Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22739 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22739 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
It’s a grainy black and white security video that the mechanic down the street gave me. It’s nighttime and the whole town is quiet. Nothing moves until a rocket slams into the glass roof of the fire station and disappears inside.
My heart is pounding as I watch. The footage only gets a little bit of the station in the distance. Most of it is cut off, except for the roof. I can see the occasional flash that I know is a stream of fire shooting out of the dragon’s mouth.
A few tense minutes later, Sperling’s red dragon hobbles out of the roof, looking beaten and bruised. He flaps his large wings and flies off.
And nobody has seen him since.
I turn the phone off and stare at my reflection in the dark screen. How long am I going to chase these guys? It’s been ten years. I’m tired.
“Until the end,” I whisper to myself. Life isn’t always fun. Some people have to sacrifice everything to get the monsters off the streets and keep society safe for that cute little bundled up kid who just passed.
The Kirk brothers - Aylwin, Reginald, and Sperling are the worst kind of monsters. They’ve committed murder, extortion, robbery, kidnapping, terrorism, treason, arson, among others. Their misconduct isn’t even regulated to the United States. They don’t respect borders, flying through countries at will, and have bribed government officials from other countries and have been making things messy in global politics for the US since before I was born.
Sometimes I just wish I didn’t have to be the one to sacrifice everything.
I take a deep breath, push down those unhelpful thoughts, and step out of the car, right into a pile of snow.
“Shit!” I say as I slam the door closed. Why couldn’t they have last been spotted in Hawaii?
My pulse starts racing as I walk toward the fire station. I’ve learned to follow my gut over the years and it’s almost pulling me to the place.
I walk in, kick the snow off my boots, and immediately look up at the ceiling. The glass roof is gone, obviously. I see they replaced it with steel instead. Maybe in case they’re expecting Sperling to come back?
I have a million questions for these guys. Why was he here? Why were they fighting? But most of all, how the hell did they not die? What are these guys that they can send a vicious bloodthirsty dragon packing with his tail between his legs?
“Hello,” a good-looking fireman says as he walks over to greet me. He’s got blond hair and blue eyes and a body that looks like it could bench press a dragon. “Can I help you?”
I narrow my eyes and put on my best bitch face. It can be hard being a woman in the FBI, but acting intimidating usually gets the best result.
“Are you here to buy a calendar?” he asks as he glances around. “Because I think we’re all sold out.”
“A calendar?” I hiss in an I’m-not-freaking-amused voice. “No. I’m from the FBI.”
I flash him my badge and his Adam’s apple does a little jump as he swallows.
“What’s your name?”
“Westin.”
“Well, Westin. I have some questions for you. Were you here the night that Sperling Kirk’s dragon burst through the roof?”
His face stills as he stares at me, suddenly realizing that I’m here for a lot more than a calendar (although I really wouldn’t mind getting one of those too).
“You better talk to the Chief,” he finally says with a shake in his voice.
“I guess I should,” I say in a firm voice. “Where is he?”
“In his office,” he says as he runs a nervous hand through his blond hair. “In the back.”
“I’ll take you there,” he says.
“No. I’ll go by myself. I want to take a look around first.”
And I want to catch him by surprise. It’s a lot easier to get answers when you’re talking to someone who’s on their heels and caught off guard.
I walk past the truck, careful to step around the gear that’s placed on the floor, ready to jump into at the sound of a bell.
For some reason, my nerve endings start tingling as I walk to the office in the back. The air feels electric as I get closer. I must be close to what I’ve been looking for. For what I’ve always wanted. I’m close to finding my man. Sperling Kirk. That asshole is going to be behind bars. Him and his two evil brothers.
I peek into the office, but I’m not prepared for what I see.
Sitting at the desk is the most alluring man I’ve ever laid eyes on. The guy outside, Westin, was hot, but this guy is scorching.
The silver fox has salt and pepper hair and a gorgeous face that’s concentrated on the paper in front of him as he scribbles something furiously onto it. I take a few seconds to quickly look him over from his mouthwatering forearms to his broad shoulders that I would like to take a ride on.