Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91452 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“Jared…I’m in danger.”
Everything stopped. “Tell me what’s happening.”
“A black sedan is parked outside on the street. It’s been there all day. A man has been watching the apartment. They know I’m in here.”
“Why didn’t you call me before?”
“I thought Ronan would be here soon, but he’s not, and he’s not picking up his phone, and…I’m a mess.”
“I understand,” I soothed her. Questioning her was not helping. “Is the guy there now?”
There was a pause, and I assumed she was looking out the window. “The car is, but it doesn’t look like anyone is inside now. He could be walking around again.”
“Are you armed?”
“Yes.” Her voice hitched, and I knew she was terrified.
“Where’s Owen?”
“I put him on a plane back to the States this afternoon. To his grandparents.”
“Okay, good. Listen to me, Sara. I need you to get in your car and drive to a well-lit, populated spot and wait for me. I’m grabbing a cab now and heading to Sui Ying Pun. You call me as soon as you stop.”
“Got it. Okay. Will do.”
She sounded better, calmer. A plan was always good.
I hung up, rushed to the street, and hailed a cab. I was moving in moments, on my way to meet her. I called her to check. “Are you in the car? Are you driving?”
“I had to get my luggage and—”
“No.” Fuck. “Sara, just you. Just go. We can go back for whatever, but right now, I need you in the car. Hurry up!” I barked at her.
“Yes. Okay. Going.”
She hung up, and I waited as the driver made great time, weaving in and out of traffic. I’d promised him a hundred to get me there fast.
I called again, and she said she was on the road. No one was following her. “What if I overreacted and I’m making us both nuts for no reason?”
“Let’s just stick to the plan. Keep driving.”
She hung up, and I waited as long as I could, a good five minutes.
“Okay,” she said when she answered again. “I stopped. I’m safe.”
“You’re sure?”
“This street is crazy busy, Jared. I’m good.”
“Text me where you are. The name of the street or intersection.”
A message popped up seconds later, and I leaned forward, over the seat, showing it to the driver.
“Got it,” the cabbie assured me. “We’re close.”
Close.
I took a breath and called Sara.
“I’m feeling really stupid right now,” she confessed. “And embarrassed. I’m dying inside, terrified of what you must think of me after what Ronan told you.”
“I think you’re amazing, just like I always have. And he’s an idiot.”
She huffed out a breath. “Thank you for not just being his friend. It means a lot. Most men wouldn’t have made him tell me. They would have kept his secret instead, taken his side.”
“Not me. Your friendship has always been just as important to me.”
“Oh, I know.” She was sniffling. “I know.”
“Stay in the car. Keep the doors locked. I’m almost there.”
“I’m feeling dumber by the second.”
“No. Better to be safe.”
“Okay,” she said, and I could hear the smile in her voice. “I’ll be waiting.”
The taxi driver dropped me a street over because we got stuck in traffic. I passed him the hundred I promised, got out, and ran through the swanky, bright Western District that mixed flashy new bars and aging topless joints. The area was packed with locals.
When I came around the corner, I saw Sara in her Mercedes, parked on a busy side street, and raced toward her. I was fifteen yards from the car when I saw a guy dressed in black run across the intersection. As he passed the Mercedes, he threw his backpack under Sara’s vehicle, then ran away as fast as he could.
“No!” I screamed, because I knew what was going to happen.
Relief obvious on her face, Sara smiled and waved. And then the car exploded.
I didn’t hear the bomb. I only saw the white-hot flash of light a split second before the detonation. My mind screamed as I was hurled off my feet by a scorching blast of wind and smoke. A vicious hail of debris rained down moments later.
Unsteadily, I got to my feet, dazed, blood dripping down my face, my hearing muffled, brain battered. I stood rooted to the spot for long, cold moments, staring, thinking it had to be C-4 in the pack. Nothing else caused a blast like that. My logical mind was working; my heart was not engaged, not yet, otherwise I’d be on the ground, wailing.
Car alarms were going off all around me as I made my way forward. Fists of thick smoke mushroomed out of the flames from the car, the air suffused with the stench of cordite and burned flesh. I could hardly breathe, my eyes watering as my throat burned. Everywhere I looked, I saw the twisted bodies of the dead sprawled on the ground. Some of the charred corpses were on fire. Others had simply been ripped apart by the sheer force of the explosion. Sara was not the only casualty. There were many.