Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 92843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92843 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Los Segadores had once been a purely drug-running cartel, which meant they were adept at digging tunnels that went for miles.
And a ten mile tunnel that ran from the small cabin to under my house was nothing to them.
But the people inside it were everything to me.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Nell
“I wonder how identical twins can get?” Lena mused as we watched the boys.
They weren’t at the stage of moving around, but they were so much more aware of the world around them now. If one saw something, he did something to get the other’s attention. At least, that’s what it looked like.
“I don’t know the answer to that. I only know what the doctor explained to me about some twins coming from the same egg and being identical, and ones from separate eggs being fraternal.”
Lena wrinkled her nose as she thought about it, and looked at her abdomen. “Biology’s weird. Just think, somewhere in there are a ton of eggs that either make a baby, or just get tossed out every month. Why do two get fertilized sometimes, and not all the time?”
I didn’t have the answer to that, so I just shook my head and looked back down at the baby stuff on my phone. My tiny boys, who’d needed premature baby clothes not so long ago, were now moving into three to six-month-sized ones.
“Aw, man. Walker, my dude,” she cooed at him. “You’re meant to impress the ladies, not gross them out with that ass of yours.”
Raising my head, I saw the issue: a blowout. I don’t know how babies managed it, but they could do things adults couldn’t. Including what he’d just done right now.
Getting up to take him from her, I held him as far away from my body as I could. “Wow, he’s going to need a bath. That’s everywhere.”
“I’ll get a fresh blanket out for Hendrix to lie on while you do it. Don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine.”
Smiling gratefully at her, I took my little bundle of stink upstairs to get him smelling sweet again. His clothes were beyond anything water could do to them, so I tossed them in the trash. It was just a plain bodysuit, and he was going into the next size anyway, so it wasn’t that big a deal.
It was when I had a new diaper on him and was doing up the snaps on his baseball onesie that the ground shook, and a deafening explosion filled the house.
Knowing Lena was with Hendrix and near the panic room downstairs, I grabbed a now crying Walker up, and ran to the one closest to where we were, remembering Taras’ instructions.
There were monitors in it that showed the rest of the house, but all I could see on them was dust, smoke, and men running everywhere, scrambling over what looked like walls that’d fallen down.
It was mayhem causing a literal pandemonium, but all I cared about was not seeing Lena and Hendrix in amongst it.
She was one of the most capable women I knew, so she was probably watching all of this on the screens in her own panic room, hoping I’d made it to safety. Right?
Scrolling through the various feeds, I stopped on the living room, and had to squint as the camera zoomed in. The explosion had happened in the hallway outside it, so a lot of the debris had blown into the room, judging by the amount of it on the ground.
The couches and tables were on their sides, with cushions scattered haphazardly across the floor. Whoever had decorated Taras’ house also had a penchant for vases, and it’d struck me this morning that they’d have to be put away once the boys started crawling and walking so they didn’t pull them down and hurt themselves. Most of them wouldn’t be a problem anymore, seeing as how they were now in hundreds of pieces.
Then the camera panned to the left, and I saw it. No, I saw her.
Laying in a heap at the bottom of the wall was Lena. I couldn’t see if she was breathing, or if she was even awake, and my heart felt like it skipped a beat.
It also felt like it stopped altogether when I couldn’t see any sign of my son in her arms or even near her.
I’d never allowed myself to think about what it would be like to lose a child, it felt like I was tempting fate doing it. I’d had a lot of moments where I’d woken up in the middle of the night after a nightmare about it, though. My heart would be running wildly in my chest, my hair damp from the sweat, and I wouldn’t been able to calm the chaotic thoughts in my mind for a long while.
None of it even came close to the reality of how I felt at that moment.