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)
“You need to find a way to make peace with her,” Shadow said. “Don’t miss out on your sister’s love and devotion because of pride.”
Venus winced, then nodded once. “I’ll keep watch over you both from command center. Don’t be without radio contact on hand. No matter what. I have bad feeling about this.”
“Understood.” Shadow had the same feeling.
He caught up with Millie as she loaded the last of their supplies into the military-issue Hummer. God, she was sexy. He had to get past that. Ignore it. Because it would spell disaster for both of them. Especially now. He didn’t need to be distracted, and neither did she.
“We good to go?”
Millie glanced at him, ducking her head. “Da.”
“You OK?” She nodded, not saying anything or looking at him. “If it’s about Venus, I’m sure she didn’t mean --”
“Yes, she did. And I meant everything I said as well.”
“Millie --”
“Let’s go. We’ve got a lot to accomplish before dawn.”
Right. “I’m gettin’ too old for this shit,” Shadow muttered. “Fine. But I’m driving.”
She sneered. “Don’t trust me?”
“Trust you completely. But this vehicle cost more than I could make in several years. It’s on loan from my boss. So, I drive.” Surprisingly, Millie only snorted before going to the passenger’s side and sliding in without another word.
* * *
They made the ride to their staging area in silence. Three hours. Millie thought it was what she wanted, but she found the quiet nerve-racking. With the silence came time to think. Time to worry when she should be planning. But her mind was in chaos. And wouldn’t you know it, that bastard Shadow read her like a book.
“You gotta get your head in the game, sweetheart. We can’t go in there with demons lurking. Enough of those inside that place.”
Demons. Apt word for it.
As she thought back, she remembered how it felt waking up in Shadow’s arms. Right before her sister laid into them. She’d gone to sleep almost immediately the second he’d closed those brawny arms around her and slept like the dead until she woke up sprawled on top of him. Had she ever slept so soundly? Or gone to sleep so quickly?
She peeked over at the big man. He was huge. Tall and strong. His skin was a dark, deep carob color with scars crisscrossing his brawny arms. She hadn’t seen the rest of him, but she could appreciate muscles playing under his shirt whenever he moved. His thighs filled out his dark pants to perfection. He was everything she’d ever wanted in a man and everything she couldn’t have.
“I’m fine,” she finally managed to say.
“Liar,” he said, not missing a beat.
“OK, so I’m not fine, but we can’t delay on this. If I’m right, Katya doesn’t have even a day for delay.”
“I thought Venus was the one to have spoken with a contact on the ground.”
“She is. But if they’ve put Katya in that maze, they don’t expect she’ll be there long. Getting food and water to her will be difficult at best. She can’t get in and out on her own, and Victor won’t want her dying in his custody.”
“It’s been four years, Lyudmila. How do you know what he’s thinking now?”
“Because that’s why he built the maze. He likes games. Always did. He’s a killer, but he doesn’t like getting his hands dirty. Think of him as cat playing with mouse. He’s probably told her she could go free if she made it out of the maze. Katya was always timid child. I tried to get her to be boisterous and lively, but our mother would stifle that side of her every chance she got. Like she wanted Katya to blend into background, beneath notice of her father.”
“So you think it unlikely she’ll even try?”
“No. She’ll try. But she’ll give up easily. Afraid of getting lost.”
“If Venus is right, it sounded like she got a message out to her contact somehow.”
“That I could see. She was always very clever. She’s nine now, though. I could have her personality pegged wrong. A lot can happen in four years to shape a person.”
“Well, at least you’ve got your mind on Katya. Keep it there so all three of us can get back alive.”
They watched the place for a long time after they got there. Consulting the maps and blueprints Giovanni had made them and deciding on the best way in and out.
“The problem with maze is that you have to go in one side and out another,” Millie said. “I’ll have to enter here” -- she pointed to the front side of the property -- “and exit here,” pointing to the back side. “Once outside, we’ll be vulnerable to attack, as there is three-acre perimeter of cleared land around the place.”
“Giovanni says the wall is just that. A high concrete wall. Getting over it will be a problem with no way to climb it, and you won’t have time to destroy a section without blowing it up.”