Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 144908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
“Thank you, Seychelle. Thanks to you, we had a heads-up that somebody might be coming after us. Blythe was shopping with Zoe, Emily and Jimmy, our youngest, and someone rigged the brakes on the car. That was the first attempt. It was terrifying for Blythe, but she handled it like a pro. Highway 1 is no joke to drive without brakes.”
Ambrielle couldn’t imagine trying to maneuver the deadly switchbacks and curves along the coastal highway, with its amazing views of the ocean but also lethal drop-offs.
“The second attempt was just plain stupid. A few idiots attempted to shoot at us. Our farm has so many warning systems built into it, thanks to Airiana working for the government, and the women having their powerful built-in grid; we’re covered. I actually would have felt sorry for the gunmen, but they scared the kids.” Czar raked his fingers through his hair several times in agitation. “Then the professional assassins came after my wife and children. We were lucky they tried again at our home. We were able to track them back to, of all things, Pelican Bay Prison. There were four of them. They were long-standing inmates there.”
Ambrie looked up at Master. He avoided her gaze completely. Were. They were long-standing inmates. Master was the one Torpedo Ink member with a record. He had been given by Sorbacov to the prison inmates when he was just a little boy. He had learned to be an assassin. The information ran through her mind fast, looping quickly. Her husband had gone into that prison. He had eliminated the men who had tried to kill Czar’s family, but not without extracting information from them first.
A burst of excitement went through her. She had married the right man. She had wanted a man who would track down her parents’ killers and help her kill them. She wanted Master to teach her everything he knew. She sat next to him, adrenaline racing through her, listening to the talk swirling around her but not hearing it, when she became aware of Master’s stillness. He wasn’t taking part in the conversation. He seemed distant—apart from everyone else.
Ambrielle detested his distance, and she didn’t want to be a part of it either. She liked him. She hadn’t expected to. She hadn’t expected Master to be anything like he really was. She found the more she was in his company, the faster he seemed to find his way inside. She had the feeling he thought his one use was to go into prisons and kill for his club. Now she was using him for the same thing, maybe not to go into a prison, but still, to be her weapon. He’d confided to her that even his own mother hadn’t wanted him. She wanted to be the one person he knew would want to be with him for himself, but how could that be true when she was using him like everyone else was?
“I know we’ve got a lot on our plate, Czar, but I’ve got a personal thing that came up unexpectedly,” Master said. He looked at Ink.
Ink immediately took over. “One of my guys, Reese Fender, had an incident. Parole officer called him and threatened him that if he didn’t join a crew robbing a series of stores, he was going back to prison. There was a gun in his truck and a bottle of alcohol. He’s an alcoholic. The thing is, the parole officer has always been tough but fair. Reese said he sounded off to him. Master and I need to look into this.”
“Bad timing,” Czar said. “Did you send everything to Code?”
Ink nodded. “Code’s going to need someone with some computer skills to start helping him out. Any of the kids seem inclined in that direction?”
“Zoe, but she’s a little young for the things Code is investigating,” Czar said with a small grin. “She’d volunteer though. In the meantime, you’d better get it done. Steele? You want to take that on?”
Steele sat at the end of the table. The doctor, she recognized. “Yeah, no problem. I’ll get together with Master and Ink, and we’ll take care of it.”
“Ambrie is welcome to stay with Blythe and me while you’re gone, Master,” Czar said.
She tried not to react. She’d promised Master she wouldn’t argue with him publicly, and she meant to keep that promise, but she wasn’t going to be left behind.
“She goes with me, but thanks, Czar. I appreciate the offer. We’ve got to go. We’re meeting her friends at Crow 287, and I don’t want us to be late.”
TEN
Master was both grateful and pissed at Czar for reminding him that his marriage to Ambrie was really a sham. It didn’t matter if both declared their commitment and vowed they were going to stay together. The bottom line was, she married him to ensure he would find the men who had killed her parents. He was to hunt them down and kill them. He was her weapon, just as he was the club’s weapon. The only difference was, he didn’t have to go to prison to kill Walker Thompson.