Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
So he was just a freaking pawn. Awesome. He’d still gotten them in this position, so TJ was going to kill the fucker.
“No one is going to hurt you, Dennis,” Lou said carefully, as though she could call Kala off. He was absolutely certain Kala was in her ear now, making the same threats that TJ couldn’t verbalize.
His predator cousin wouldn’t listen to reason, and he would let her take care of Dennis because Lou would yell at Kala less. And Lou couldn’t cut Kala off sexually. As threats went, it was definitely one that would work on him for the rest of his life.
“I wouldn’t say that,” their captor replied, a serpentine smile crossing his face. He had a deep scar across his right cheek that matched the pictures they had of Huber. And TJ recognized the voice. “You’ll find with me, everything is negotiable. But first I would like to know who rescued you. I’m not normally in a position where I don’t understand the ground I walk upon, but I do with you, Sergeant Taggart. I rather thought you were a soldier who aided a rival arms dealer, but you’re something more, aren’t you?”
That was where he was wrong. “Well, you got the soldier part right, man. I’m also a really nice guy whose team likes him. I don’t know what the German army is like, but we have a whole thing in the US military where we don’t leave a man behind.”
Huber tsked as he moved closer. Now TJ could see the gun in the holster at his side. He was sure they were all carrying. Were they planning on interrogating him here? That would lead to a gun battle because one way or another, Zach, Kala, and Cooper would be walking into this bar guns blazing.
He would have to make sure he protected Lou.
“They never leave a single man behind,” Lou agreed. “Not one or two or even seven. Those guys always have each other’s backs.”
Not exactly subtle, but she wasn’t in the best situation, and she’d managed to let Kala know how many dudes they were dealing with. It was obvious they hadn’t picked up on Lou herself being the one who’d actually rescued him.
“They’ll come after him this time, too,” Lou promised.
“Well, maybe I don’t need him,” Huber mused. “Maybe I’ve decided to play this a different way. I’ve done what I should have done before—a little research. You, Ms. Ward, might be the actual prize.”
That made the hair on TJ’s arms stand up straight. He shifted around to keep Lou behind him.
“And you should take her,” Dennis offered. “No harm, no foul, right?”
Prick. “Lou’s got nothing to do with it, and don’t think I’ll forget that you said that, Sims. I protected her before. I’ll sure as hell protect her now. Mr. Huber, if you let Lou go, I’ll tell you everything you want to know about The Jester.”
“What?” Lou kind of screeched out the question.
TJ tried to turn, but one of the seven bad guys waved a gun in his face and muttered something in German that he took to mean stay still. He held his hands up to show how harmless he was. For now. “I meant what I said. I lied to you in Germany. I know a lot.”
Huber waved him off, choosing to stare at Lou. “I think perhaps knowing The Jester’s identity is not the best way to go about things. It’s recently been pointed out to me that whoever wears that mask is ruthless and has even less care for human life than I do. However, there is something I need. You see, I have an associate who wants some very specific information that he believes only The Jester knows. But I think I’ve found another way to get him what he needs.”
Lou.
Whoever had been pulling Huber’s strings back in Germany wanted to contact the bombmaker. Lou couldn’t contact the bombmaker, but what she was excellent at was reverse engineering. “You want to see if Lou can recreate what the bombmaker did.”
His baby was a genius and she used it for good, but if she could be twisted, oh, the chaos she would cause. And they could twist her with the right pressure—that pressure being him.
“Yes, I think that would be an even better gift to my associate than giving him the name,” Huber explained. “What if I could just give him the bomb he so clearly needs? Wouldn’t that be infinitely more helpful? That was when I realized the woman who could do it was inside my compound. She’s so much more valuable than you.”
“That has always been true.”
“TJ,” Lou said, his name an obvious warning.
One he couldn’t take at this point.
Huber said something in German to one of the men, and then TJ had a gun in his face. He took a deep breath to calm the panic that threatened. His first instinct was to punch out, take the gun, and start killing these fuckers.