Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“First aid kit, Sonia?” Evan asked.
She pointed vaguely toward the bathroom. She kept a kit in every bathroom. It was something her mother had always done and she followed that tradition.
“Are you feeling faint?” Joshua asked, his thumb once more skimming her cheek.
“No. Just tired. Really, Joshua, thanks for coming. I didn’t know what to do. I would have had to use Gatita and I didn’t want her to have to kill a human being.”
“When Kai texted saying they were in a firefight, I was relieved to hear you’d gone ahead of him. Then your text came in and I came close to panicking. I didn’t wait for the others, I just threw jeans in a pack and came. Evan and the others used a truck.”
“The others?” Sonia looked around the room for the first time.
There were seven men in her home. She recognized the faces from seeing them when she was working at Joshua’s estate, but she hadn’t been formally introduced to all of them.
“Sonia?” Bastien was there. “You okay?” He dropped to his knee beside her, surveying the damage.
“He hit me a couple of times and then tried shooting us both. Joshua charged him.” She brushed her fingers over Joshua’s bloodstained sleeve. “I think he’s dead, Bastien. That’s a good thing for Molly, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, honey, it is, but I don’t want you saying anything more right now. I’m going to call an ambulance.” He did so, his face grim.
“I don’t need…”
“I have to call them to check both of you out. That doesn’t mean you have to be transported. Let me do my job. You don’t talk to anyone without a lawyer, do you understand?”
“Am I in trouble? Is Joshua? He broke into my house and tried to kill us.”
“No, of course not. This is clearly self-defense. Still…” He broke off. “Tregre?”
“I’ve texted my lawyer. He’ll be here any minute,” Joshua assured.
Bastien stalked over to the body and crouched down, observing the damage done by Joshua’s fists. He glanced over his shoulder and when Joshua started to speak, gave a slight shake of his head as other officers hurried in.
Joshua stayed close to Sonia, his back to the wall, his shoulder wedged close so she could lean on him. She closed her eyes and that scared him a little. He needed to be alone with her. He wanted their own doctor to look her over, not some paramedic, although that was just paranoia. Mostly he wanted her surrounded by a dozen guards armed with the latest in weapons.
He wasn’t able to speak with Evan until the paramedics had stitched his shoulder and taken care of Sonia’s thigh. They answered questions until his lawyer declared they were finished. Only then did he carry Sonia up the stairs. Molly sat in the rocking chair and when he carried Sonia into the room, she jumped up. Tears tracked down her face.
“I’m so sorry. I’m so very sorry, Sonia,” she said. “Bastien said you’d been shot but it wasn’t bad. How could it not be bad if you were shot?”
“They put a Band-Aid on it, that’s how much it can’t be bad,” Sonia said.
Joshua set her in the rocking chair Molly had just vacated. “She’s all right,” he assured.
“You’re shot too,” Molly said, grabbing his bloody sleeve.
“That was also treated with a Band-Aid.” Joshua tried grinning at her, but it was too late. A fresh flood of tears started.
“Need to talk to Evan, baby,” Joshua said. “I’ll be back in a few.”
Sonia nodded, and he hurried back down the stairs to find Evan waiting. They went outside and the others followed in tight formation, enclosing the two so it was impossible to see them, let alone hear what they said.
“The bodies?”
“Took them deep in the swamp. Tonight, they’ll go out to the ocean,” Evan said. “No one’s going to find them and if they do, they won’t find a way to connect them to us. They were killed by a leopard.”
“Is everything cleaned up outside?”
“Very little blood. You suffocated them or severed the spinal cord. You didn’t rip the shit out of them. We’re in the clear.”
“The less said about those men to Sonia, the better.”
“Number-one question they kept asking is, was he alone?” Evan pointed out. “Foret has some suspicion that Garritson didn’t travel without a big crew.”
“Sonia never saw anyone other than Blake. Molly didn’t see anybody. As far as they know, Blake came here alone. Sonia speculated to Bastien that Blake must have followed Molly and her home while his men fought with Bastien, Kai and Gray. It makes sense.”
“That’s what Bastien said to the other officers,” Evan agreed.
“We’re safe enough. Just double-check. I plan on taking Sonia back to the house with me. She won’t like it and she’ll probably throw a fit, but she’s still coming home with me.”