Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 117494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
She nabbed my phone and did as she said.
And me, I was trying not to think about Harper or Justin because if I did, I was going to fall apart.
I hit call on my phone.
He didn’t answer, but I knew he wouldn’t because he didn’t know it was me.
I texted instead.
Me: Dad. My phone got smashed. This is my new number.
39
SHANE
We walked to where Boise was stationed, all of us quiet and dressed in black. We needed to be stealth so the bikes were left on a back road, pulled off so no one would find them. He’d taken point on the nearest hill to where Estrada’s guys were holding up, in a house. Who knew if it was theirs or one they broke into, looking for a rest stop? I had no idea, but I intended to find out.
He shifted aside, giving me the night vision goggles. “There’s three of them, but they already ditched the burned guy. He was making too much noise so they shot him. See that plastic pile behind the house?” I moved the goggles, seeing it set next to their garage. He added, “That’s him.”
“Jesus,” Corvette said quietly behind us.
“That mean there’s two or still three targets?”
“Still three. One in the back that’s been checking on the hostages, and two in the front. From watching, it looks like there’s some problem with the first two. They’re upset about something, one guy keeps pacing. He’s come outside a few times to check for a cell signal.” Boise was grinning as he held up his device. “Don’t know I grabbed this handy dandy cell blocker.”
Corvette whistled low under his breath. “I didn’t think those get good distance. How far are we out?”
“We’re two hundred yards, not that far, but yeah, farther than the normal. I got ambitious last winter, decided to try my hand at inventing shit.”
Boise was being modest. He was a genius when it came to tech and weapons.
I settled more firmly on my stomach, my elbows helping keep the goggles steady for me as I scanned the rest of the house. Heat signatures showed me where each person was, including the hostages. Both were on the floor. One looked restless, or antsy. The other was holding still. I had a guess the one being antsy was Claudia.
“What do we know about Granddad’s niece?”
I passed the goggles off to Corvette as I replied to Boise, “There a reason you’re asking?”
He gave a shrug, turning to watch the house with his own set of binoculars. “Just a feeling. Something’s wrong. I can’t hear anything, but they’re treating her differently than Machete’s woman.”
“We know how Machete is doing?”
Corvette answered, “I’ve been getting updates. He’s getting stitched up. Stripes knows the nurse and asked her to take her time.”
Boise grinned. “He’s going to hurt for that one. You know Machete is fully aware of what we’re all doing.”
“Yeah. They confiscated his phone. Same nurse passed it to Stripes or Machete would be blowing up all our phones.”
“No, he wouldn’t. He’d track our GPS and hunt us while we’re hunting Estrada’s guys,” I commented.
The guys all grinned because they knew I was right.
“What’s the plan here, Boss?”
Plan. Fuck. We always needed a plan.
I got serious. The slight moment of jokes was refreshing, but now it was onto the killing business. “You have reason to believe they know this place? Have traps set up for some reason?”
“Nope. I think they are fully and completely alone. I don’t think they’ve even been able to send word to their big boss, which is why that one guy keeps pacing up the place.”
“Okay. Then the plan is that we converge on the cabin. Use silencers. Masks. Plan to capture all targets if possible.”
“And if that’s not an option?” Corvette asked the question, but all the guys were waiting.
I had to be the one to give the go-ahead.
I said, “Then you take them out. I want Roadie and Corvette handling the women.”
“I call Granddad’s niece,” Roadie piped up quick.
Corvette threw him a glare. “Fuck you. You know it doesn’t happen that way.”
Boise asked me, “How many Reds do we have back there waiting for your order?”
“They’re waiting for us to return and then figure out a plan.”
All of my guys stopped and stared at me.
They knew me. “That’s why we’re going to go in now, and I’ll call them once everything is taken care of.”
Crow said he had men he didn’t trust. I sent orders for him to round them up, put them in a location, but the truth of that matter was that I didn’t know if there were men I shouldn’t trust or Crow himself. And with the attacks, getting back who we could took first priority. So I wasn’t going to bring in anyone that I didn’t trust to have my back in a situation like we were going to enter.