Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 68576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
“I can do that,” he said. “I’ll talk to the hotel manager, too. After I talk to Dad.”
“Good,” I looked over at Pepper, who was watching the two of us with confusion.
“What?” I asked her.
“I just…” she shrugged. “I guess I never expected you to do this. I figured you’d just brush it off. It sounds like you’re actually going to try to catch her.”
“Sage didn’t hoodwink us all,” Garrett said. “Anyone that’s willing to write a book for money about the worst time in their life seems like maybe they’re trying too hard to make themselves a victim.”
With that, Garrett left.
“She’s writing a book?” Pepper asked in shock.
I groaned. “Actually, that’s news to me, too.”
“She’s disgusting,” she said. “I just…”
She trailed off as I started to rock my kid back and forth.
I could feel his head getting heavier and heavier on my shoulder.
She studied me for a long second before heading to the door that’d just quietly shut behind Garrett.
“Here, use this,” she said as she pulled the white rocking chair off the porch and dragged it straight to the room that I was using for Forest.
Just as she’d crossed over the threshold into the room, my phone went off, causing me to curse.
“What is it?” she asked worriedly, stopping with the chair half in, half out of the bedroom.
I glanced at the readout on my phone and stretched my neck.
“SWAT call.” I sighed. “You ready to start right now?”
She licked her lips, then nodded. “I, uh, need to know the code to the alarm. So I can set it. Sage…”
I walked her over to the alarm panel and showed it to her, giving her all the codes she would need.
“Thanks,” she said. “I’ll get him to bed.”
I hated myself for the distance she’d put between us.
This distance felt different than the distance we’d had before, when I’d been on Sage’s side and not Pepper’s.
“Go,” Pepper ordered when I continued to stand there.
I kissed Forest on the head, then handed him over.
When I was gone and had nothing left to do but think about my actions over the last week—hell, year if I admitted it to myself—I wondered idly if anyone had ever put Pepper first.
I certainly couldn’t put her above my son… but I could put her above everyone else.
Unfortunately, my milkshake brings all the psychos to my yard.
—Atlas to Auden
ATLAS
“Team one,” I said into the microphone over my face. “Do you have eyes on the suspect?”
“No,” the team leader for team one, Kaden Michaels, said. “There’s a coat rack covering the majority of the window in there.”
“Team two?” I asked.
“Negative,” the team leader for team two, Bastian Haynes, grumbled. “My side has a filing cabinet.”
I cursed under my breath, and the negotiator, Elise Pearson, looked over at me from her perch against the back wall of the SWAT bus.
“I have eyes on two of the suspects through the north skylight,” the sniper for team one, Numbers Messer, said. “The caller said there were four, correct?”
“I have five in the room total,” Fatima Serna, the sniper for team two, said. “If I could get the shooter to go three feet in the direction of the window, I can take the shot.”
“Fatima,” I called. “What does the suspect look like?”
“White male, fifties, tall, black t-shirt, black pants, black shoes. Blond hair. Bloodshot eyes. Looks inebriated AF.” She answered in only the most professional of ways.
The old SWAT team leader, Scott, had hated Fatima. He didn’t like that there was a female on his SWAT team, and he certainly didn’t like that she was young. He also didn’t like how she was like all the GenZers and spoke her mind, didn’t give a fuck who she pissed off, and cared more about her personal wellbeing than someone else’s.
Truthfully, GenZers got a lot of flak for their work ethic, but Fatima showed none of the more negative attributes.
“Numbers, do you confirm?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said. “He’s passed by the skylight a time or two, but since the hostages are on the floor right under the opening, I have no shot.”
I fisted my hands.
“The kid’s getting restless,” Kaden Michaels said urgently. “He’s running…”
A shot sounded, and my heart stalled in my chest.
I squeezed my eyes shut and whispered, “Please tell me that…”
I couldn’t finish my sentence.
“I can’t tell,” Fatima said, sounding horrified. “I can’t see the kid.”
“No visual,” Numbers sounded just as sick.
“Kid’s okay,” Bastien breathed.
A rush of relief filtered through the entire team.
“We’re moving,” I said as I bailed out of the truck.
“Boss,” Elise said.
I looked up at her. “What?”
I didn’t mean to snap at her, but she flinched anyway.
“Watch his eyes,” she said. “The ex-wife says his eyes twitch weird when he’s about to hurt her.”
I nodded once, thinking I’d need to apologize later for my attitude, and headed out.
“Team one,” I said. “You’re with me. Team two, I want you to go to the back entrance. We’re taking the roof.”