Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71246 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71246 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Never in a million years did I think I would ask the mob to help me with anything. But hell, I don’t care at this point. All I care about is getting Jude back into my arms.
“I don’t care what I’ll owe you, just help me get her back.”
Desperate times, call for desperate measures, and I’ll do anything to get the woman I love back unharmed.
I can’t take this waiting any longer. If someone doesn’t call us soon, I’m going to go fucking berserk. As if the universe answers my silent prayer, Luke’s phone starts ringing. The sounds seem unusually loud after the room has been silent for so long.
He looks at the screen before glancing up at me. He gives me a tiny nod, letting me know that this is the call we have been waiting for. My heart beats against my chest in an unnatural rhythm. The anticipation is killing me, eating me up from the inside out.
“Tell me what you got.” Luke is direct, almost authoritative, and that surprises the shit out of me. I still don’t know how he is involved with the Rossi family, but hearing him talk to Damon of all fucking people like this, tells me he is more involved than I can fathom.
“Thanks, Damon.” Luke hangs up the phone. “I’ve got the address. Let’s go.”
He doesn’t have to tell me twice. I’m already up and moving. Luckily, so is Roman and Luke. Collectively, we’re out the door and piling in the car in record time. Roman drives while Luke gives direction, and I mentally prepare myself for what’s to come. We’re going to get her back. I might have to kill someone, but I’ll be okay with that. I’ll be okay with anything so long as she comes back to me whole.
I briefly flash to the conversation I had with Damon and what he told me.
“I would die for my family, but I would kill for them too. Hell, I have killed for them. You do what you have to do in the name of love. Sometimes that means you get your hands dirty.”
Maybe we are all more alike than I thought. Maybe he was right, there is no black and white. You can be good and bad at the same time. Today, I’ll be both.
Ten minutes later, we pull up behind an old industrial park. I look around and see nothing. No other cars, no people. Nothing, just open space, with lots of trees.
“We’ll walk from here,” Luke explains. “The building is right behind those trees. We’ll cross through there, so they don’t see us coming.”
Getting out of the car armed to the teeth, we sprint around the grass and huddle in a grove of trees on a ridge above the plant. There are no lights that we can see and only one vehicle in the parking lot.
A white SUV.
Motherfucker. I knew it. Guilt gnaws at my insides like a dog chewing on a bone.
Luke offers more intel that came in on the drive over.
“It’s only the two men inside. Not particularly smart, with no training, but a history of overreacting and pretty damn trigger happy. Prepper types with a small armory. Three entry points to the interior offices. Front and rear walk-ins from employee parking lots and a set of stairs down, right next to the main door, from an industrial catwalk that can be accessed from exterior junction points. We get her out quickly and leave. Damon sent backup. They’ll clean up everything we leave behind.”
I nod, imagining the layout in my mind.
Luke turns his phone toward me and points at it. He has the floorplan!
Shocked by how well they are trained and what kind of access they have, I take the phone and shift the image in several directions and zoom in on several spots. Then hand the phone back and nod.
“I’ll take the catwalk. If you flank in from the other two points, that will give us the most coverage.”
The two of them look at each other and back to me.
I pull out my pistol and double-check the barrel. Then do the same with the semi-automatic slung over my shoulder as they check their handguns too.
In stealth, and under cover of night, we slip down the hill and toward the plant, each finding our own way in. My eyes try to make out the subtle lines of the metal railings against the same color metal backdrop. I find an exterior staircase and head up and inside, the stairs creaking beneath my boots. Once I reach the interior offices, I see a couple of lights on inside. I wait until I make out the silent movements of Luke and Roman, suddenly feeling grateful for their assistance.
Making a soft bird chirp, they both look up and nod their acknowledgment. I descend the stairs, which land right next to the first lit office. I can see inside the window and the two idiots–Christ, the same damn ones that attacked her at the fucking gas station–are playing cards.