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)
Laila scrambled to the far side of Matt’s back seat, craning her neck as Trees’s truck was blindsided before it rolled twice and hit the guardrail. She screamed. Her heart lurched as cold fear washed through her. “Stop! We must help him. Now!”
Matt glanced in his rearview mirror, looking into the night, then gunned the engine. His truck surged forward. “We can’t. I have to get you to safety.”
“We cannot leave him! I am safe. I am fine. He is injured. He is—” Laila whipped her stare back to the scene of Trees’s accident to see if he’d managed by some miracle to get out. Instead, she saw him being dragged away by three men in ski masks who blended in with the dark. Fear became horror. She felt ready to peel off her skin, jump from this moving vehicle—anything to save him. “They are taking him! We must—”
“Keep going. If that’s Ramos and his thugs, they probably think you’re in the truck. As soon as they figure out you’re not, they’ll come looking for you. I have to get you far away.”
“We cannot simply leave Trees! He will die. They will kill him!”
“He’s trained for this and—”
“He is injured!” Couldn’t Matt see that? “He cannot fight all three of them by himself. And Victor wants revenge. He will torture and execute Trees. We must go back and save him.”
Matt shook his head, scanning his surroundings with a sharply watchful gaze. “Ghost is seconds behind him. He’ll pitch in, but Trees would tell me to get you away from the danger. That’s what our bosses would say, too. I’m doing what’s best.”
“You are doing what you have been told. I am doing no such thing.” If she had to jump out of a moving vehicle, she would. But she refused to let Trees be taken, tormented, and terminated.
Matt glared at her through the mirror. “Yeah, you are.”
She ignored him and reached for the handle to let herself out of the backseat. It was locked. She scrambled to find the button to release it, but flicking it did not disengage the lock. “Let me go!”
“I can’t. Never thought I’d use those childproof locks. Good to know they’re useful for something.” Then he reached for his phone.
Who was he calling? The police? It was too late for that, and fighting with the door was doing her absolutely no good. Trees and the scene of his accident were now several blocks away. Terror that she would be too late to save him threatened to shred her composure.
“I will not let him die!” She pounded on the window, still pulling on the door handle, hoping it would magically give way.
“Let us handle it, Laila. Trees would want you to.” Then Matt spoke to whoever he had called. “Hey, we’ve been ambushed. I’m still rushing Laila to the drop. As far as I can tell, we haven’t been followed. We lost Ghost at a light about two miles back, but Trees was broadsided…” He must be talking to one of his bosses because he explained the rest of the incident, including the location.
Laila listened with half an ear, scrambling for the front seat of the cab, where the childproof locks wouldn’t stop her from escaping.
“Yeah, that’s Laila. She’s losing her shit.” He paused, one hand on the wheel, the other holding her in the back seat. “I’ll have her there in less than ten. Is there anyone who can calm her down?”
“I do not want to be calm. I want to save Trees! He has risked everything for all of us, and you cannot allow Ramos to take him.”
Matt went on as if she hadn’t just screeched in his ear. “Good thinking. I’ll have her there as soon as I can. Then I’ll double back and help you if you need.” A pause. “Yeah. See you there.”
“Double back now and I will help you!” Laila insisted. “Why waste time?”
“We’ve covered this. Let me focus.”
“On a deserted road?”
“On watching our surroundings so that if those assholes in the van come after me to find you, I can get you away safely.”
“I do not care about myself.” She had escaped before. Sometimes it took biding her time and arranging help, but she could do it again. Trees had never known the extent of Victor’s cruelty. She didn’t want him to know it now.
“You will if they take you. Then you’ll be in no position to help anyone.”
That shut her up. Laila wanted to refute him…but couldn’t. Still, she refused to give up on Trees.
Matt’s phone rang again. He pressed the device to his ear. “Talk to me.” A pause. “Nothing?” Another pause. “No idea where they went? Fuck.” Then he looked in the rearview mirror again.
Laila whirled to find the dark blue truck on their tail. Ghost. That must be who he was talking to. “Did he find anything?”