Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 53450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 267(@200wpm)___ 214(@250wpm)___ 178(@300wpm)
Kestrel got down on his hands and knees and reached into the hidey hole. He crawled deeper and reached farther. “Are you sure, Juniper? I don’t feel anything back here.”
Juniper gasped and spun around to look closer at her surroundings. Had she made a mistake? No. Definitely not. “I’m positive.”
Kestrel backed up and came to his feet, wiping his palms on his jeans. “There’s nothing back there now.”
“Shit,” Phoenix muttered.
Suddenly, a piercing scream filled the tunnel, echoing down the corridor. “Help. Someone, please help me!”
Juniper stiffened, and then her blood ran cold. Sammi… She hadn’t seen her friend in twenty years but remembered her voice. She turned in the direction of the screams and started running.
“Juniper, no!” Phoenix growled. “It’s too dangerous. Go back with Kestrel. I’ll follow the voice.”
Juniper ignored him and kept running. She was fast and knew exactly where to turn and when to duck. She knew these tunnels. She was well aware the men were on her heels, but she didn’t stop.
“Help!” the voice called out again. It was louder.
Recognizing the direction it came from, Juniper took a sharp right turn. After studying the schematics for this tunnel system yesterday, she was more oriented. They were heading in the direction of the ocean, probably the spot where Caesar had discovered one of the cave entrances earlier.
Nothing made sense. There was no way the bad guys could have gotten to the money from the cave entrance they’d created in this short amount of time, and why would they now be heading toward the ocean?
Juniper was close enough to hear Sammi whimpering by the time Phoenix grabbed her around the waist and covered her mouth. “Shhh,” he murmured in her ear. “Slow down, Little girl,” he insisted. “Let Kestrel and me handle this.”
Juniper nodded as she tried to control her heart rate. She’d taken off with no plan. She didn’t have a weapon and wouldn’t know how to use one if she did. She silently promised herself she would take self-defense lessons as soon as this was over. Maybe one of the Daddies would help her.
“Help,” the voice shouted again. So close.
Juniper lurched forward on instinct, but Phoenix held her back. “Juniper…” he warned in a low voice.
She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. She needed to listen to him. “I’ll be good. I promise.”
“Well, well, well…” The new voice was masculine and accompanied by a bright light shining toward Juniper and the men she now considered her family. “Look who it is, Edmund.”
Juniper squinted in the direction of the bright light, but there was no way to make out the figure in front of her.
“Let me go!” came the female voice again, and then, “Juniper?”
Juniper winced. Sammi could see her easily. Juniper was at a disadvantage. She could barely distinguish the struggling figure just a few yards before her.
“Were you looking for the money?” came another male voice before a sardonic cackling. “You’re too late. It’s mine now.”
“Let Sammi go,” Juniper shouted.
Phoenix spoke next. “She’s right. You got what you wanted. Let the woman go.”
“I don’t think so, asshole. In fact, I believe we’ll take that pretty little thing you’re holding on to as well. Edmund and I were going to share this morsel, but it will be more fun if we have two cunts to fuck. Maybe we can even pass them back and forth.” He laughed again.
His laughter was like scratching on a chalkboard. It grated on Juniper’s nerves.
“Let go of the woman,” Kestrel demanded, holding up his gun. “Now, or I’ll shoot that smirk right off your face, asshole.”
Juniper had no idea how Kestrel intended to shoot at anything or anyone with that damn bright light shining in their direction. She couldn’t make out more than shadows.
Suddenly, Kestrel rushed forward. A moment later, Juniper watched as he did a graceful roundhouse, swinging his leg high in the air.
“What the fuck!” shouted the man Juniper assumed was Eric.
A gun went off.
Juniper screamed and dropped down low to the floor. Wasn’t that what people did in the movies when there was shooting? From this angle, she could finally see better, and she discovered that Sammi was also down on the ground on all fours.
Juniper made eye contact with her childhood friend, noticing the sheer terror in her gaze.
Air whooshed over Juniper’s head, and she glanced up to see Phoenix leap over her. A second later, the sound of flesh on flesh made her wince. She could see clearer, too, probably because it appeared Phoenix had punched one of the men in the nose. The guy was staggering backward, holding his face. He was waving a gun erratically with one hand and had a huge bag slung over his shoulder—one of the money bags.
Juniper looked around and noticed a second bag several yards away against the wall near the man who was holding his wrist. He must be Eric. He was closer to Sammi, and he’d had his gun kicked out of his hand.