Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 50402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 252(@200wpm)___ 202(@250wpm)___ 168(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50402 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 252(@200wpm)___ 202(@250wpm)___ 168(@300wpm)
“They already knew he was a jerk,” Ivy corrected. “We all did. Now, they know they can’t trust him any more than I have for several months.”
“Want to tell me what’s up with him?”
“No. It’s all boring bank business. I’ll take care of it when I get back to work.”
“You don’t have to do things alone now, Little girl,” he reminded her as he drove from the parking space, heading back to the Shadowridge Guardians’ complex.
“Thanks, Daddy.” She closed her eyes and gave into the exhaustion the brief visit had caused.
A quick turn to the left woke her, and Ivy sat up. Steele might be a daring motorcycle guy, but he drove like a new parent with her in the car. “What’s wrong?”
“I just turned on Main Street and will go two blocks to Lemon Avenue,” Steele said into his phone before touching the screen to activate the speaker function. He set it in the cup holder before squeezing her thigh reassuringly. With his hands back on the steering wheel, Steele divided his attention between the windshield and his side mirror.
When she shifted to turn and peek between the seats, he barked, “Stay where you are, Little girl!”
“Is there a child in the car, Steele?” a calm voice inquired through the phone.
“There are two people in this vehicle—one adult male and one adult female,” Steele answered with military precision. “The white panel van is still following us. License plate YRP 299. Check the report for the Ivy Jenkins abduction on…”
As he talked, Ivy remembered there was a side mirror. She leaned forward to see more clearly and froze. The blood in her veins felt like it had turned to ice. Ivy wrapped her arms around herself and sank back against the seat, her desire to hide urging her to slide onto the floorboards. She reached for the buckle of the seatbelt to release it.
“Stay there, Ivy. I don’t want you to be bashed around.”
Ivy swallowed hard and followed his instructions without argument. They were after her again, but this time, she had Steele. “Okay.”
After several long seconds, the woman Ivy assumed was a 911 operator said, “Sir, are you sure these are the same men that abducted Ivy Jenkins?”
“There are three men in the van. A muscular bald man is driving. In the passenger seat is a male with brown hair. There is one more in the second row of seats. He appears tall with blond hair, but I can’t see him clearly. I believe the first two match the description in the report.”
“Because of a large accident on the north side of town, I don’t have a car in the area to send. If the van makes any threatening moves, drive to the police station for assistance. It is two blocks away.”
The air turned blue with his curses as Steele disconnected the call and placed another. She watched him glance into the rearview mirror and turn immediately to the right.
“Put your head on your lap and wrap your arms over your skull to protect yourself,” he ordered as Storm answered the call.
“Car won’t start?” Storm’s amusement was palpable.
“There’s a white van following us.”
“Where are you?” Storm’s tone morphed to sound hard and alert.
Steele gave him their approximate location as he changed lanes, and Storm’s terse answer followed. “We’ll be there.”
After straightening the car from the next turn, he rubbed a hand over Ivy’s shoulder as she lay folded out of view. “I’m sorry, Little girl.”
“Can the Guardians help?” she asked in a muffled voice.
“Yes,” he answered in a clipped voice that revealed his stress.
Continuing his avoidance and attempt to lose the van, Steele weaved through traffic and the roads he obviously knew like the back of his hand. When he slowed, she started to sit back up, but he held her in place. “Almost safe, Ivy.”
The sunlight vanished from the interior of the car. Steele turned off the car and slid out rapidly. With no one to stop her, Ivy sat up and looked around. She was inside one of the motorcycle bays. Twisting in the seat, she looked behind and the seatbelt seized, following her sudden motion.
With a curse, she unfastened it and turned around to see a line of Guardians standing in a row at the entrance of the repair shop. Each was armed with a gun of varying forms. She tried to get out, but Steele had parked next to the wall so her door banged against the concrete, making her wince. There’s no way she could fit through there.
Sending mean thoughts his way before she scrambled over the console into the driver’s seat, Ivy remembered he’d saved her again and remorse crashed over her. She peeked out the door and saw a barricade of hard bodies separating her from the road. The throb of motors filled the air and wheels squealed on the pavement.