Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 148220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 741(@200wpm)___ 593(@250wpm)___ 494(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 741(@200wpm)___ 593(@250wpm)___ 494(@300wpm)
Pulse pounding, I wait. My panicked breaths sound so loud, rushing wetly past the scalpel clamped between my teeth. The metal against my tongue is making my mouth water, but I can’t completely close my lips and so I’m drooling. Another hysterical, silent giggle shakes through me when I imagine my drool dripping onto the new guy and waking him up. Or trying to seduce a guard with spit all over my chin.
No other sounds. Just the rustle of a blanket and the creak of a bunk. And—
A thunderous BOOM! shakes the entire building. My muffled shriek is lost in the rattle of the roofing overhead and the shouts suddenly coming from each of the stalls, echoing through the stables. Oh my god, oh my god. I flatten myself to the bars, desperately trying to see what happened.
Did a truck hit the barn? Or was it an explosion? Whatever it was, it came from outside.
The guards don’t know what it was, either. At the far end of the barn, Hotel and Tango burst out of the break room and into the aisle. I still can’t see who’s in the control booth but a shadow tells me he’s standing at the entrance to it, shaking his head as if to tell the others that he doesn’t have a clue what happened. One of their radios squawks but it’s impossible to hear what’s coming out of it over the noise the fighters are making. Most of them calling out, a few of them laughing. Tusk’s banging on his bars and Stone—
—is staring at me. Though everything else in the barn has descended into chaos, it’s as if he doesn’t hear it. He’s standing at the door to his stall and staring straight at me, eyes narrowed and jaw clenched.
Ice slips down my spine. Because I’ve seen that look before. Cold. Lethal.
Let’s be clear, girl. Now I’m mad.
But why this time? Does he think I was trying to escape without taking the rest of them? Saving my own skin?
My throat tightens, then a splintering crash jerks my gaze back toward the guards and my heart nearly rockets out of my chest.
A man strides through the barn’s open door—that he just kicked open. Light glints on a weapon. The guards pivot toward him.
What happens next is so fast that it’s over before I can comprehend what happened. The three flashes from the muzzle. The sharp, snapping reports of gunfire. The guards falling to the ground.
Dead.
They’re dead.
I lie atop the stall, shock and horror wiping every coherent thought from my brain. Still trying to understand everything I’m seeing. The orange glow of a fire outside silhouettes the gunman at the door. The light inside is too dim to make out his features but he can’t be a cop or FBI. Law enforcement would have yelled out what they were before shooting the guards. Now someone else is coming in after him. A woman, her blond hair in a buzzcut. For an instant, she steps into the light spilling from the control booth, then heads inside that room. The first gunman starts down the aisle, glancing into each of the stalls.
Stopping in front of Stone’s.
The fighters are in an uproar. Over all of the noise, I barely register the familiar clunk of a stall door unlocking.
No, no. Not a stall door.
All of the doors.
Oh my god.
Tusk’s triumphant roar echoes through the rafters. Panic sends me scrambling back for the safety of my stall—but it’s not safe, because now it’s unlocked and the first place he’ll look for me. I crawl past my cell and frantically squeeze myself through the bars over the doctor’s office, trying to calm myself enough to think.
I’ve just got to get past him. How do I get past him?
Think.
Forcing my breaths to slow and deepen, I drop from the bars and land next to the examination table. Quickly, I kick off my high heels. As soon as Tusk’s inside my cell, I can sprint down the aisle. I’ll be running toward the gunman. I don’t know who he is, but I’ll take the risk of being shot. Better than being caught by Tusk.
And if Tusk does catch me…I have a weapon. The scalpel’s slippery from my drool. I wipe the handle dry on my skirt while creeping silently across the concrete floor. He probably couldn’t hear me in here, anyway. Not with so much shouting echoing around inside the barn.
At the door I pause and crouch out of sight below the small window that’ll give me a view of the aisle, gathering my courage. Just peek through. Watch Tusk go into my stall. Then run like hell.
Okay. I can do this. Holding my breath, I peek through the window.
And he’s there. Tusk is right there. Looking back at me.
He grins.
Screaming, I stumble back. The door crashes open and his giant body blocks all the light from the aisle. His naked body. He’s already hard, his eyes gleaming like his teeth, as if in anticipation of ripping me apart.