Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 122609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
“What makes you think a little computer work warrants you getting anything remotely close to any of the cars you just named? Just do what I asked, and we’ll discuss it later. I need you on top of this right away.”
“You can just call AT&T or some mom-and-pop computer folks that have a week’s turnaround time, and no promise it’ll be done to your satisfaction if you think you can get better, Mr. Man-About-Town. I want a Mercedes-Benz EQS 450, James. One fresh off the lot. Fully loaded. My choice.”
“Fine. I want this done ASAP.”
“That’s cool. Just so you know, I will be getting this car gift situation in writing, James. I know how you operate.”
“Why don’t you trust me? I’m a man of my word.” He put his phone on speaker, set it down, picked up his crossbow and ran his hand slowly along it.
“You look for loopholes. Like, you’ll get me a Hot Wheels Mercedes and laugh in my face, then swear that you technically didn’t lie.”
He snorted at that.
“You think so little of me.” He placed his bow and arrow down and contemplated toying with another he had in the display case.
“Because I know you well. So, I’ll get on top of this right after my meeting. I’ll need your credit card again for the camera situation since you want me to rehaul the entire system. Both situations will be taken care of in forty-eight hours or less if I work pretty much nonstop. In the interim, I can block all access to your computer, and the entire company’s abilities to log into other accounts that they did not personally create. Let your employees know they’ll need to reset their passwords when I’m finished. I can take care of that right now before I leave. Shouldn’t take more than ten or fifteen minutes. Just send me the login information, and I’ll take it from there.” She disconnected the call.
He sent her the information, slid the phone back into his pants pocket and selected his Excalibur Twin Strike Crossbow. After a few minutes of being back in action, he heard a hard knock at the door over the music. He looked up at the video monitor to see Honey standing there, curing an itch on her arm. He opened the double doors that led into his archery playroom and she stepped inside, wearing white sneakers, black leggings, and a tight black crop top. Her hair was parted down the middle and flowed freely in long, curly strands all along her shoulders.
He leaned in and kissed her crown to inhale the scent of her. She always smells so good.
“Are you practicing again? Tournament coming up?” she asked after giving him a peck on the lips.
“Yeah, I am, but not for a tournament. What have you been up to, today?”
“Asking for one more week from Mr. Silver, talking to my mom, then doing a story on Butch Cassidy’s missing gold.” She looked about the room, appearing curious about his accoutrements.
He cocked a smile at that. “Oh, really? Butch Cassidy? That doesn’t seem like your typical stuff.”
“I know.” She shrugged, then looked up at the fake animal heads, her nose wrinkling at the sight. Perhaps she hadn’t noticed them when she’d been in his archery room previously, though he figured they were hard to miss. “My work is usually about more serious current events. However, since I plan to be writing a pretty interesting story soon,” she smirked, “I wanted to get my feet wet.”
“Rumor has it, he and the Sundance Kid fled to South America, where they later died after a shootout with authorities after a bank robbery. Turns out, those weren’t their remains, and there’s no evidence they’d even committed the crime in question in Bolivia which led up to it all. Some think both of ’em actually came back to the United States, under aliases, where they lived out their rest of their lives, but no one knows for sure.”
“Well, don’t you know a lot about him, huh, Mr. Expert? I guess I should have interviewed you, too,” she teased. “I never took you for a history buff, Archer. Learn something new about you every day.”
“Yeah, I’m into history, especially anything to do with the West, or outlaws. How much I’m interested really depends on what it’s about.”
“I actually drove over to El Paso County today and took photos of various areas people explored for the cash fortune he buried, to no avail. It’s amazing that after all of this time it still hasn’t been found. I even interviewed a few locals and spoke with a historian about his life here in Denver. Interesting stuff. I wrote the rough draft, presented it, and that bought me some time with Silver. He accepted it, so now all I have to do is polish it and send over the final copy later today. As you say, it’s a win-win situation.” She winked at him then casually reached for the bow he’d laid down.