Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 168121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 841(@200wpm)___ 672(@250wpm)___ 560(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 168121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 841(@200wpm)___ 672(@250wpm)___ 560(@300wpm)
“Was that gun fire?” Jay’s voice thrummed with fury. “Where’s Roy?”
She crept to the rear lounge, bent low to the ground, phone clutched to her ear. “I locked him outside the bus. Will the lock hold?”
“The key can’t override it,” Tony said. “But he can find a way in with a few tools and a little time.”
Peering over the nearest window, she scanned the interior of the hangar. “No signs on the walls. Doors are closed. No windows. Just the bus, the plane, and…four guards.” The sight of Colson among them curled her nails into her palm. “If this doesn’t work out, Roy said Italy was the destination.”
“We’re working on it.” Tony sighed. “There are five airports within a hundred mile radius of our location. We don’t know which direction Colson went after he passed the nearest town. The cops…”
“Were paid off.” Wouldn’t be Roy’s game unless he’d cheated, lied, and corrupted. She flinched as bullets plinked off both sides of the bus. “Would the tail number on the plane help?”
“It’s doubtful he registered it.” Tony’s soft tone mimicked her doubt. “Read it off.”
“November Charlie 276 Alpha. NC276A. Are there guns or anything on the bus that I might be able to use?”
“No, and you will not engage him,” Jay said. “Hide in the hatch. There’s a crank inside the compartment to close it. Don’t try to leave the bus. Wait there until we arrive. We’re coming.” His command lost its intensity toward the end, drifting into thready, pleading territory.
“Jay, take me off of speaker.” She moved to the aisle, past the bunks, and rummaged through the cabinet beneath the sink, pulling out a fire extinguisher, lighter fluid, and grill lighter. Lucky for her, the guys liked to grill out.
“Just me on the line. Are you in the compartment yet?”
The report of multiple guns popped around her. Splintered dots multiplied on the windows and windshield. None of them pierced all the way through.
“Aim high, you piece of shit,” Roy screamed from somewhere near the door. “I’ll kill you myself if you hit her.”
“Listen to me,” she breathed into the phone. “I know how to beat him.” Her memories hurled her back to the night Roy choked her, the look in his eyes when he realized he was killing her. Would you survive my death? Her heart pounded with resolve. “I need that steel core of yours, now more than ever. Don’t give up, Jay. Do you hear me? If you do, he wins.”
“What are you talking about?” His voice was thick and strained. “I will never give up. We’re on our way. Tony’s weeding through the law enforcement. We’ll get them to every airport. Did you find the hatch crank?”
His idea was so fucking tempting. Sweat beaded on her hairline, dripped into her eyes. If they found a clean cop in the area, the raid wouldn’t ensue soon enough. Hiding in the storage space only delayed the inevitable. Roy knew she was on the bus. He’d locate her before anyone arrived.
“Are you hidden yet?” Jay’s concerned voice spiraled through her, fortifying her. “Answer me, Charlee.”
“Remember when I said your heart is stubborn enough to beat for both of us?”
“Yeah, Charlee. Right now it’s trying to tear through my ribs.”
“I’m depending on that. Keep it beating for me, Jay.” The heartache over the hell she was preparing to put him through swelled in her throat. Roy wouldn’t survive it, but Jay was made of steel. He had a lifetime experience in surviving.
Her eyes stung, and her voice clogged with unshed tears. “My heart, my life, and my love are yours. I give you those things, because I love you.”
She lowered the phone and pressed End. A stab passed through her chest, and her lungs burned with gulping breaths. Her lips curled back through the surge of grief.
The phone buzzed. She powered it down, wedged it into her pocket, and pressed a fist against her breast bone, over the ache that weakened her knees.
The boom of gun shots thinned, and silence settled over the hangar. She grabbed the lighter fluid and lighter, gathered a bundle of blankets and pillows, and sprinted over the cluttered aisle.
A blast of adrenaline accelerated her movements. Her vision was clearer, her mind more so. She dropped the grill supplies on the driver’s seat and flung the bedding into the stairwell.
Roy leaned against the door, forearm braced above his head. The gun in his hand thudded slowly against the spider-webbed glass. He stared at her out of red-rimmed eyes. “I wanted this to go peacefully. I wanted…” Stepping back, he pressed the butt of the gun against his head, grinding it into his scalp. “I didn’t want to punish you.” He dropped his hand. “You’ve left me no choice.”
The Craig appeared at the door with a pry bar. Shoving the flat end in the crack of the doors, he worked it back and forth, bending and screeching the metal.