Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 108242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108242 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
The second thing I know with absolute certainty is that I will kill this masked man myself. Personally.
The only sound I hear is my heart beating a lethal rhythm.
Die. Die. Die. Die.
Black and purple bruises ring Lennix’s throat like someone has tried to choke her. She glances at the dead man on the floor and gasps, closing her eyes for just a moment.
“Look into the camera, pretty lady,” Abe says, his voice pleasant yet as hard and cold and unhinged as an ice floe. “Now tell them your name.”
When she doesn’t speak, he bunches her hair in his fist and jerks, forcing her to look into the camera. In one glance, those eyes transport me back to Antarctica, a horizon foretelling storms ahead. Lennix’s water-sky eyes, her warring eyes, tell me she’s not done yet.
He presses the gun’s barrel deeper into her temple until she winces. She draws a deep breath and raises her hands, bound at the wrists by plastic cuffs, to push stray stands of hair from her face. The compass bracelet I gave her glints in the light.
It’s because we found our way back to each other.
My words from the night I gave her the bracelet haunt me. Did we find each other again only to have our second chance ripped away? I should have told her then that I loved her. I should have smothered her with it—should have kept her with me and ordered her not to go. That would not have gone over well, but my gut sensed danger. Even when Wallace assured me it was safe. Even though she’s done several trips and nothing’s gone wrong, I should have stopped her.
I failed.
“I said, tell them your name.” Abe grounds the harsh words up and spits them into her ear.
Lennix’s chin tilts in that defiant way I’ve seen since the day we met, and I silently beg her to comply, to cooperate until I can get there. Until I can find her and kill this son of a bitch for her.
“My name is Lennix Moon Hunter.”
“And she—” Abe starts.
“Lennix Moon Hunter, Yavapai-Apache Nation,” she says, her voice fierce, her eyes lit for battle. “The last warriors to surrender. And I am the girl who chases stars.”
She turns her head to meet bright-blue eyes through the slits of the mask, every line of her body a declaration of war. My heart constricts with fear for her. She’s vulnerable in every way possible. He could shoot her right now. He could rape her. He could cut off her head. He could take her away from me forever, and if she’s not frightened, I’m terrified enough for both of us.
A long moment stretches between them, and it’s not clear who is conquered and who is the conqueror, but I know who holds the gun.
“You have forty-eight hours,” Abe repeats, holding her eyes a second longer before looking directly into the camera for his final words. “And then she dies.”
CHAPTER 3
MAXIM
An eerie silence presides over my office for a few seconds when the screen goes dark. I allow the full weight and peril of the situation to crowd in on me, and then I approach this challenge the way I have every other one. Focused, methodical, and only considering a favorable outcome.
“You still there, Mr. Hunter?” I ask.
“Yes.” He clears his throat, but fear is stubborn and lingers in his voice. “I’m here.”
“When did they send this video?”
“Um…a little under an hour ago. Fifty-seven minutes. I set the timer on my watch.”
I do the same, my heart racing in time with the rapid seconds once I press the button to count down.
“What did CamTech tell you?” I glance up at Jin Lei, standing in the door and mouth, Vale’s next.
“They said they have a negotiator dealing with the kidnappers,” Mr. Hunter says. “And that he has no demands for Lennix separate from the vaccine.”
“What does that mean?” Kimba asks.
“It’s what he meant by her being disposable,” I say grimly. “They’ll use her to impose additional pressure on CamTech to get what they want, but there’s nothing they’re asking for Lennix’s release. Just the ten million and the vaccine in exchange for Wallace.”
“So what do we do?” Mr. Hunter asks, panic threading his words.
“Let me work on this, sir.” I nod to Jin Lei, indicating that I’m ready for the CamTech CEO. “In the meantime, I’d like to fly you out here to DC. I can have a plane there in a few hours.”
“Fly out there?” he asks. “Why?”
“Because I’m taking the lead on this. I need you to trust me. We can’t leave Lennix’s safety to CamTech. They have no vested interest in saving her. We need to establish our own line of communication with the kidnappers. You understand?”
“I think I do understand, Mr. Cade,” Lennix’s father says softly. “And I think you’re more than just Lennix’s friend.”