Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Zahra put her hands on her hips and turned to face all of them. It was impossible for her to look intimidating with her little pixie face, dark-winged brows and mobile mouth. “Did all of you find the chocolate?”
“Someone had to save you from yourself,” Shabina said. “Seriously, Zahra, if you ate all that chocolate, you’d be in a coma and you know it. You’d be lying on the ground right now moaning and asking us to put you out of your misery. For the next week you’d be looking for imaginary blemishes on your face.”
“Not imaginary,” Zahra protested. “I always break out if I eat chocolate.”
“And you get headaches,” Stella pointed out. “Migraines. You aren’t supposed to eat chocolate.”
“Well . . .” Zahra hedged. “The doctor didn’t prove that yet. He mentioned caffeine might be a cause. I can’t imagine he meant chocolate. I read about how dark chocolate is good for you.” Her lips formed a pout. “Did you eat all of it?”
“No. We left you one candy bar,” Vienna said. “One. You need to be careful. I’m going to start checking to make sure you’re not diabetic.”
“Didn’t you read the article on how good dark chocolate is for you?” Zahra reiterated, digging into her backpack for the last candy bar.
“In moderation. I’m not sure you know what that means,” Vienna said. “Food, chocolate, booze. When you go out, you dance all night.” If Sam wasn’t available, Zahra was always the sober driver. She loved good food, but she ate slowly and very small portions. She wouldn’t have eaten more than one candy bar and most likely brought the rest to share. Zahra was one of the most generous people Vienna had ever met, but it was impossible not to want to tease her. Her face was too expressive and her accent always became more pronounced as she feigned annoyance with them.
“I guess I’ve stalled enough,” Vienna said. “I’m going to take a look at the truck Zale and Rainier rented to see what kind of shape it’s in. Hopefully, it isn’t riddled with bullet holes and the seat cushions aren’t covered in blood. I’m not good at welding, but, Harlow, you are, aren’t you? You can do body work and then paint over any bullet holes we find.”
“I’ll get right on that.” Harlow tried cracking her knuckles but no sound emerged. Everyone laughed when she shook her hands. “I never could do that.”
“It’s gross anyway,” Zahra said. “The sound gives me the creeps.” She gave a little shudder just to prove her point.
“I’ll go with you,” Shabina volunteered as Vienna set off toward the truck Zale had left behind. Raine accompanied them, leaving the others to finishing packing the gear in Stella’s 4Runner.
The truck was a Ford Ranger XLT SuperCrew. Vienna wasn’t as into cars and trucks as Raine was so she wasn’t surprised when Raine whistled her approval. “They knew what they were looking for when they rented this baby. Has speed if they need it, can hit the desert with four-wheel drive, and is rugged as hell. Handles well. They were ready if anyone came after them.”
“Apparently, someone did come after them again,” Vienna said. “This was the third time. Maybe more than that. I wish they’d just gotten out.”
“Third time?” Shabina asked.
Vienna nodded. “The first time I knew about, they’d been attacked by three men with knives in the parking lot outside of the hotel. They nearly got Rainier in the heart, came out of the bushes. He was stabbed, but not deep. Zale deflected the knife. Both of them had cuts. They came to my room and I fixed them up.”
Shabina shook her head. “That wasn’t enough for them to know their cover was blown?”
Raine sighed. “These men don’t just walk away. Once they start down a path, they keep going until the job is done.”
“Or until they’re dead,” Shabina pointed out. “When were they attacked again, Vienna?”
“On the floor when they went gambling in their disguises. Rainier played the part of an elderly gentleman and Zale was his personal protector. A waitress brought him a drink. The drink was poisoned. Before Rainier could drink it, a woman took it out of his hand and drank it. She went down fast and hard. Security got to the glass before Zale could.”
“And they still didn’t leave,” Raine said.
“Nope. They kept up their roles.” Vienna walked around the truck, inspecting the outside of it, checking for any bullet holes, dents or scrapes that would indicate the vehicle had been involved in an altercation.
“And they think women are in need of keepers,” Shabina said. “Men don’t have brains to tell them enough is enough.”
“It looks as if the outside of the truck is just fine,” Vienna said. “Did either of you see anything? The windows look good. No cracks. The paint is fine. No scrapes. No dents. No one has even keyed it.”