Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 128260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
“Wrap a towel around his bottom for now,” Josh said to Yoselin. “Someone will be back shortly with some diapers and clothes and other necessities.” Josh moved toward the door, and I took Grace’s hand.
The women looked up from the baby, smiled and nodded, and moved their gazes down to his little face again. It was clear all of them were busy falling in love. He was going to be just fine.
Once we were all three on the elevator heading back down to Leland’s office, Grace looked between me and Josh and asked sadly, “How do you do it?”
I gave her a sad smile. “How can we not?”
Josh nodded but didn’t say anything, stepping off the elevator first when the doors opened.
Dylan rushed out of his computer room, a look of sheer excitement on his face. “Suit up, boys,” he said. “I got him.”
CHAPTER 34
Grace
My heart was beating out of my chest as Carson rushed into Leland’s office with the other guys. I stayed back, not wanting to get in the way. I knew that it all came down to this.
Leland glanced over at me, and Carson saw his movement and nodded at him, indicating it was okay to talk in front of me. My heart squeezed with love for him. He trusted me with everything.
“You gotta move, guys,” Dylan said first. “Gabriel Bakos is currently in a warehouse in Henderson, but you know this guy, he doesn’t stay anywhere very long. He fucked up—maybe he figured because it’s Christmas, we’d be off duty.”
“You got the location of the family too?” Leland asked.
“Yeah, finally. He did a decent job of hiding them. But that’s how I got him too. Fucker went through the estate gates in a delivery truck. Only that particular delivery company doesn’t deliver on Christmas Day. Sloppy. I knew he must be inside and so I tracked it back to Henderson. And get this, he only has two guards with him—he must have given the other three Christmas Day off. He’s quite the benevolent fellow.”
All the men snorted.
“What else?” Josh asked.
“I downloaded the layout of the warehouse to your glasses.”
“Okay, wait,” Carson said. “We need at least three men to go in after Bakos. It takes that many of us just to clear a room properly. Any less would be too risky. That means we need you to film the family, Dylan.”
“Who’s gonna be the driver then?” Dylan frowned.
They all looked over at me and my eyes widened. Fear had my brain buzzing and I was working to follow along with the plan they were laying out. This was all so outside my frame of reference.
“No way,” Carson gritted out. “No fucking way Grace is driving. We drive ourselves this time.”
“We need a lookout, Carson,” Leland said.
Carson shook his head. “We forgo a driver and a lookout just this once. I won’t risk Grace’s safety. I’d be no good to you if I knew she was sitting outside waiting for us,” he said.
“Okay, no lookout this time,” Leland said. “We capture Bakos, and Josh can go sit in the car while we question him and get what we need.”
“Oh, hell no,” Josh said. “If anyone gets the pleasure of talking to Bakos, it’s me.”
Leland paused. “Fair enough. Let’s go get dressed. It’s already dark out. We need to move.”
Everyone nodded, starting to move toward the door. Apparently they had already made some kind of more elaborate plan and were just working out the details. At least I really hoped that was the case.
As we all walked out the office door, I noticed Leland’s slight limp and recalled Carson’s story of their team’s ambush. It was a reminder to me that they were both lucky to be alive and caused a bolt of fear to arrow down my spine.
Carson took my hand and I followed the men down the hall to another room. Leland opened the door and he and Josh went inside. I saw lockers and showers and figured it must be where they “suited up,” whatever that meant.
Carson faced me and pulled me into his arms.
“I’m scared,” I said against his chest.
“Don’t be, buttercup. What happened with Josh was a miscalculation. We won’t make the same mistake twice. But in the meantime, you have to trust that we’re good at our job and we work together well. We know what we’re doing.”
I nodded, squeezing him tighter. “Be careful, please?”
He tipped my chin up with his finger, looking into my eyes. “No way I’m going to find you again after all these years and not get to enjoy you for a long, long time. Years. Decades.”
I smiled weakly.
“I love you, Grace,” he said solemnly.
I closed my eyes for a brief second. “I love you too,” I whispered.
He smiled before he said, “Now, I’m going to take you to a room where you can wait for me, maybe try to nap—”