Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 151097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 504(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 504(@300wpm)
Destiny’s place it was.
HUNTER
Another two weeks…
I was nothing but ash before Coby found me. In trouble with the law again, I was forced into counseling for the profound grief over the loss of my mother. My public defense attorney had cleverly attributed it to my bad behavior in order to keep me from doing hard time after I was caught burning down my father’s house with him inside of it.
Unfortunately for the world, my sperm donor survived.
Coby’s relentless optimism had pushed back the hopeless obscurity, laying siege to my mind until there was only her. I’d become so dependent on her light that I could barely last a few hours without seeing or hearing from her before I began to slip back into darkness.
She had been the only person I could count on in a long time and the one time she’d needed me…
My chest cracked when a sob was trapped inside.
I’d failed her.
I wouldn’t fail her now.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the reason I was standing alone in the middle of the street with a rocket launcher hoisted on my shoulder. Was it slightly over the top? Maybe. But for Coby, I would travel to the depths of hell to get her back.
“Okay,” Destiny spoke into my ear. She was safely hidden on top of one of the buildings with the handgun I taught her how to shoot, just in case. I’d taught Coby, too, but she was determined not to ever use one. “According to the security feed, he’s in the second vehicle. A direct hit will almost definitely kill him, so unless you want to never find Coby…”
“Got it.”
In addition to offering me temporary shelter from the Fola’s reach, Destiny was the one who located one of their weapon caches, and with her help, I was able to escape with enough hardware to make sure Ocean got the message of just how serious I am.
I knew he could see, but I would give almost anything to know if he was scared yet.
Smiling a little at the thought of him pissing his pants, I pressed the trigger and fired the rocket.
The lead vehicle exploded, but the blast’s force launched the second vehicle into the air, flipping it and landing it on its roof.
I only had time to toss the rocket launcher away and grab a couple of smoke grenades before the doors of the trailing SUVs flew open. Snatching the rings free of the canisters, I ran forward and tossed them on the ground toward the SUVS. While they rolled to a stop, I quickly removed the automatic rifle from my shoulder. Heavy smoke started filling the street as I ducked behind one of the parked cars.
“Where did she go?” one of the goons asked.
“I can’t see shit!”
“Someone check on the boss.”
“You’ve got two heading toward Kilpatrick,” Destiny whispered in my ear. “Ten o’clock. Good luck.”
Breathing heavily, I closed my eyes and said a prayer before shooting to my feet, aiming in the direction Destiny indicated, and unleashing on the men. With their backs turned to me, they stood no chance as my bullets dropped them like flies.
“Oh shit!”
“There she go! There she go!”
Ducking just in time to avoid their bullets, I belly crawled to another car and returned fire.
“Fuck! There!”
None of their bullets could touch me since it was so hard to see past the smoke. I was shooting just as blindly until I remembered the thermal imaging camera I’d also pilfered from Ocean. Heart pounding in my ears, I ducked behind the car once again and freed it from the pouch on my waist as the shooting continued around me.
Moments later, I had their heat signatures showing on the small screen, so I swapped out my rifle for the handgun in my holster and weaved between the cars as I hunted down Ocean’s men within the smoke and shadows.
Time stretched endlessly, but in reality, it was only a couple of minutes before the white opaque smoke thinned out and the hunter became the hunted.
I was ducking behind a red car riddled with bullets and broken windows when I peered around and saw them. There were only three left now, but they had regrouped and were slowly stalking the street in a triangulated formation.
And I was out of bullets.
“Well, fuck…” I shook my head and swallowed my whimper. “The things I do for you, bestie,” I whispered as if she were here. I would need a massage, a pedicure, and a good ass nut after this. The likelihood of any of those happening was a firm zero. Pulling the stun grenade free, I tossed it over the trunk of the car without looking.
There was a flash, and then a chorus of shouts rang out before the bang.
Rushing from my hiding spot, I unsheathed my hunting knife as I sprinted for the one in the middle. As soon as I reached him, I didn’t hesitate before burying the blade deep in his gut and driving it up toward his sternum. Blood spilled from his mouth through clenched teeth and splattered my face (yuck), so I turned my head to the man gaping next to him and smiled.