Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 88673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 443(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
I feel so sick, I might throw up. And I don’t hear how the two men respond, because Ike is pulling the steel door open and shoving me through it.
“I’ll take a little video,” Ike says, just before he closes the door. “Stop by my place tonight and we’ll watch it together.” Then the door bangs closed and he starts dragging me along the new hallway. “Keep your head down,” he whispers. “That was the easy part. Those are my men, but this next group aren’t.”
“The pile?” I ask, my voice weak.
“Not now, Clover. Just shut up and look at your feet. I’ll do all the talkin’.”
Again, I hear distant voices that become clearer as we walk. We turn the corner, and there’s a group of them this time. At least three, but I don’t look up to check. Because their conversation isn’t banter based on boredom, they are having some kind of official meeting.
They sound like soldiers.
The man who is talking—obviously, the one in charge—says, “Hey. Where the hell is Hattie?”
I feel Ike do something here. But I don’t know what until he starts shooting.
One, two, three, four.
I look up just in time to watch every one of the men collapse to the floor. Each one with a smoking hole in the center of their foreheads.
I scream, but Ike’s hand is over my mouth before I can really let it out. His hand is so big and he presses it against my face so hard, I can’t breathe. I look up at him, eyes wide with terror.
He just killed four men. In cold blood. Four. Right in front of me.
“Do not scream,” he growls. “Promise?”
I nod. And he removes his hand. “I thought you said you were gonna talk to them! Not shoot them in the fuckin’ head!”
“We don’t have time for talking. We’ve like an hour to save Riggs, Clover. Because they are taking him to Collin as we speak. And he knows we’ve got you down here. He knows what Riggs did to you. Hattie and the general made sure of it. And if you’re not there to set him straight on whatever the fuck is going on between you and Riggs, Collin’s just gonna waste him. So if you wanna save your man, then shut up and run!”
He opens the door, shoves me through it, and that’s what I do.
I run.
CHAPTER 26 - RIGGS
When I wake up, the only thing I hear is a peculiar squeaking sound. I focus on it like it’s my last hope as my head spins and my foggy mind begins to clear. It takes several long minutes to realize I’m lying down, but moving at the same time.
The gurney. You’re strapped to a gurney, Riggs.
My entire unfortunate situation comes hurtling back to me like a punch in the face.
Clover! Where is she? What’s happening?
Suddenly, we stop. “Where’s Hattie?” It’s my father.
“I don’t know, sir,” an unfamiliar voice says. “She went to get the prisoner and hasn’t come back yet.”
“We can’t wait for her then. Let’s continue. Open the door.”
I start coughing as the drugs wear off.
“Good,” my father says. “You’re awake. I want you to be awake. I want you to look Collin Creed in the eyes as he kills you. It’s a fitting punishment for a traitor.”
There’s no way to ignore his threat. I’ve been conditioned my whole life to care what this man thinks of me. But most of my attention is on what the other guy said. She went to get the prisoner and hasn’t come back yet.
“Clover,” I say, my voice raspy and nearly unrecognizable. Did Hattie kill her? Is that why she hasn’t returned?
“Sir?” a third voice says.
“Yes, what is it?” My father sounds annoyed.
“There’s…” The new guy pauses.
“Spit it out, soldier. We’re in the middle of something here. I don’t have all day.”
“There’s been a… an incident.”
“What kind of incident?”
“Ike Monroe. There are reports that he… well, he shot four of our men at the Blackberry Hill checkpoint.”
“What?”
My eyes aren’t even open and I can see my father’s angry expression. I’ve been on the receiving end of that glare so many times, it’s burned into my retinas.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“He took the prisoner—his men claim he was taking her to the pile for a…” This soldier hesitates. “Final rite, or whatever.”
“He wasn’t told to do that.”
“No, sir. No one thinks he’s actually doing that. They think he’s setting her free.”
I don’t know what comes over me, but I start laughing. There’s a good bit of coughing in there too, because I get an elbow to the jaw and my mouth fills up with blood.
“You think that’s funny, Riggs?” Oh, my father is pissed.
“I do,” I manage, spitting the blood out with my words. “She’s free. She’s free and she’s gonna go right to Collin. So your little plan is—”