Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 81504 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81504 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
I gun the engine, but fucking cabs aren’t meant to go a hundred fucking kilometers an hour. We’re nearing the centre now, could fucking walk to the mansion if we had to.
“I see six of them,” McKenna says. “Six men on bikes I’ve never seen before that don’t look like they came from around here.”
It’s a fucking attack, I know it. Out of the corner of my eye, I see an unattended motorbike parked outside the pub. I yank the car over, throw it in park, and open the door.
“Get out, and come with me.”
She scrambles to do what I say. Seconds later, we’re riding the bike twice as fast as the car took us. She knows I stole it and she doesn’t say a fucking word. I’ll deal with the aftermath of my decisions tomorrow. Tonight, I fight for my brothers.
We go as fast as we can up the hill that takes us to the iron gates, the acrid smell of smoke filling my nose and mouth. Sirens sound in the distance. I look around us. The men on bikes are either gone or in hiding. Relief floods through me when I see the mansion, looming on the hill in front of us. Smoke comes from around the house, but the house itself looks unharmed.
What about the occupants?
Guards are running, fire engines on our heels as I ride up the drive to the garage.
“Be careful!” McKenna screams as a tree crashes to the ground and smoke and fire flares up beside us. I park the bike and swing her off and into my arms as another large branch falls so close it knocks the bike over. I run with her to the greenhouse as the doors to the mansion open and people come swarming out.
I look to see my brothers but can’t find them. I see staff and some of the wives and children, but none of the brothers of the Clan. Maeve comes out, wrapped in a robe, her hair pinned in curlers. She sees me and runs to me.
“Tully! Where are my boys? Where are they?”
I shake my head, ashamed I don’t know.
“Are they in the rooms below?” she wonders.
Christ, of course they are. The interrogation room’s soundproof. I shove McKenna toward Maeve.
“Keep her safe, Maeve. I’m going to go find them.”
Maeve throws an arm around McKenna and drags her toward the other women and children, as fire engines enter through the gate. McKenna looks at me, wide-eyed.
“I’ll find you,” I tell her, then I take off at a run.
Smoke creeps up the side of the house, and there’s an explosion right behind me. I run to the first floor entrance, but it’s locked tight. I pound on the door, but I can’t get in. I peer through the door to the window to the library, below ground level. If I can get in there, I can get into the interrogation room.
I smash the window. There are other safety measures in place and I hope to fuck I can get by them. I can’t fit in here. Fuck. The window’s too narrow. I couldn’t even fit one of my thighs in here.
I look over my shoulder, back to where the women are.
“McKenna!” She looks over to me. “I need you!”
She races to me. I show her what I need her to do.
“You need to get in there and open the door for me. I can’t knock it down, it’s reinforced.”
“Do you want me to go straight to the room where the men are?”
“No.”
They could be held hostage. I don’t want her getting into the crosshairs, and I don’t want her freaking out. Christ, I have to get in there myself.
“Just open the door, lass. That’s all you need to do.”
Her wide eyes meet mine, and she nods. “I’ll do it.”
I whip off my jacket and throw it over the broken glass. “Be careful. I don’t want you cut.”
“I’ve got this,” she says. She sticks her legs in through the window, eases herself over the jacket, and slips right through. I hear her feet pounding as she races to open the door. A second later, I yank it open and enter with her. I hold a finger up to her so she’s quiet. We need to make sure no one hears us.
Too late. Voices right around the corner from us come nearer. I grab her, and duck down the hall that leads to the library, flattening ourselves against it.
“Did you fucking hear something?” A thick accent. Is it the Scots?
“Fire is all it is,” says another, deeper voice. “Broke the window. It’s reached the house as we planned.”
“Fucking fire engines coming.”
“Leave them.”
I lift my fingers to McKenna. Two?
She shakes her head and holds up three. I nod. I can take three.
I point wordlessly to the ground. She’s safer here. Her eyes on me, she falls to the floor. I bend down and whisper in her ear. We have to move quickly, and we have to move as one. “I’ll distract them. They’ve barricaded the men in the interrogation room. We’ll have to catch them off guard. After I’ve got them immobilized you come when I call you and help me get my brothers out. Aye?”