Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96206 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
“Where is the American woman your boss is keeping hostage?” Logan demanded.
“No habla.”
“He’s useless,” Logan snapped Trees’s way. “Cut out his tongue.”
Trees withdrew his knife. “On it.”
“Wait! She is in the next row, middle stall.”
Really? So it was possible lying Laila had actually given them the truth? Maybe she’d done something good. After all, there had been no ambush awaiting them. And it looked as if her intel was panning out…
Logan smiled acidly. “Damn, you learned English fast.”
“Fuck you,” the man spit.
“Right back at you,” Logan snarled, then slit the guy’s throat.
Trees had known the colonel was a badass. That’s why so many guys had come to EM Security, to learn from a legend. Edgington had sworn his sons were the real deal, but he’d never seen them in action. Trees had to admit, he was fucking impressed. Yeah, they’d been assholes at times…but maybe with good reason. Besides, the job wasn’t about their people skills.
Logan pressed on his comm and relayed Kimber’s possible location to his dad, then nodded to Trees. “Let’s go.”
Deke was already barreling in that direction.
The younger Edgington caught up and snagged his brother-in-law by the arm. “Don’t get stupid.”
He meant Deke couldn’t afford to be impatient. Trees agreed.
Jaw clenched like he was working hard to hold his shit together, Kimber’s husband nodded. “I know.”
But the waiting that came with caution was killing him.
“We’re a team,” Logan reminded in a low-voiced growl. “We succeed together or we die together.”
Deke obviously didn’t like it since he looked like he wanted to rip off Logan’s face, but he nodded.
No one spoke then. They crept closer to Kimber.
Ahead, Trees caught sight of a skirmish in the shadows. Hunter gutted one guard while Ghost had pinned another against the building and muttered something in the hired gun’s ear. The guy pissed himself, and Ghost finished him off with a sharp tug of his blade from belly to throat. After a few additional clashes and more dodging the mechanically panning cameras, Deke and Logan reached the middle stall.
It was locked. And there was a man inside.
Every single operative fell silent. If they remained out here, it wouldn’t be long before another random patrol came or the camera swung back and captured them. If they alerted the guard inside the stall, he’d call for reinforcements. They had to make a decision now and it had to be quick.
Fuck.
Trees turned to Hunter in question. This was his sister and his show.
The elder Edgington cursed silently, then crouched in front of the stable and scratched on the wood.
“Do not move,” the inside man said in thickly accented English as he approached the door.
From the shadows, Trees caught on, watching the guard close in until he pressed his scowling face against the bars covering the window to look outside. At Trees’s nod, Hunter jumped up, thrusting his hand inside the stall, thunking the guard’s head against the solid metal bars, and knocking him out cold.
“Kimber?” Hunter whispered.
“Oh, my god. I’m here,” her voice trembled.
So Laila hadn’t lied about Kimber’s location. It stood to reason she hadn’t lied to him about her feelings, either.
“Oh, thank fuck, kitten.” Her husband rattled the door, sounding ready to tear the whole building down to reach her.
“Deke!” she whispered emphatically.
“The door is fucking locked. Search the guard for keys,” her insistent husband said.
“I can’t. I’m tied to a chair.”
Hunter turned to his father and brother. “We can’t shoot this lock.”
Logan nodded. “It’ll bring attention.”
Trees frowned. Had he been the only one with a less-than-glowing youth? “I can pick it.”
He retrieved his survival multitool and went to work. The lock was designed to keep thoroughbreds in more than to keep trained operatives out. He’d picked it in thirty seconds.
“Thanks.” Deke shoved him aside and dashed into the stable after his wife.
Hunter, Logan, and Caleb all filed around, watching their six as Deke bent to cut Kimber free, then scooped her up in his arms, holding her tight against his chest. “Are you hurt?”
“No. Just get me home.”
He turned to the colonel. “Relay to the other team that we’re out and tell them to head to the meet point.”
Caleb nodded. “I’ll go with you and keep your six safe. Hunter, Logan, Zy, and Trees, get us out clean. Make sure we’re not followed. Mop up any messes. We’ve taken out most of the guards around the stables, but when they don’t report in…”
More would flood in from other parts of the estate and all hell would break loose. Something kept itching at the back of Trees’s neck that their time was running out.
“Roger that,” he affirmed.
The others did the same.
By a flash of moonlight, Trees caught the stark emotion in Deke and Kimber’s shared glance. Tears spilled down her dirty cheeks. His barely controlled fury said he’d give anything to erase what she’d endured, but he was so fucking grateful to have her back, as if someone had stolen the stars from the sky and finally given them back when he’d lifted her into his embrace.