Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Sasha frowned. “I don’t know the area, but it would be somewhere you wouldn’t expect. The last place you’d think to look. I had that old hunting cabin on the island, maybe there’s something like that.”
There were a million old camps the locals had used or abandoned, scattered throughout the swamp. Joshua paced across the room. The others were silent, watching him. Waiting. He was the most familiar with the swamp… He had to clear his brain. Think. Images of Sonia raped, beaten. Tortured. His stomach lurched. He had to stop. He had to force his mind under control so he could think. Where could a man who didn’t know the swamp take a woman to be alone with her? A place no one could hear her screams?
He needed to punch something – or someone. The devil inside him was riding him hard. He paced to get the adrenaline out, to force his brain to think. A house in the swamp, then. Not a vacation home. He’d need a local to direct him to the camps. Other locals would talk, especially if someone went missing, and it would be like Nikita to kill whoever aided him, buying his silence permanently.
“He’d want her alive as long as possible. He’d want me to see her suffer,” Sasha said.
“So, he’s coming after you,” Fyodor said. “You’re certain?”
Sasha nodded. “I had guards spread out. They didn’t make a good showing against Joshua’s men, but they’re good in a firefight. We’re a little out of our element here. The good news is, Nikita’s men will be as well.”
Not good in the swamp. Joshua repeated it over and over like a mantra. He’d want Sasha there to witness the torture he had in store for Sonia. Sonia. Images of her invaded despite his best efforts to stop them. Sonia in the swamp, that first night, her skin practically glowing. Her eyes when she looked at him, lying on her bed in her house. Her house…
He stopped in his tracks. Her home was just down the road from his. Gray said she couldn’t have been gone more than a few minutes, five at most. He’d seen the taillights of the vehicle but when he’d given chase, it was gone. That fast. The trackers reported that it had gone straight to the highway. But had it? If it had stopped and dropped most of its occupants off first, and then sped away, the trail would continue to the highway.
His gut told him he was right. “Her house. They’re at her house. That son of a bitch took her to her own home.” The psychological repercussions would suit Nikita. He not only took Sonia from Joshua’s house, but violated the sanctuary of her own home. That would stay with her for a long time. Nikita wanted her to know that he was all-powerful. He could reach out and get her anywhere. There was no safe place for her, no sanctuary.
He turned and started toward the door.
“They’re coming at us. Two carloads. At least fourteen men.” The warning came in his ear, the little radio that told him they were under attack any moment.
“This direction as well. Coming from the north. Carload. Seven.”
“And from the east. Have another carload. Seven here.”
He glanced at Fyodor with a raised eyebrow. Fyodor and Mitya brought crews. Sasha had one as well.
“Tell Sasha’s guards what’s happening and release them. If they try anything, kill them. No second chances.” He looked at Sasha when he said it. “You turn on Fyodor or Mitya, I’ll hunt you down, and the things I do to you will make what your father did seem like a picnic,” he warned.
“Dmitri.” Sasha raised his voice. “Tell the men to fight with Fyodor’s crew. That’s an order. I’m going with Joshua.”
Joshua shook his head. “You’re a powder keg for him. I’m an unknown. I have a chance to get her out of there without you. None, with you. Stay here and kill these fuckers. They’re his men, not yours. They came here for you, shove it right back down their throats.”
He didn’t wait to see if Sasha argued. He slipped out the front door, whistling for his men. He had no doubt that Fyodor and Mitya could handle the men coming at them. Most weren’t leopard and that put them at a distinct disadvantage. The fact that none had come from the surrounding swamp meant either they’d sent in leopards and the guards hadn’t caught them yet, or they had no expertise and were too worried about the dangers to try it.
He signaled to Evan to slip through enemy lines and get their car. His crew would know to divide and take the two trucks they’d brought. Both were a distance up the road. Most of them slipped through as leopards. He stripped, rolled his jeans and put them in the small pack. They carried their bigger firepower in the trucks, in special compartments. He snapped the pack around his neck and shifted, rushing off into the night to find his woman.