Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“You will die here, Colonel.” He pulled a Smith & Wesson Model 29 from his shoulder holster and leveled it at me.
“Are you kidding?” I was actually disappointed in him. “You have the Dirty Harry gun? The .44 Magnum? Seriously?”
He cocked the gun, and I turned my head at the same moment there was a shattering explosion. Suwan was thrown across the room as part of the wall came away from a direct artillery hit. Wherever I was in the compound was definitely not underground.
I worked my jaw, my brain battered, my hearing muffled. The whole place filled with smoke and dust as plaster, debris, and bricks crashed down. The RPG round Dante brought had definitely come in handy.
As the dust settled, I could see out into the hall. There were bodies there, and all of them appeared dead, but, I reasoned, it might take a moment for everyone to get back up. There was a lot of blood, though, so maybe not. Part of the roof had come down. Suwan was lying on his back, groaning under the weight of a heavy beam that pinned him. Where the chair I was strapped to was, on the opposite wall, had turned out to be the safest part of the room, since it was still standing.
Eyes blinking through the dust and debris and smoke still clogging the air, I saw a figure coming toward me. I tensed at the prospect of renewed or finally fatal violence at Fang’s hands while unable to defend myself. Had the enforcer arrived to check on Suwan and then finish the job his boss started?
“Ohmygod, ohmygod,” Jing gasped, emerging from the cloud, and I’d never been happier to see her. She was followed by Dante, who was making my earlier thoughts about who was dead or not moot as he put a bullet in everyone he passed. He never liked people getting back up.
“You have to find Owen.” The tears were coming fast now. God knew what they did to him the moment they heard the explosion.
“Garland secured him first. I knew that would be what you’d want,” Jing informed me. “He’s with him now, along with Isaak, so you know he’s safe.”
He was safe. Owen was safe. Even if I had a heart attack and died right now, it would be all right because Owen was good. I started shaking, the relief overwhelming.
“Now can I get a hello?” she said cheerfully, trying for nonchalance but not able to pull it off. Concern and worry filled her eyes.
“Hey,” I greeted her, taking a breath.
She reached me, immediately surveyed the chair, and bent to push away the bricks. The release from the weight was immediate, and it negated so much pain, I almost forgot about the rest.
“Thank you,” I whispered, able to relax a fraction.
As Jing retook her place beside me, I noted her horrified expression as she surveyed the damage, her hands fluttering over my face and shoulders, but not making contact with my skin. “I have no idea where to touch you,” she said, sounding like she was in pain.
“It’s okay,” I soothed her as she kissed my forehead. “Really.”
She nodded quickly as Dante joined us, putting a cold hand on my cheek for a moment. Since his hands were never cold, that meant my fever must’ve spiked again. “I’m so glad I’m not too late.” He smiled broadly. “I was worried you might have gotten hurt.”
“Funny,” I said with a weak grin.
“You’re burning up,” he said worriedly, passing Jing his Beretta M9, then slipping around the back of the chair. I heard the snap of his blade, and then it was against my skin as he cut through the ropes binding me, first the ones around my hands, then my chest, and then my legs. My limbs immediately throbbed and ached with the sudden return of blood flow.
“Darius was finally able to get us a satellite image of this place,” he explained as he came back around to face me. “From our drone surveillance, it looked impenetrable, and there’s only one way in, so a direct assault would have been useless.”
“I figured.” I turned on the chair, pushed my legs over the side.
“Once we determined which wall to go through, there was the issue of all the thermal signatures. It took a bit to determine where they were holding you and Owen.”
Just then there was a volley of machine-gun fire. Dante grabbed his gun from Jing, and she pulled hers from her shoulder holster, a Sig Sauer P220 Carry Elite Stainless. They both faced the door.
“Don’t shoot,” a man directed from the hall.
Both Jing and Dante lowered their weapons as a man with a Heckler & Koch MP5 stepped into the room. He was wearing body armor, a helmet, and I realized I’d never seen him before in my life.