Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 140965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 705(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 705(@200wpm)___ 564(@250wpm)___ 470(@300wpm)
Shylah smiled, lifting the binoculars to her eyes. And Bellisia?
That girl is a different kettle of fish. He smirked at his own joke and she made a small sound in his mind, letting him know she got it. Bellisia had toxin from the blue-ringed octopus in her, and she was fast in the water and could stay under for very long periods of time. She’s a warrior woman like Trap’s wife, Cayenne. She’s married to Ezekiel, one of my teammates. He’s crazy about her. More than once she’s been an asset to us.
Cayenne?
He knew what she was doing, delaying the inevitable of going inside. Getting the information about her friends and the other women because she believed they were going to die. Not entering the hut gave them a few more minutes to believe there was hope that they could find a therapy that would work against the hemorrhagic virus.
Cayenne was one of Whitney’s mess-ups. At least one of his people who oversaw the experiments decided she was a mess-up, and he scheduled her for termination. She’s very spiderish. She can weave webs and kill with a bite.
That gave him pause. He waited, but Shylah didn’t volunteer any information. It occurred to him that Cayenne had been considered a failed experiment, yet Shylah had been given similar traits. Cayenne was developed in a dish. The dose of spider was fairly hefty. Can you weave a web if you want to do it?
No one has ever asked me that, besides Whitney. I told him no. He was using silk to try to build armor for his supersoldiers. Do you know how much silk that is?
Cayenne said they forcibly removed it from her at times.
If he was going to terminate Cayenne, who clearly is an asset to you and was to him, why would he keep me?
I don’t think Whitney gave the termination order. I think Cayenne was his protégé’s experiment and she scared the crap out of the man. He’s dead, by the way. Whitney didn’t shed any tears. He was going to kill three little girls and Wyatt’s wife, Pepper, as well. The three children, not even two years old, are Wyatt and Pepper’s girls. Whitney wasn’t too happy with his protégé for that order either.
Poor little babies. I’m glad they’re safe now.
He wasn’t so certain, not with Whitney’s three rogue virologists on the loose. You didn’t answer the question. You told Whitney no, but you didn’t tell me one way or the other if you can spin a web.
Yes. I can spin silk.
That’s awesome. He poured admiration into his voice. She was sensitive about the ability to make a web because she thought it made her appear less than human. He thought that skill made her even more lethal, and she was kick-ass already.
I miss them. I hope we do have satellite capability, so I can at least say good-bye to Bellisia and Zara and see for myself that they’re happy and safe.
Why, Shylah? She’d condemned herself to death. Not just any death—she’d seen what hemorrhagic viruses did to the human body. He wanted to shake her. He wanted to kiss her. Mostly, he wanted to pull her into his arms and hold her, comfort her, although at that precise moment, he might need more comforting than she did. Why did you kiss me, practically guaranteeing that you won’t get out of this?
I feel the same way about you that you do me, Draden. Maybe in another time or place, I wouldn’t admit that to you, but now it seems rather silly to pretend I don’t feel that same attraction. No way would you let me die alone. I see that in your mind. You weren’t pushing so hard to save yourself, but to save me. That resolve you have, that driving need to save me, to see me through this, I have that same feeling for you.
God. She was so courageous. There was no beating around the bush with her, she just came out and gave him her truth. He glanced down at her again. She hadn’t moved. Hadn’t taken her eyes from the hut. She lay perfectly still without moving a muscle. That was the cat in her. She could probably keep it up for hours.
I’m telling you, woman, you’re everything I could ever want. Thank you. Doing this together is easier. We can look out for symptoms and know the other is willing to provide the bullet if it gets too bad. He hoped it was him. He didn’t want her to have to do him and then herself. We’re going to find a way. I want to get in there and see if I can contact Trap and Wyatt. They may be able to help.
It looks clear. I don’t see tracks and I can’t smell anything to indicate someone’s here.