Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 133182 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133182 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Glancing over at the speedometer, I see that we’re hovering around ninety.
“Who do we have at the motel?” I ask.
Lucifer’s crisp voice comes back over the line and a dark chill travels down my spine. “All of us in Garden City. Jude is still in the Ukraine. Thaddeus is now in Boston. And Simon’s man, Eric, hasn’t shaken his tail as easily as we hoped. We’ve lost too much blood.”
That means he’s there too. Great. If he gets a single fucking scratch on him, Lily will devour every single one of our souls.
There won’t be a single person who could stop her, either.
Silence falls over the line, thick and heavy.
We’re dying out, and we don’t have enough fresh blood filling our coffers. At this rate, if the Russians did seriously attack us, we could very well end up being the ones running off with our tails between our legs.
Or worse.
We could all wind up dead.
That’s a terrifying thought.
But equally fucking terrifying is that I don’t know what’s happening to Sophia.
She’s that ever-present thought in the back of my head.
Always there.
Always weighing on my very soul.
I don’t know what’s happening to her, and I can’t fix any of it.
“John or Simon, one or both of you caused this shit. You got made and exposed my house. Figure out who the fuck had a tail or a tracker on them. I’m not calling anyone a rat, but they shouldn’t have been able to find me,” I say quietly.
“Fucking hell,” Lucifer snarls.
“How can you be so sure…” Simon snaps at us before trailing off.
“There wasn’t any other way,” I say, “unless we’re dealing with a Judas.”
My blood runs cold at the thought.
Uriel easily handles the sparse traffic on the highway, and when we’re almost to the motel, I feel the weight of the world slowly lifting off my shoulders.
No matter the outcome, it’s time to act.
There’s nothing left for us to do but act.
“Here’s the plan—” I start to say when we’re five minutes out.
“Oh fuck,” Gabriel grumbles over the line. “If I get fucking shot, Meghan will beat my ass.”
“Yeah, I’m not getting shot again either,” Johnathan says. “Beth almost fucking neutered me the last time I got hit.”
There’s a good amount of snickering after that comment. It was probably needed with the tension riding so high.
“What do you have in mind?” Lucifer asks after the chuckling on the line quiets down.
“We can’t go in full throttle. They’ll kill my wife because she’s their only bargaining chip,” I say. “They’re not willing to die either, but they won’t want to come with us willingly. They’re going to hold out until the calvary comes.”
“Which will be who?” Uriel asks from my side.
“Not the cops,” I say. “They would have called them in already. And I’m willing to bet they’re going to have a shit time explaining what happened at my house...”
“That means the Russians, if they can get here in time,” Simon says.
“Have you heard any chatter regarding any warrants against us?” I ask.
“Not from any of our judges, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have one in their pocket,” Simon says.
“They’re holding out for the Russians,” Gabriel says firmly.
“We can’t let that happen,” Lucifer says.
“One minute,” Uriel says.
“I’ll handle this then,” I say.
“My sister in-law’s safety is top priority,” Lucifer says over everyone.
There’s dead silence yet again.
I hate it when that motherfucker drops bombs that don’t need to be talked about like that.
“I fucking knew it…” Gabriel grumbles.
Uriel elbows me hard in the side and I practically double over. Fucker almost hit the spot where I took the bullet.
Pushing the mute on the dashboard, I look at him. “I’ll tell you later.”
He nods his head and looks at me holding my side. “You wanna talk about that?”
“Not particularly,” I say and straighten back up as best as I can.
“You get hit?”.
“Yeah, but in the vest,” I say and wince. “Caught a couple grazes lower but they’re not an issue.
“Cracked ribs?”
“Maybe,” I say, and toss the assault rifle into the back.
“What’s the plan?” he asks and looks up ahead.
We’re quickly coming up on the abandoned motel
“Shock and awe,” I say.
“Fuck. The last time we were together and you said that, I couldn’t hear for two fucking days,” he grunts.
“Well, this time will be quieter, I promise.”
We slow down and approach the rest of the cars surrounding the police SUV.
The fact that we’ve managed to trap the fuckers in our own motel is lucky as fuck...
So lucky, I can’t discount unholy providence.
“Going to need your boot,” I say when we pull to a stop.
“I figured as much,” Uriel says before he pops out of the car much faster than I can move my ass.
Just as Lucifer said, every man we have in Garden City is here. Standing outside their vehicles circled around the SUV.
I spot Lucifer, dressed in his pristine suit, standing near Simon. When he spots me hobbling toward the motel, fury threatens to erupt in his eyes.