d already broken into her apartment and seen what I needed to see. Niamh was ready at a moment’s notice to make a run for it.
I’d already put two and two together and figured out why she opted to work at the diner. This was her way of assessing a threat. The diner was at a prime location in town, where most tourists stopped, and anyone who was anyone went there.
I went because I knew she was there, and it was about breaking the ice. Also, when Niamh didn’t realize I was watching her, I was. I saw how she assessed everyone. When she recognized the faces, she relaxed and went about her business. She took a step toward the exit in the back when she saw those she didn’t recognize. Always prepared.
“Which means you’re nowhere. Time is ticking and there’s only a matter of time before her father realizes where she is.”
“Is he even looking for her?” I asked.
Some parents didn’t give a shit about their kids. Something told me that Finn Byrne didn’t love his daughter. The thin and fading scars were evidence of that. Some of the times I touched Niamh, it was to get a feel for the depth of her scars, to figure out what caused them.
She had a belt used on her, of that I was certain. I also believed she had been slapped and punched. There were no telltale signs of the latter, but it didn’t take a genius to work out what kind of man Finn Byrne was.
“Yes,” Ivan said.
This surprised me.
He reached into his jacket pocked and pulled out a sheet of paper. I took it and glanced over it. The sun was starting to come up and I read the details.
“He’s got a ‘seek and obtain’?” I asked.
“Yes, bounty hunters will be looking for her,” Ivan said.
“Bounty hunters?”
“Yes, this was not placed through law enforcement. Private firms. The Beast alerted me to the movement of Finn Byrne.”
I didn’t like this. If it had gone through law enforcement, I could have dealt with it differently. Even private assassins were easier. Bounty hunters were different, especially those who seek and obtain. They were a deadly bunch, and not known for having polite social skills. The only benefit for these kind of bounty hunters was they always worked alone.