Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
“I need to scan her. Find the trackers.”
“You’ve got seven minutes. Get to it.”
Katya whimpered when Millie told her what she had to do, but nodded. “I know where they are,” she said, pointing first to her upper arm. Using the phone, she pulled up the app and scanned her arm. Sure enough, a little beep sounded. The chip wasn’t deep. When she touched the area, Millie could feel the outline of it just under her skin.
“This shouldn’t be too hard,” she said in English, more for Shadow than for Katya. “Just need to numb it up a little.”
Katya was brave while Millie did what she had to do, not moving or flinching when she administered the numbing medicine. One little cut, and Millie was able to pull the chip out in one piece. The wound bled, but a thick dressing and some tape stemmed the flow.
“I’ll check it before we leave. May have to put another dressing on it. Definitely don’t have time to stitch it.”
“Just bandage it and do the sutures after we get back to base.”
“Understood.”
“Who are you talking to?”
She smiled at her sister. “A friend of mine. Venus brought him. You’ll like him. His name’s Shadow.” She took a breath. “Now. Do you know where the other one is?”
Instantly, Katya sobered. She swallowed, slowly moving one finger to her temple. Dread seized Millie’s heart. If they’d embedded that chip in her brain, there was no hope.
As she looked, however, she thought she might sag with relief. “Is it just under the skin?” Millie asked. When Katya nodded, Millie moved the phone over her head slowly. It only beeped at the exact spot Katya had pointed to. Moving her finger over the spot, Millie nodded. “Right there. I feel it.”
“Where is it, baby?” Shadow asked.
“Just under the skin at her temple.”
“I’m betting that’s the explosive one.”
“I’m afraid to do this,” she said. “What if I poke too deep?”
“You can do this. You’ve already done it once. Didn’t Chase make you dig into his forehead?”
“No, that was Caesar. That is, Caesar made me cut into Chase’s forehead because Chase was being a dick.”
“Can’t say I blame him. Chase can be a dick on the best of days.” Shadow chuckled. The sound settled Millie when nothing else could.
Millie took a deep breath, meeting Katya’s trusting gaze. “I have to get this out, Katya. I’d leave it until we got back to base, but I can’t. Can you hang with me for little while longer?”
She nodded slightly several times. “I can do it.”
After she’d changed out the needle on the syringe, she numbed an area at Katya’s temple. The little girl closed her eyes tightly but didn’t move after that. Millie opened the other scalpel and another set of tweezers before changing her gloves, like she’d been taught. Opening another set of sterile gloves, she put them on, then took the scalpel to make the incision, then carefully slid the chip from under Katya’s skin before dropping it next to the first chip.
“Got them,” she said, as she quickly got another bulky dressing and taped it to Katya’s temple. “That will have to do,” she said. “How much time?”
“You’ve got another five minutes before you have to go into the maze to keep to your original schedule. You’ve got five minutes of padding after that.”
“Ok.” She looked to Katya. “You ready to get out of here?”
The girl touched her temple and the bandage there once. Then she nodded. “I don’t want to stay here, Millie.”
“You’re not, honey. We’re leaving. Just hold on to me as best you can. It will be tight in a couple spots, but if we’re careful, we can do this.” There was no need to pack up the trash. She had no place to store it, and the trackers had to stay there. “Are trackers still giving off signal?” she asked Shadow, hoping everything was still good.
“Giovanni says you’re golden. Just get the fuck outta there.”
“Can he tell how many guards are waiting for us at the exit?”
“He’s working on that now. Get moving.”
She looked at Katya and nodded once. Then they entered the maze again.
Chapter Seven
“She’s gonna have a shit ton of company,” Giovanni said in Shadow’s ear on a separate channel. Giovanni had set Shadow up to be able to talk to him and Venus without Millie being able to hear in case they needed to problem-solve while she needed to concentrate. Like now. The image he’d given Shadow showed at least eight men outside the exit. Not close, but there would be no way for her to get outside without being noticed. Once she and Katya were noticed, they’d sound the alarm. Shadow was up and moving the second the words were out of his mouth.
“I’m headed that way,” Shadow informed Giovanni.
“Go in the way she did. You can get around to the exit of the maze with little problem if you’re careful. Just take out one guy at a time.”