Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50710 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50710 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
The guy beneath me tried to jam his gun into my side, but I managed to grab his wrist. I snapped it like it was nothing and he screamed in agony. I punched the guy, but before I could knock him out cold, I heard Daisy scream my name. I managed to look up at her in time to see that she was looking at the door. I had just seconds to react when I looked over my shoulder and saw a third man standing in the doorway, gun drawn and pointed at me. I quickly rolled myself and the guy beneath me so he was on top of me. His body jerked as two bullets hit him in the back. While the guy who’d pulled the trigger was distracted by the fact he’d shot his own buddy, I shoved the body off me and lurched to my feet. I launched myself at Daisy as the guy began shooting again. My body hit hers hard and I did my best to break her fall while still keeping my body on top of hers as we landed on the floor just behind the loveseat.
Several more shots volleyed around us, then everything went silent.
“Cash!” Sage yelled.
“We’re okay,” I said, instantly relieved to hear his voice. I’d lost track of him in the fight.
I shifted my weight off Daisy. “Are you hurt?” I asked as I quickly scanned her body for blood. She was gasping for air as she shook her head.
“Shallow breaths,” I said gently as I cupped her cheek. “You got the wind knocked out of you.”
I mimicked how I wanted her to breathe. It took her a second to follow my lead. I fought back my fury at the sight of the bruise on her right cheek.
“Daisy?” Sage called as he hurried to us and dropped to his knees. I was beyond relieved to see he was unhurt. He grabbed her hand in his and skimmed his fingers over her hair. Her breathing was a little better, so Sage and I helped her to sit up. The second we did, she began sobbing.
Sage drew her into his arms. “It’s okay, honey, we’ve got you,” he said as he ran his hand up and down her back. She clung to him and nodded. I was about to get up and take stock of the scene when Daisy suddenly reached out one of her hands.
She was reaching for me.
I took it and shifted so I was pressed up against her side. “You’re safe, Daisy,” I whispered in her ear as I brushed a kiss over her temple. “Sage and I are here now. You did real good.”
She managed another nod, but it was several minutes before she calmed. I could hear sirens in the distance.
“I need to call Ronan and Memphis,” I said to Sage.
I helped him get Daisy to her feet. He led her to the couch while I took in the scene. Her apartment was trashed, but I suspected most of the damage had been done prior to our arrival. There was only one body – the guy I’d used for cover.
“Give me your gun,” I said to Sage. He handed it to me and I tucked it into the waistband of my pants. I’d put it and my gun on the coffee table once the cops arrived.
I got my phone out and dialed Memphis.
“Cash,” Daisy said. I turned to look at her. She was huddled against Sage, her face wet from her tears, but she seemed calmer. “You need to wipe my computer.”
I nodded in understanding. The cops would gather evidence as part of their investigation and there was no way we could have them finding information about what Ronan’s group did. “Tell me what to do,” I said as I went to the computer.
When Memphis answered, I said, “We’ve got her. She’s okay, but we’ve got a problem.” I told Memphis to hang on and then did what Daisy told me in order to start the process of wiping her computer. It took just seconds for the screen to go completely dark with only a little cursor in the top left corner. “Is that it?” I said to Daisy.
She nodded.
I quickly gave Memphis a rundown of what we’d walked in on.
“You know what to do with the cops,” he said. “Ronan and I are on the way.”
“Yeah,” I said with a sigh. “See you in a bit.”
I went to Daisy’s other side and sat down. “What happened?” I asked. I knew we had just minutes at most before the cops arrived and I wanted as much information as I could get.
“Dylan,” she said. “They took Dylan.”
“Who is he, Daisy?” Sage asked.
“A friend. I met him online. We both play a lot of the same RPGs – role-playing games – so we started chatting. He was offline for a few days and I was worried about him – I messaged him my number through the game’s interface. When he finally called me, he sounded really scared, but he wouldn’t say what was wrong. Only said he was in trouble and he needed to disappear. He lived in Pittsburgh, so I told him to come here. I bought him a bus ticket. I thought… I thought if I could find out what was wrong, Ronan and Memphis could help him, you know?” she said as she wiped at her eyes.