Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Stephanie enjoyed the easy banter between the employees of McKay-Taggart. Liam had driven her to the office, both babies in the back of his big SUV because Avery was working that day. Nate had gurgled and kicked his fat baby legs and laughed at everything Aidan did. She’d freaked out a little when it had come time to leave him in the nursery. He hadn’t been more than a room away from her since he was born, but the women in the nursery had started cooing and ahhing over him and he’d seemed to revel in the attention. When she’d left, Charlotte’s twin daughters had been standing over Nate’s crib, making him giggle.
She wished she was in there with him rather than looking through the military equivalent of mug shots.
It hit her hard that she was tired. Tired of working endlessly, tired of never taking a real break. She’d watched Avery and Liam this morning and she’d loved their easy manner with each other. Li had made sure Avery had coffee and Avery had stopped him and redone his tie, ensuring it was perfect. They’d passed Aidan between them, effortlessly tackling all the morning tasks, and then there had been that moment when she and the boys were in the car and Liam had stayed at the front door, kissing his wife like they would be apart for weeks instead of hours.
She’d sighed and longed and was starting to wonder if maybe Avery was right and she could be a good partner to a man. Maybe a man could want her if she let him in.
She forced her mind back to the task ahead of her.
The men in front of her were all hard looking, but mostly clean and neatly kept, wearing various uniforms. “This man was definitely older and he had longer hair and a beard. I don’t know. It could be that one. Maybe, but I’m not sure. I was pretty terrified the whole time. I could better ID the man I worked on.”
She could ID that dude’s liver in a heartbeat. He definitely ate too much fat and drank a bit much since there had been scarring on the liver that hadn’t come from the bullet he’d taken.
She sat back. It wasn’t going to help. The man was dead and that was precisely why she was on the run. She hadn’t been able to save him. The bullet had done its job.
“Do you remember anything else about him or any of his men?” Liam asked.
She’d already told them everything that had happened. She’d gone over it in a dull monotone, keeping all emotion at bay. Ian Taggart had sat in on that portion of the meeting along with his partner Alex McKay. The big guy had sat back, his hands steepled in front of him as though he was already working through the problem. She’d told them what she remembered, which was mostly being terrified for her son and herself and the people around her.
Big bad dudes had come in, brought her a patient, and then told her if he died they would murder her.
The patient had survived the initial operation, but coded shortly after and died.
Her part-time security guy had gotten her out of there before the boss had found out his man was dead.
Thank god Alfi had been there. It was the only piece of good luck she’d had that day. Alfi often was gone for weeks at a time, but he’d been in Freetown the night before and had come to check in on her.
She couldn’t think about what would have happened if Alfi hadn’t been there.
Steph wracked her brain for anything she could think of. “At first I thought the man he’d brought in was one of his soldiers. I don’t see many of those kinds of men where I am. It’s actually somewhat peaceful since I’m close to Freetown. Still, there are plenty of Western corporations who basically hire their own armies to provide security for businesses in Africa. They don’t exactly have HR departments, and I’m pretty sure they don’t care about civil rights.”
“You’re talking about resource development?” Adam asked. “Mining and oil?”
“Yes, especially the diamond mines are known to violate locals’ rights, but that’s mostly to the south. Like I said, I’m not used to a bunch of armed men coming in unless it’s local police bringing me a patient. They’re quite friendly. I’ve worked in much worse places.”
“And they didn’t give you the name of the man they wanted you to work on?” Charlotte asked.
“No. They were rough with him. I suspected that the boss himself had shot the man and he was trying to fix the situation.” Not that anyone had explained it to her. She flipped through another row of military men on the screen. Nothing.
“All right, I can buy that. Where was he shot?” Liam asked.