Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 136(@200wpm)___ 109(@250wpm)___ 91(@300wpm)
“Is this what I think it is?” she asks in a faint voice, looking from one screen to another.
“Yes,” I bark in a short voice. “I have cameras posted all along the property perimeter, as well as the inside and outside of the house.”
Lori nods slowly, still dazed as she tries to absorb recent events. To her credit though, she seems to be calming down and coming back to herself. I know I need to give her a task in order to help her avoid the panic that might invariably reappear at any moment.
“I need to secure the door, Lori. Here’s what I need you to do, honey.” Brown eyes go wide, but she’s listening. “I need you to study the monitors while I’m busy. Use the arrows to navigate between views. As you do that, I need you to tell me what you see. Keep talking okay? No detail is too small.”
Out of the corner of my eye I see Lori lean over one of the screens, and she clicks a few keys before speaking. “Okay I got it.”
With that, I get up and start fortifying the heavy steel door. It’s already practically impenetrable, but there are still a few things I can do.
“What do you see honey?” I ask, grunting while I manhandle the heavy steel wheel that opens it.
“Um, there’s nothing yet. Oh wait. Oh crap.”
“What is it, sweetheart?” I’ve finally managed to turn the wheel all the way to the left before punching in the code that keeps it locked. I walk over and peer over her shoulder.
“Fuck,” I whisper as I land on two dark figures brazenly stalking through the house, pointing at anything and everything with their machine guns.
“Do you know who they are?” she asks, her voice going high on the last word.
Fuck. I shake my head.
“No, but they’re obviously after something.”
The weird thing is that I have no idea what they could be looking for. I don’t keep valuables at home, nor is there anything that’s extraordinarily expensive in my house. I suppose the HDTV on the wall is four figures, but fuck, you can get those at Best Buy.
Yet as the two gunman prowl through my home, on a different monitor, we watch as two more approach the rear of the house. They attach something to the doorframe, and then the screen momentarily goes all white as a bomb explodes. Then, there’s just a hole where the door used to be, and the new intruders step into the mansion.
“Fuck!” I curse aloud. My girlfriend jumps, and I apologize in a harsh tone. “Sorry honey. Despite what you see, we’re safe in here,” I promise her. “They can’t get into this room.”
“But who are they?” she asks in a faint voice, her cheeks white. “I don’t get it.”
I shake my head with frustration too, still staring at the monitors.
“I don’t know,” I grunt. Then, my lips twist in a grimace. I hate that I’ve put the woman I love into such a dangerous situation. “My best guess is this has something to do with my company because we’ve made some enemies over the years. And yeah, we’ve had some jobs go sideways because we’re in the fucking defense business. We’re mercenaries,” I rasp harshly. “It’s not exactly a low risk profession.”
Of course, danger is a grim reality in my line of work, but still, violence in Kabul or Kosovo is different from violence in fucking Great Falls. It’s something I hoped would never happen, but here we are. Instead of protecting my loved ones, I’ve put Lori directly in harm’s away.
“Is your work why you have this room?” my girlfriend asks in a low tone, once more drawing me back into the moment. Her eyes shift from the monitors over to the well-stocked shelves, to the safe tucked in behind the mini-fridge.
“It is,” I rasp. “I had this room put it nearly a decade ago, when I first had the house built. I’ve never had to use it, but I guess today is as good a day as any.”
Lori merely nods, her face drawn.
“We’re going to be okay, do you hear me?” I bark, cupping the beautiful woman’s chin in my hands. I hate how pale her complexion is, and how her brown eyes blink so slowly.
“Yes, I hear you,” she mumbles.
“I reached out to law enforcement,” I continue in a strong voice, stroking her thick hair to help calm her. “They’ll be here any second.”
“You did?” Brown eyes stare up at me, wide and out of focus.
“I did, baby,” I reassure her. “They should be here soon. We’ll be out of here in minutes, mark my words.”
Lori nods, my words slowly registering.
“Okay,” she says softly. But I shake her again, immediately regretting my actions as her head lolls back and forth like a rag doll.