Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 75406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75406 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
One day, I'm gonna break all his fucking ribs and pull them out, one by one, while he's still awake to feel it, just for what he did to her. But the most important thing now is that we get her outta here, and alive.
“You have exactly five minutes,” Harris's grating voice echoes through the megaphone, “and then we're coming in. We do not negotiate with terrorists!”
“Terrorists? I'm gonna make sure I save a bullet for that motherfucker's face.” Wraith has his piece out, too.
Nitro pulls out his phone. “Calling Alessa,” he explains.
A moment later she picks up. Her voice is so loud, it carries. “Are you guys safe?”
“Not even fucking close. Tell me your place has a secret exit, escape tunnel, bomb shelter, a backpack of hand grenades, something. We'll take fucking anything at this point.”
“Fuck,” she hisses. “No, I never needed it. I just lived there, out of sight. Crap, I don't know how the cops found it, but no. I'm sorry.”
“Guess it was too much to hope for. Alright. We'll figure something out.”
“Good luck.”
“We need to distract them until help gets here,” I say. “Any thoughts?”
“He says he won't negotiate, but if he doesn't, and we have a hostage, then he's gonna look at least as bad as he would if he just started gunning.” Wraith's expression is dark, but determined. “Here's to me not getting my head shot off.”
“Wraith!” Nitro, Kaylee and I say it all at once as he cracks open the door, ignoring us.
“Harris!” he yells. “We'll give her up, but you need to give us a little more time.”
“Why the fuck would I do that?” There's triumph in his voice that carries easily even through the muddling of the megaphone. He's got us pinned like bugs and he fucking knows it. Goddamn it. I hate feeling trapped.
“You don't think we'd fucking make so you could just walk in here and take her, do you? Unless you want the whole fucking building to go, you’ll give us time,” Wraith yells back.
We all know that Harris doesn't give a shit if we all blow up, but the neighbors sure as fuck do, and with more and more of a crowd gathering, he's got to keep some kind of public face to this.
I hope.
“Fine! Five more minutes! After that, we're coming for you.”
Wraith shuts the door and looks back over his shoulder. “Five more minutes. That enough for anything?”
“Not without a distraction,” Nitro looks thoughtful. “But, maybe…”
“Get going on it,” snaps Wraith. “Whatever the fuck it is, we'll draw things out as much as we can.”
Nitro nods, then disappears into the kitchen and starts rummaging. Knowing him, whatever he’s planning is going to make a big fucking boom.
The rumble of engines gets my attention. Fuck, could it be…
People scream outside and scatter as a whole fucking armada of motorcycles appears down the road. They're here. They're fucking here. “It's the Eagles!”
Not that the cops are gonna make it easy on us. When Nitro pokes his head out of the kitchen, Wraith yells, “Keep doing whatever you're doing. No guarantees yet. I'll yell if you're good.”
“Got it.”
At least the cavalry's forcing the cops to regroup. If we're lucky, we can make a fire line that gets us a path out. For Kaylee, if nothing else. “Fuck, I hate having to watch from in here while they're having all the fun.”
Wraith chuckles. “I'm just as happy without a fucking bullet through my head. Just keep an eye open for an opportunity. We have to get Kaylee the hell outta here.”
“We have to get all of us out of here,” she says, clinging to my side. “I’m not running without you.”
“You can and you fucking will,” I say, putting all the command I've fucking got into my voice. “We can take care of ourselves a lot better if we know you’re safe.”
“I'm not a child!”
“No, you’re not, Trigger, but if you get hurt, I'm never gonna fucking forgive myself. If we can get all of us out, awesome. But if the opportunity comes, you go, and we'll follow.” She doesn't look convinced, but she doesn't argue. “I mean it. Don’t do anything stupid. We can take care of ourselves, alright?”
Gunshots ring out between the buildings. “Sounds like negotiations broke down,” sneers Wraith.
Fuck, there's a full on battle out there, and people are gonna fucking die. It's bound to fucking happen. I just hope it won't be any of ours. It looks like the cops weren’t anticipating this much resistance, though. They've set up a line that puts us on the Eagle side of things. Only problem's that there's a lot of fucking wide open space. We'd be fish in a fucking barrel. I bet Harris wants Kaylee back, but the second best thing is to get rid of her. She knows way too fucking much at this point.