Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
She was going to kill him.
And she was right. This was exactly who MaeBe Vaughn was and would always be. She would always try to save her friends, always use any strength she had to help others. He didn’t want her any other way. It was why he’d fallen in love with her.
It was time to stop putting her in a box and start being her actual partner.
Boomer followed her. “I’m going to work my way to the service elevator. Can you start a loop on every camera but the one on the west elevator?”
Hutch nodded, his eyes on the screen as his thumbs moved. “Yep.”
“You can do that?” Taylor was watching over Hutch’s shoulder.
“I have protocols in place in case we need to get out of the building without anyone seeing,” Hutch admitted. “I have full control of this building and every security system in it. They don’t know it yet, but those gates aren’t going to open, and Kyle’s ex won’t be able to see anything but what I want her to see. She doesn’t get to come into my house and hurt my wife.”
“I’m going with Boomer.” Deke squeezed his wife’s hand. “Lock yourself in Tag’s office. Give him a call to let him know what’s going on. And don’t come out until I give you the all clear.”
Maddie nodded. “I will. Should I call the cops? That’s a dumb question.”
The cops wouldn’t let him interrogate whoever they caught in the manner he would like. In his world, his uncle was the ultimate authority. “I’m going straight down and walking in behind MaeBe. Hutch, you come with me. Drake and Taylor, use the east elevator and come in from behind. That way we have them on three sides.”
He made it to the outer office in time to watch MaeBe disappear into the elevator.
This was his nightmare. His first instinct was to call Julia and tell her to take him instead, offer her anything in order to get her to leave MaeBe alone.
Did he want a life with MaeBe or did he want to sacrifice himself so he didn’t have to worry about her? She was worth the worry. His mother had tried to tell him that this was a bad time and it would pass, and one day he wouldn’t have this aching pit in his soul that told him he was cursed. One day he would forgive himself for making mistakes, for hurting people he’d never meant to hurt.
He wanted that day, longed for it.
“All the cameras with the exception of the one on MaeBe are in a loop. We can go down,” Hutch said. “They’ve got Noelle next to a van in the back of the garage. They’re going to kill her. They want to be as far as they can from any possible interference.”
“MaeBe will buy us some time, and we won’t need much,” Kyle promised. But in his head he could see so many other possibilities. He could see those assholes Julia hired blowing both women away.
He’d been wrong. This wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t come back into her life. He’d been right the first time around. This was his fault.
That voice in his head wouldn’t go away easily.
“Hey, isn’t this the guy you had me look into a couple of months back? The one even Adam couldn’t get a real ID on?” Hutch turned the cell phone his way and proved that though he’d looped the cameras for the security guards, he could still see everything.
There were four men, each dressed in all black. Three wore ski masks, except the man he knew as John Smith. His face was out in the open. He had a hand on Noelle’s arm and a gun at her side. He leaned over and whispered something in her ear. Noelle’s head nodded slightly.
“That’s him. He’s Julia’s main Consortium assistant. He does her dirty work.” He might not know anything about the actual man, but Taylor had learned a lot about his function in the group when she’d dealt with him and Julia.
John had been the reason Julia had gotten away in London. They’d had her basically pinned down, but he’d found a way out. If not for that bastard, the problem would have been solved by now.
The elevator doors opened, and they strode in. Kyle checked his gun, ensuring the safety was off and the magazine loaded. “We bring him in, and this time we won’t take our eyes off the bastard. I have no idea how he got out of Agency custody and here so fucking fast.”
It didn’t make sense. Did Julia still have contacts on the inside of the CIA?
All questions John Smith could answer. After he’d let Hutch take a couple of shots at him. He figured the guy could take some pain.