Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
“Whoever came at me, they’re dead now, and I didn’t do it.”
“I don’t understand,” she said. “Was it Julian’s people?”
“Unless we have it in reverse, and your father’s men took them out to save you.”
“That has to be the case,” she says. “Otherwise, why would Julian keep either of us alive?”
Because of the lifebond connection, I think. He needs the research we represent, but I’m not about to suggest such a thing and freak Addie out.
We’re going to need backup to get into Sunrise City, and I pull my phone from my pocket and dial Caleb.
Chapter Sixteen
Brock
Sending humans to kill Addie with Creed as her bodyguard was foolish. They would have spilled their guts to Creed, and we would have been fucked. I would have been fucked if one of them said my name.
So, I killed them, and just in time.
I have a GTECH injection to take in a secret lab.
I’m shaking with anticipation, scared, and excited. Darn near aroused at the idea of the power that will soon flow through my veins.
Chapter Seventeen
Addie
My mind races with all the delicate relationships hanging by a thread and about to break even as Creed pulls the truck into the parking garage of what appears to be the Las Vegas Neonopolis Entertainment Center.
I sit up, confirming this information, and sure enough, he cuts hard right to the lower level of the twenty-thousand-square-foot facility. “Why are we in a shopping center?” I ask as we travel toward the basement level. “I feel like we’re about to be trapped.”
“It’s not just a shopping center,” he corrects. “It’s a shopping center, movie theater, and games facility, and as it turns out, an excellent cover for our inner-city operation. Crowds discourage windwalking and battles. Even Julian prefers off-radar operations. At least for now. Until he’s ready to take over.”
“Don’t say that as if it’s going to happen,” I say, shivering at the idea of it. “Like it’s just a matter of time.”
He stops the truck in front of a steel wall and then punches a code into his cell phone. The doors open with rocket speed, and he glances over at me. “I’d kill him before I let that happen.” He pulls us through the open doors.
His response niggles at a question in the back of my mind, and I don’t hold back. “Why didn’t you kill him while you were in Zodius City?”
He pulls into a parking spot next to Carrie, and my heart squeezes with memories. I love that car because he loves that car. Because it’s a part of him. Because it’s a part of the window of time when we were falling in love, even if we never confessed those feelings.
I felt them.
I felt him, and it, and us.
“You have no idea how I salivated to kill that man,” he confesses, his words dragging me back to the brutalness of present day. “I would have done it the day of the Area 51 takeover,” he continues, “but the bastard had enough explosives strapped on his person and planted all over the facility to kill us all. Caleb and I both figured I’d kill him the minute he unhooked himself, but Julian is nothing if not thorough. He has chemical weapons set to go off in several major U.S. cities upon his death. I’ve never been able to find out who holds the remote. That’s why he remains untouchable.”
This was almost too much to comprehend. “Oh, my God. We have to find out.”
“I’m trying, sweetheart. Believe me, I’m trying. I would have been out of there a long time ago if I’d found that answer.”
My throat is sandpaper. “He’s frightening. All of this is frightening.”
“We need to move. We aren’t far enough underground to keep the Trackers from finding you, and the high concentration of people above ground will only mildly dilute your psychic energy enough to slow them down, not stop them.”
I pop open my door, trying not to think too hard about the reality of being hunted. Creed is beside me before I ever exit the vehicle, helping me out, his touch warm, but the urgency I sense in him still manages to chill me to the bone.
He guides me to the rear of the truck just as Jensen exits the elevators a few feet away and approaches in a deceptively casual saunter, his thick blond hair mussed up, weapons strapped to his shoulder, across his chest, and one on his jean-clad hip.
He greets me, of course, but he’s not overly friendly or rude. I’ve known him for years, met him about the same time as Creed, and like him quite a lot. Jensen is simply focused right now, listening as Creed replays what went down at my condo. “Holy fuck,” Jensen mutters, then casts me a teal-green apologetic look. “Sorry, Addie. No one wants you drug into this, but it keeps happening.”