Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 114577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
His intelligence was accurate, like always. Inside were two men, three women and their bail-jumper. No elderly, no children. Brian caught a visual and he hadn’t moved in four hours to confirm he had his guy before he called the team in. As he watched from the darkness, Dana and Ford emerged with the two guys their jumper had been using on the streets as his eyes and ears. They were hired yuppies who didn’t know the first thing about being a good lookout.
Brian watched his teammates closely while keeping his ear to the ground, listening to Duke and Quick, who were still inside. Phony screams from the women could be heard up the block, begging the hunters, dressed in all black and leather, to leave that no one else was inside.
“Clear… Clear… Clear… Both bedrooms clear… Bathroom clear, too.”
“Brian, we got nothing in here,” Duke grumbled, sounding pissed as hell.
Brian frowned. Their bounty was definitely in that house.
“We got nothing but two low-end thugs, and a group of howling females,” Quick fumed. “That will not shut the fuck up! Be quiet, please!”
It only made them yell louder.
Keep looking. Brian’s jaw tightened as he replayed the last forty-eight hours in his head. There were no side entrances, basements, or an attic, at least not in any of the county blueprints he’d researched. He could hear Duke still bitching and stomping through the rooms.
“We’ll leave as soon as Demarcus comes out,” Duke growled over the women’s protest.
The jumper’s girlfriend was good at lying. They’d questioned her too many times before on Demarcus’ whereabouts and she never knew anything; only for him to turn up at her house an hour later. Now, Duke had had Brian sitting on this one until he had confirmation. He didn’t call until he did. Brian was not going to look like a fool.
“Where is he? Get him in here,” Duke barked. He must’ve been talking to Ford, but Brian didn’t need his brother to come get him, he was already at the front door.
Brian’s eyes took in everything from the various footprints etched into the filthy wood flooring, to the cracks in the ceiling. He missed nothing. The crisp winter air broke through the stench of dirty dishes and stale food. His team was quiet when he walked in. No one spoke. The women’s eyes bugged at the first sight of him as he ducked to clear the hanging, damaged frame that had once been the front door. Brian was in just as much black as the rest of them. Dark camo pants and a jet-black turtleneck beneath his long black leather coat. It stopped just below his knees to conceal the multiple weapons he carried.
Once inside, Brian immediately understood Quick’s frustration with the females and their screams. The yelling was annoying, distracting and quite unladylike. Brian cast his brows down and turned to glare at their jumper’s girl. Her hazel eyes were red from the tears and her hair was up in a messy bun as if she hadn’t cared to do much with it lately. She looked tired… fed up. Brian could tell she knew exactly where her guy was hiding. He had no time for this bullshit.
“Don’t you hurt her! I swear it. I’ll kill you, bastard. She doesn’t know where Demarcus is, none of us do! She…we just wanna be left alone.”
Brian let her words register. The girlfriend’s bestie was boldly coming to her defense. Standing up to a man who looked like Brian, all to protect her….
That’s it. Damn, didn’t see that one right away.
The bestie’ was a lot more than just a friend, or at least she wanted to be. Brian stood in front of the girlfriend and set his eyes on the woman with bigger balls than he’d seen on soldiers. She held her ground, protecting who was important to her; at least she did until Brian turned all his attention towards her. No one liked his focus on them.
Brian was a master at piecing clues together and he was reading this female as easily as he could a Dr. Seuss book. Just maybe this gutsy broad wanted Demarcus out of her way so she could step in and be the one to provide Demarcus’ girl with all the special company and comforting she’d need when his ass was back in jail, this time with no bond. Yeah. She was the angle he needed to work.
The third girl was radio silent. Smart. She stared straight ahead, almost afraid to blink. Although the door was still wide open, the third girl was sweating as if she was on her way to death row. If they were telling the truth, they had no reason to be afraid. Brian didn’t stop his advance until he was standing right on top of the woman, looking down on her smaller body, and wild black hair. He thought it was supposed to be an afro, but one side was flat as a pancake, making her look like Gumby.