Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 125531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 628(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 628(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
He didn’t have time to check the timer on his phone. He just had to fucking run as fast and as far as he could while taking the girl with him.
It seemed an impossible task.
Like Scar, he could very well die on Hillbilly Hill.
Without telling the people he loved that he loved them.
Like his mother.
Like…
Fallon.
Fuck.
He surged to his feet and, as soon as the vertigo slowed, he approached the girl. “We gotta go! Now!” He grabbed her arm to help her up but she flinched, cried out and tried to jerk free. “We don’t got time for this shit. This place is gonna blow at any minute.”
He didn’t have time to reassure her that she’d be okay.
He didn’t have time to get her to trust him.
He didn’t have time to explain.
He didn’t have time.
They didn’t have time.
They needed to move.
Now.
He pulled her to her feet. “There’s a van waitin’ on us. It’s goin’ to Ohio where you’re all gettin’ dropped off.” Thank fuck his stutter was gone. He didn’t have time for that, either.
But instead of walking, she pulled back, using her free hand to swipe the tears off her cheek. “I don’t want to go there. Please don’t make me go there.” Her plea was thick with tears and as soon as she wiped one away, another escaped and rolled down her face.
“What are you talkin’ about? You ain’t a Shirley?”
She shook her head.
For fuck’s sake, they didn’t have time for this conversation. “You ain’t part of the G-Guardians of Freedom?”
Damn it, he thought it was gone. He needed to calm the fuck down.
“No! I’ve been trying to get free. I don’t belong with them,” she pleaded, her voice raspy, most likely from Scar crushing her windpipe.
What the fuck? “Where’s your family?”
As he waited for her answer, he quickly texted Easy: Found Scar. Head back.
“I… I…”
“Fuck this. We’ll figure it out later.” He shoved his phone back into his back pocket, still not checking the countdown timer. He didn’t want to go into panic mode. He needed to concentrate. “We need to go. This cabin’s wired to explode.”
Her red-rimmed eyes widened and she finally stopped resisting. He pulled her along as he ran out of the cabin and outside.
He decided to take a shortcut that might shave off some time and put more distance more quickly between them and the cabin. Ducking and weaving, he dragged her through the woods until they made it out farther down the dirt lane. He knew the lane had deep ruts and holes and he could easily break a fucking leg if he took a misstep.
The hair on the back of his neck stood as an imaginary timer ticked in his head. His lungs were on fire and his face throbbing. The faster his heart pumped, the faster the blood trickled down his face.
He ignored all that as he dragged the girl down the lane, both of them almost eating dirt several times. But not once did he slow down.
“F-faster!” he yelled.
At this point if he fell, he was just going to keep rolling forward. Because no matter what, he couldn’t stop.
If he did, they were dead.
Then he heard it.
The first blast.
And what was the beginning of the end.
Chapter Twenty-One
The second blast, even though not close, was powerful enough to throw him forward and to his knees. Then debris began falling around them like a hail storm. Only some of the hail was on fire.
Christ, if the explosives didn’t kill them, the raining hellfire might.
He covered his head with one arm and yanked the girl to her feet with the other.
“Jesus fuck, that only s-sounded like one or two. We g-gotta get the hell outta here.”
The detonations must be timed to start at the top of the mountain and work their way down, giving them extra time to escape.
Thank fucking fuck for that. That was the only thing that might save Whip’s ass.
He realized at that very second those Shadows were worth every damn penny. Even the last tarnished one they had to dig out from under a couch cushion.
With a hiccup-sob, the nameless teenager fisted her long dress and pulled it up enough so she could sprint alongside him.
For fuck’s sake, he wanted to kill that motherfucking prospect all over again.
Former prospect.
Dead prospect.
Hell, he didn’t even deserve to be called a prospect anymore. He’d been a shit stain on the Fury.
A third blast came northeast of the direction they were running. The ground fucking shook on that one, too. He wondered if it was the two cabins he and Cage had been assigned.
Then he saw it. Just ahead.
The main compound. When that blew, it would be a major hit to the mountain. Most likely only leaving deep craters behind.
That clearing had the largest and the most number of structures, especially with the barn and the main house and all the smaller outbuildings. Including what was left of the shack that Red had been kept in like breeding livestock.