Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 110671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110671 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
“A bit.”
It took a lot longer to walk in this rugged, uneven terrain of sand and loose rocks than to drive across it, and by the time they’d gone through the passage, Gray was wiping sweat off his forehead and wondering if they’d brought enough water.
Darius walked about thirty feet up a hillside to a collection of boulders. There, on the flattest of them, he set down his backpack and crouched behind a low rock. He wiped the lenses of the binoculars on his shirt and then peered through them while he adjusted the scope.
Gray checked his phone and felt a rush of triumph when he noticed he had reception.
He took the opportunity to text Adeline, saying they missed the boys.
“We have a small problem,” Darius said. “There’s a man in the backyard, and I don’t think it’s Warren—or Jackie, for that matter.”
“Shit, really?” Gray climbed up on the boulder as Darius extended the binoculars. The house had to be at least two hundred yards away, so when it appeared so close in the scope that he could detect the color of the curtains in the window, he almost jumped back. Instead, he swallowed the surprise and refocused.
It was a small house, one story, and was surrounded by a low picket fence. A trailer stood in the backyard. One car in the driveway, and not the one listed in Willow’s profile on Warren. This one was a rusty Civic.
Chester Warren was wealthy, and this was a fucking shack.
The man in the backyard didn’t come across as someone who befriended doctors either. He had a dark ponytail, ratty jeans, no shirt, and he was mowing the lawn with a machine that belonged in the eighties.
“Are we sure this is the right place?” Gray had to ask.
“I don’t think my sister’s ever been wrong in this regard, but I admit I wondered the same thing,” Darius answered contemplatively. “The address is listed in his name, though.”
Gray hummed and checked the house again. No bars on the window, although only one was visible from this angle.
Yellow curtains with flowers on them.
In front of the old car were a wheelbarrow and a freaking doll stroller.
“What do you wanna do?” Gray returned the binoculars.
“I want to get closer, first and foremost,” he said. “We’ll wait till it gets dark, and then I think we can drive the ATV to the last passage.” He nodded toward the house and the last two mountains. “Either way, we have to be ready for anything. Warren arrives tomorrow if Willow’s predictions are correct, which they should be. I wouldn’t assume anything else based on the info we have. But we’ll prepare to enter tonight in case that becomes the best option.”
Gray nodded in understanding.
They’d been planning on entering before Warren’s arrival regardless, though they were supposed to wait until tomorrow afternoon when they knew the son of a bitch was on the way. Mainly because they didn’t know what kind of security system they were dealing with, and if Warren was somehow tipped off—say, if he got a security alert sent to his phone that an alarm had been triggered—he could escape much easier if he was at home in LA. Whereas if he was already on the road and he got an alert, Willow would be able to see his exact location.
“Let’s go find a place where we get service,” Darius said. “I want to call Willow.”
“I have reception right here,” Gray replied. “I sent Adeline a fever report and asked her to pass along a message that we miss the boys.”
“Good call.” Darius pulled out his phone.
When the last light faded from the horizon, Gray and Darius had managed to close the distance between them and the house further. The ATV was parked behind a couple boulders, and Darius and Gray were shielded as well. And the best part of their new location was the direct view of the back of the house, instead of the side.
They’d deduced it was a two-bedroom house. The living room and one other area faced the back. The latter had to be a bedroom, but they couldn’t be sure. The lights were off in there. Meanwhile, the ponytail man was watching TV in the living room.
Where Jackie could be held was anyone’s guess, and Darius had a few. Possibly one of the bedrooms, possibly a basement, possibly not here at all.
Gray dreaded the idea of the last one being true.
After they’d filled their pockets with the essential items they needed, they left their backpacks on a boulder and began their trek across the flatland that rested ahead of them. And in the dark, Gray couldn’t say he was thrilled about walking there.
Rattlesnakes, scorpions, and tarantulas were no fucking myth, and all the dangerous animals were nocturnal.
Gray may have bitched about it a little as they walked.