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)
It was the worst revelation in the world. Now that he was here, now that he was facing never seeing her again, he knew he’d been stupid.
He should have taken Lou the minute he realized she didn’t want to live in an ivory tower. When she’d made the decision to work with his cousins, he should have taken that as a cue. It didn’t matter that they would have to have been long distance. Hell, they didn’t. He could tell his uncle he wanted to be on the team and his uncle would make it happen. It wasn’t like he didn’t work with Agency teams all the time. He could have had Zach’s place on the team, but he hadn’t thought he was ready.
He never thought he was ready.
There was shuffling outside the door, and TJ turned his whole focus that way. The light above was dim, the bulb locked under a covering he hadn’t been able to dismantle. He’d tried since he’d looked for any weapon he could find. He’d been willing to use that bulb as a knife if he’d had to, but to no avail.
He didn’t have a weapon, but while his bones ached, he could fight. He wasn’t letting them hurt a woman he loved. Not a chance. He would get away or he would die, and either way his sister and Lou would be safe.
He wished they hadn’t parted the way they had. Adrenaline started to pump through him, and he moved to the side of the door to give himself the best chance to jump whoever was about to walk through that door.
“Move it, lady,” a deep voice said.
His stomach turned. They were bringing someone.
The door came open, and his worst nightmare was real.
Lou. There was a hood over her head and her hands were tied in front of her, but he knew who it was. He’d bought her the emerald green sweater she was wearing. It was cashmere and cost way more than he should have spent, but he’d known how good it would look against her skin, how it would bring out the gold in her eyes. She wore it with a skirt that went down past her knees and boots that had a square heel.
They pushed Lou through the door, and his instincts kicked in. He didn’t take the chance to jump the guard. He couldn’t because he had no idea what shape Lou was in.
What had they done to her?
What had he done to her?
He caught her before she could hit the hard floor, gathering her into his arms even as the guard stood in the doorway.
“Now we have someone to torture instead of you, Sergeant Taggart. Perhaps you should take the next few hours to explain to your friend why she’s going to suffer. Or you could take this time to change your mind and talk.”
“I’ll talk,” he promised. “I’ll tell you everything. Just let her go.”
Lou shook in his arms. She was crying. She was probably so scared. He held her close.
“We’ll be back this afternoon. Take this time to truly decide. You have no idea what we can do to her,” he vowed, and the door closed again. He heard the sound of a heavy lock sliding closed.
His whole world narrowed to the woman in his arms. “Lou? Baby, are you okay?”
He fumbled, getting the hood off her head. Her glasses were askew, but they hadn’t taken them from her. Normally she wore contacts. If they’d taken her glasses, she would have been even more vulnerable. He smoothed back her hair. It was usually neatly kept, but she’d obviously been through some things. It was tangled, but her face looked untouched. Her eyes looked up at him, brown with flecks of gold. Tears slipped from them, caressing her cheeks.
“You’re alive.”
He held her close. “Yeah, but we’re in trouble, baby. I’m going to get you out of here. I promise. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure they don’t hurt you. You have to be ready. Kala will know something’s gone wrong, and they’ll look for you. Did they find…”
Her head came up and her eyes flared, a clear warning. “Yes, they found me. I’m here, aren’t I? They didn’t find Devi, though. She’s out of town. I think they were looking for either her or me.”
He certainly hadn’t meant finding her. He’d been about to ask about her tracker. They’d found his, but they’d obviously known he was Special Forces and taken the chance he might have one. Not every soldier did. It was both a strength—his CO could potentially find him—and a weakness if anyone got control of their codes. Then anyone could track potential high-value targets. There was a chance they hadn’t checked Lou.
But she didn’t want him to mention it.
Which meant they hadn’t, and she was worried they were listening in.