Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 114820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 574(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 574(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
But he saw her.
Racing through the woods, right his way.
His focus went beyond her.
Nothing. No visual. No sound.
No one chasing her.
He didn’t question this.
He stood, holstered his gun, then crouched again, catching Madden on the fly.
Without a word, he pivoted, holding her in his arms, hers locked around his neck, and he sprinted back to the vehicles.
At the side of his SUV, he put her down in front of him, did a quick check of his margins, saw no one there, then he went back to her.
He ran his hands over her head, neck, shoulders, cupping her jaw and forcing her to look up at him while taking in the rest of her.
“You okay?” he asked.
She nodded, full body shaking.
Shock might be setting in.
He let her go, beeped the locks, reached in the back, grabbed a blanket and pulled it around her.
He picked her up, put her on the seat and made a decision he hated to make, but not knowing what the fuck was going on with her getting loose, and with the pieces that could be in play on the gameboard, he had to get her as safe as he could as fast as he could while figuring it the fuck out.
“Get on the floor, sweetheart. Stay down. Don’t look up for anybody, except me, or if someone comes and they say, ‘Cruella.’ That means they’re with me and they’re coming to get you and take you to your mom. Yes?”
She nodded.
“Somebody’s going to be here soon. Five minutes, tops. Okay?”
She kept nodding.
“What are they going to say?”
“Cruella,” she whispered.
He kissed her hard on the forehead and watched as she tucked herself on the floor.
“Stay bound up tight in that blanket, honey. Keep yourself warm.”
She nodded again.
He shut the door, locked the car, and was shrugging off the backpack, making a decision of who to call in to take her home—one of the twins, Kleo or Turner—when he spun, yanking his gun out of the holster and aiming it.
The guy came out of the trees, hands up, fingers splayed, but still holding a weapon in one.
Very tall. Handsome.
Kai Mason. Turner’s boss.
Rus re-holstered his weapon and beeped the locks before he tossed the key fob to Mason.
He again yanked open the door. “Mr. Mason is here already to take care of you. He’s gonna take you right to your mom. Okay?”
“Yeah.” Her eyes were huge in her face, and she was still nodding mechanically. “Yeah, Mr. Lazarus.”
“Rus, baby. Call me Rus. Quick hug?” he asked.
Struggling slightly with the blanket, she came at him, but he helped, pulling her to him.
He held her tight.
“You’re okay now, right? We got you.”
“O-okay,” she whispered in his ear.
He set her on the seat, made sure the blanket was again tight around her and belted her in.
Mason was already in the driver’s seat.
“Let’s get you home, darlin’,” Mason said.
Rus winked at Madden, shut the door, and locked eyes with Mason before he started a three-point turn.
Rus sent a quick text to Moran so he’d let them through.
They were on their way down the mountain when Rus took off, racing through the trees.
He slowed as he closed in on it, again with slinking movements, legs bent, arms up, gun aimed at the mouth of the cave.
He took cover behind a tree and shouted, “We got her, Ezra. She’s on her way home. So let’s not make this bloody.”
Kleo heard him, he knew because she crept into the open from the terrain over the cave, her gun pointed down to the mouth of it.
He sensed Jace and Jess taking positions to either side of him.
“Ezra, it’s over! Come out, hands linked behind your head!” Rus shouted.
He saw movement in the cave.
He focused on easing his finger on the trigger so he didn’t do something stupid.
A tall man came out, hands linked behind his head.
He walked into the small clearing in front of the cave, and without being asked, he dropped to his knees.
Rus’s heart was hammering in his chest.
Carefully, he moved forward.
Jace moved in from his left.
Jess from his right.
Kleo covered them from above.
Rus stopped five feet in front of him.
His head was tipped back, his eyes on Rus.
And he said, “Hello, Zachariah.”
Rus holstered his gun.
And he replied, “Hello, Pastor Richard.”
FORTY-FOUR
Pure
Rus was pissed as shit.
He was wet because it was raining.
And he’d just come from the cave.
Good news, Richard let Madden loose and told her which way to run to get to the road before he got to work on Ezra.
Bad news, he didn’t have a lot of time, so he made light work of dispatching Ezra after it took little effort to neutralize him.
He’d slit his throat.
And while Ezra was bleeding out from that, to add his personal flair so no one could make the mistake and not connect his handiwork, Richard had stabbed him through the heart and left the knife there.