Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91990 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91990 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
A new man walks out of the room behind her, practically skipping as he smiles broadly at the roomful of men.
“She’s upended plenty of empires, and now she’s honing in on her father’s, making huge strides as a one-woman army. Killing her is just a waste when you realize her true potential. One woman. One army. One very big asset. People who want her dead are the ones who live in fear of her. People who want her alive have no idea just how very much she hates being controlled…”
Maya lets her words trail off when the man raises a stopwatch and clicks it. That last part of her comment reminds me too much of Rush. No one likes being controlled, but he needs to be the one in control. He also makes no apologies for it, especially at this point in his life.
The smiling fella with no concern for the threat of the one-army woman he’s nabbed starts speaking to the assembly.
“The bidding will begin with only the buyers present. Please, no outside buyers or contact with outside buyers. This was an extremely sensitive operation that took a little longer to execute, but I appreciate your patience and personal presence,” the new guy tells the semi-restless crowd. “All sales are final, and in the event of escape, she’s your problem to deal with. Not ours—”
“Did you tag her?” one of them asks so casually, causing my eyes to widen.
They really are treating her like cattle.
“She only has the temporary tracker that we’ve embedded just under her shoulder blade. Feel free to examine her for any others,” the guy tells him.
I lift the gun, but it’s pointless to shoot into a roomful of men while only armed with one weapon. I’m not even sure how many bullets are in here.
Not to mention, these are just some of them. We narrowly slipped by their entourage of security goons during our too-stupid-to-live-sneaking routine.
“Shoot the main guy. It’ll send the rest of the room into chaos,” Maya tells me.
“Don’t shoot anyone, or they’ll all be shooting up here at us,” Drake hisses.
I’d shoot Sarah free…if the bullet wouldn’t just ricochet off the metal.
Her eyes are still smiling, even with that horrifyingly disturbing mask on that will forever haunt my dreams and taint the way I see her.
The guy running this show snaps his fingers, and three men join the room with stacks of binders that look edged with professionalism. They move in front of the men, who all take a binder as the stacks near them.
“You’ll find a detailed list of the things she’s capable of—”
“You mean the things you’re aware that she’s capable of,” one man states, idly raking his gaze over Sarah from head to toe.
She rolls her eyes.
Unperturbed, the lead guy continues on. “Last theorized to be quite possibly the best assassin in the world, AJ was groomed as a child to become a chameleon soldier. Trained by some of the world’s top specialists in areas of martial arts, weaponry, sniping, strategic warfare, and various other fields of violent interests, by age nine, she’d started being the primary in top-secret missions for her very well-known father. I’m sure you’re all aware of his accolades that are mostly attributed to his daughter’s ruthless reputation.”
Snake was also a child soldier…
Definitely a different set of fucked-up circumstances, but I doubt it’s a coincidence they fell in love.
“Refined to ladylike stature, she can blend in with any society, and her cultural education keeps her at the top of her game with foreign countries—”
“She’s been off-grid for too long. How do you know she’s kept current?” one man asks.
The lead guy shrugs. “Her mind has been getting expanded since birth. Do you really think you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?”
Sarah barks like it’s a bad pun, and all the men closest to her startle. When she laughs, they all take a wider step back from her.
“On a scale of one to ten, how much sanity does she have left?” one man asks very warily.
“That part doesn’t really matter. So long as you spend a few months reconditioning her mind the way specialized psychologists have laid out for you in your respective manuals, you should be fine,” the man states like brainwashing is an easy task. “Take a moment to look over the information we’ve provided. The bidding will begin at ten million.”
“I’m going to see if I can find an alarm to trip or something. If we can free her from those chains, she can get us and her out of this,” Maya says as she starts belly-crawling across the floor.
Drake curses, trying to grab for her ankle, but she kicks at him. Instead of grabbing for her again, he quickly tucks himself back against the base of the spotlight, whispering curses to her as she goes.