Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
“Laurel—Rory—shielded you from your pursuers?” Mack wanted clarification. Astonishment and maybe even awe showed in his tone. “At that young of an age?”
“She had to have, Mack,” Rose said. “How else weren’t we seen? Those men were right on top of us. They would have caught us. There was no way we would have gotten away from them. It cost her though. We stayed hidden for hours. They came back over and over, searching most of the night. When we were finally able to step away from the wall, she collapsed, gasping for breath and coughing. She was far worse off than Ivy.”
“I take it Whitney wasn’t pleased with her.”
“We couldn’t tell him what she did for us. No one ever told him anything. He was terrible to her. He said the worst things, even told her she was better off dead. That we’d be better off if she were dead. He had her dragged to the attic when she desperately needed a treatment for her lungs. We wanted to go to her and tell her we would have died if she hadn’t been with us, but we couldn’t get to her. We never saw her again after that. She disappeared. Ivy and I talked it over. We thought maybe she died in the attic because she couldn’t breathe.” There was sorrow in her voice.
“I’m sorry, Rose. That must have been very difficult for you,” Javier said. “For all of you. Whitney deserves a very special place in hell for everything he’s done.”
“I wish I could tell you more, but I have no idea what really happened to her,” Rose admitted.
“There’s no doubt that she’s a GhostWalker,” Mack said. “We still don’t know if Whitney took her to another facility and programmed her and then sent her here to try to take Sebastian from us. Or to harm one of us.”
“Mack,” Jaimie protested. “I investigated her background. She’s traveled all over the state for the last few years. It seems unlikely that she would have waited this long to approach us if she meant us harm.”
“Unless her background is entirely fabricated, Jaimie,” Kane pointed out. “You know that’s possible.”
“True, but it would be unlikely anyone would be good enough to hide the fact that they contrived their background from me. I’m very thorough and so is Javier. We both investigated her separately. I can’t imagine that we would be fooled.” She looked to Javier.
He shook his head. “She traveled to each of those places and worked at the various bars. I’d bet my life on it.”
“That’s it, then. Gideon is family. Rory is his choice. His woman. That makes her family. This is for him,” Mack said. “No one has to help. It’s strictly volunteer. We don’t know how much of a threat Rory represents. I’m going to go in with Paul and see if he can tell whether she’s been programmed in any capacity. Hopefully not with a bomb. That’s my greatest fear.”
Jaimie raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t even think of that. I guess I was wondering how you were going to tell if Whitney had ordered her to make a try for Sebastian. How would you determine that?”
All eyes turned to Paul.
“Hopefully, I’ll know when I look at her. I’m very interested in examining her lungs and bronchial system. Even if she had asthma to begin with, Whitney clearly made her situation worse. I’ll try to find out everything I can.”
“I can go with Paul, Mack,” Lucas Atherton spoke up. He had the good looks of a model and was considered charming. “I can talk with the best of them.”
“I already told all of you, this is my team and I’m responsible. If there is a problem, I make the decisions. I’m with Paul. We’ll see how things go.”
“Jaimie, make a schedule for the next couple of weeks for us,” Kane suggested. “That way we aren’t overrunning the bar. See if you can get Rory’s shifts at her work so we know when she’s on.”
“That won’t be a problem,” Jaimie agreed. “And I’ll be taking a shift as well.”
“Anyone who wants to help look out for Rory, put your name on the roster,” Mack added. “We need to make sure the camera feeds in the apartments are working, as well as the ones we added on the street. We want eyes on her.”
“Gideon has a bad feeling,” Javier said. “He said he’s sure she’s in danger. Gideon has never been wrong about his feelings.” He stood up. “I’d better get back to him before he does something crazy, like try to send his spies to her. Paul, you want to come with me?”
“I’m probably not his favorite person right now.”
“You will be when you tell him you’re going to the bar to try to make sure she’s healthy.”
“Don’t bet on it. I’m the one who had the brilliant idea to be honest with her,” Paul reminded him.