Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
“You can push her to kill you.”
“She’s a predator who likes to play with her food,” MaeBe replied, watching the yard around her. So far she hadn’t seen any evidence that there were actual humans patrolling. Julia was relying on tech.
That was a mistake.
MaeBe had written the protocols that would break the code on the door that led from the tunnels to the basement. It wasn’t biometric. The tech on the door was surprisingly dated. Likely because if they switched it out, they had to bring in people and questions could be asked. From what Joseph had told him, Julia and her father had always been paranoid about keeping their safehouse as private as possible. The Consortium board didn’t know it existed, hence they had outdated security on the tunnels. Ian had recognized the system. It was one he’d put in a thousand times before, one he trained all his employees on, so they knew all the backdoors. Still, it could take a while to break the code, and she was going to have to buy them that time.
Likely with pain and blood.
“I don’t like the idea of her playing with you,” Hutch said over the line. “She’s going to hurt you, Mae.”
Nothing would hurt worse than not getting Kyle back. Than knowing she hadn’t done everything she could for Kala. “I can handle it. She’s done it before. I survived. I know how to keep her angry, but not so angry she kills me. And once they get Kala, they’ll come for me.”
Ian would never ask her to take a minute’s more pain than she had to endure. She’d found a family that would never leave her behind.
It was enough.
And then she and Kyle would cuddle up, and someone would take care of them while they healed from whatever that woman was about to do. She would likely find herself right back in Grace’s pool house, curled around Kyle and taking a whole lot of pain killers.
It wasn’t such a bad place to be because this was only time, and it would be finite. The pain would pass. Her love would not.
“We’ll all come for you,” Hutch promised. “Now if we’re going to do this, it’s time. The mercenaries she sent to meet with Drake and Taylor can’t get back for at least another hour.”
Adam had identified four men in the SUV. Why Julia had sent what might be half the men on her team had been debated over, but she accepted Drake’s explanation. Julia feared Taylor. Julia had tangled with Taylor and didn’t want to come out on the wrong end of that fight again. Taylor had pricked Julia’s pride, and she wouldn’t underestimate her.
She would not feel the same way about MaeBe. It was exactly what she was counting on. “I’m going silent. Let Ian know he has a go.”
She took a deep breath and pulled the device out of her ear. Hutch would let Ian know she was going in, and he could start the countdown.
MaeBe stood just outside the security cameras on the big lawn that ran down from the highway to the house. The place was thick with trees, and anyone driving by wouldn’t know there was a house here at all, much less the estate that had been in the Radcliffe family for well over a century.
Kyle was somewhere in that rambling mansion, and so was Kala.
She had to hope this house wasn’t about to be her tomb.
The phone in her hand buzzed, letting her know the message had been received and she had a go.
MaeBe let the cell phone drop and then eased around the big tree. She had to make it look good, like she was trying to stay off the security cameras, trying to sneak up to the main house.
She had several guns on her, but she didn’t expect to make it far with them.
She moved to the side of the house, inching around the cameras so it would catch a glimpse of her.
That was when she set off the perimeter lights. They came on, flooding what was previously dark with harsh white.
She dove for the side of the house, out of the cone the light created. She wished she didn’t have to be so dramatic, but she was selling a scene. Julia wouldn’t believe her if she simply walked up to the door.
She had to make this look good and hope the men Julia had left behind were paying any kind of attention.
Ian and the team needed every single eye away from the security cameras when they started in. Hutch was going to cut their Wi-Fi and switch the feeds to a loop they’d made and then Ian could move in freely.
But those eyes needed to be on her for the ten to twenty minutes it would take for them to get into the house or they could get cut off coming around a corner, and she wasn’t willing to risk a firefight in the narrow tunnels. They would be caught, and if someone came up from behind…