Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Kenzie? Her glasses. Damn it. He’d forgotten that sometimes Lou’s glasses were more than glasses. Sometimes they were gateways to whole worlds. Worlds where his family got a front row seat to his sex life.
“Lou, tell me they didn’t see us.”
She stopped, her head coming up, and she was truly adorable when she was horrified. “Your uncle says he’s going to bleach his eyeballs. We have to move.”
His uncle was here? “We’re not doing anything until I understand what’s going on.”
She simply tore a hole in her skirt and pulled out a piece of metal that she then managed to fold into a deadly looking stiletto. Not the kind one found on shoes. Lou didn’t wear those kinds of shoes. She was more of a boots and flip-flops chick, but she held that knife like she knew what she was doing.
Which she didn’t because she was an analyst. She was the Agency’s version of Bond’s Q—the super smartie who made the weapons but didn’t use them.
“I’m here to rescue you,” she said, sitting on the bed and putting one leg over the opposite knee. She used the knife she’d made—the one that seemed to deny the laws of physics…maybe it was physics, he wasn’t sure, but he knew something that folded up in a skirt shouldn’t be that solid—to pry open the heel of her boot. There seemed to be a secret compartment there.
“Who sent you? Wait. I don’t have to ask. Uncle, if you’re listening, I’m going to kick your ass. You should know better.” How dare they put Lou in danger. She wasn’t a field operative. She should be safely behind a computer screen. He hadn’t kept his hands off her for fucking years so she could die trying to rescue his sorry ass.
Lou winced as though hearing something loud. “Could you two leave the family drama for later? Yes, I hear you. No, he can’t, and I’m not about to tell him that.” She pulled something out of the boot and jammed the compartment door closed again. “We need to move. By now they’ll surely have heard us since I said I’m here to rescue you out loud. Rookie fucking mistake.”
Because she shouldn’t be here. He needed a plan because she was probably right. Adrenaline started to pump through his veins. The fight was about to start, and the only thing he could do was try to save Lou. “You stay behind me. We’re going to barricade ourselves in as best we can.”
She frowned his way as she stood and approached the door. “Why would we do that?” She slapped her hand against a space near the handle and the lock that kept them inside. “Though you should get down. Fire in the hole.”
Fire in the… What the fuck? TJ moved, crossing the space between them and tackling Lou, taking her to the floor and covering her body with his in a frantic play to protect her from the explosion that was coming.
And it was perfectly quiet.
He looked down at her. “Fire in the hole?”
She bit that plump bottom lip of hers. “It sounds cool in the movies. And you didn’t give me a chance to hit the detonator.”
It was too small a room. They would get torn apart. Had she run around Europe with C fucking 4 in her boot? “Lou, don’t you…”
Her hand tightened and there was the sound of a puff and then the door was swinging open. Her lips curled up. “It works. You see I modified the chemical structure slightly so I can use less and it makes far less noise. It’s also about where you place it. Oh, shit. We need to go.”
“Was machst du?” a deep voice said. “Steh jetzt auf.”
The guard. The guard was here and would probably kill Lou. He felt the muzzle of a rifle at his neck and reacted. He let his instincts take over. He brought his right arm back, catching the gun before the fucker could fire. He heard the rifle clatter to the floor as he rolled off Lou and kicked up because there was no way the dude wasn’t coming after him.
“Run, Lou,” he commanded as he started to get to his feet.
And got punched. Pain cracked across his face, but he had to ignore it. He brought his knee up, trying to take out the guy’s balls. The mercenary groaned but proved how well trained he was because he didn’t move. He was so big. TJ was big. Six foot three and two hundred ten pounds, but this guy had at least fifty pounds on him. He kicked again and brought his arms up to break the hold because the guy’s hand was as massive as the rest of him. It was almost fully around TJ’s throat.
Not that he would let something like a lack of oxygen stop him. He saw it play out in his head. He would pop his legs open, putting his opponent off balance, and then he would roll the fucker, grab the gun, kill this guy, and hope he could find Lou wherever she was hiding.