Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
A shuddering sigh of relief left my body, and I sank back down, fighting my own smile. That sounded like my Kitten. Stubborn as all hell.
Sean sat down. “Are you calm enough to listen now?”
My hand was shaking as I reached for another ice chip. I popped it into my mouth, letting the cold soothe the burn. “Yeah.”
“After I heard your warning about Larry, I was waiting. I knew something had happened. He only made it in the room a few steps before I put a bullet between his eyes.” Sean smiled grimly. “He barely had time to reach for his gun, that fucker.”
I nodded, letting him talk.
“When I realized Skylar was in the building, I knew our cover was blown or at least in jeopardy of being blown. I contacted Frank, who told me Skylar wasn’t at the farmhouse when he got there, and they couldn’t locate her. I told him to bring in the reinforcements stat—that we were in trouble. He said they were already on their way. Then I got busy and started all the destruction, before trying to get to you.”
“Rex…” My voice trailed off in thought.
“A good guy—like us—but with a different arm of the law. He’d been undercover way longer than we were. He was trying to figure out who else had infiltrated.” Sean shook his head. “A perfect example of bureaucracy gone bad. Neither organization would share information or confirm they had someone on the inside.”
“How?”
“The fire Rex was in? He never recovered. It was the perfect cover—the loss of voice, the changes to his face, some of his missing memory—all could be explained by the accident. They put in Agent Clark while Rex was still on life support. Orson never suspected a thing. Agent Clark had been slowly gathering evidence until you showed up.”
“Wish I’d known. It would have saved us a lot of work.”
Sean barked out a laugh. “What did you want him to do? Shake your hand and ask if you were undercover like him? Both of you were far too good at your job. He was as convinced you were really Anthony as you were he was Rex.”
I grinned a little—he was right. “That’s why he didn’t give Skylar up.”
Sean nodded. “When Orson sent him to get her, she opened the door, expecting Frank. When he saw her, he knew right away what was happening. Skylar was, ah, not happy to see him.”
“Did he do that to her face? The bruises?” I asked, planning on returning the favor, regardless of how it had happened.
“No. Orson did those, and the rest was an accident. She was so panicked when she saw Rex, she tried to run. She tripped and hit her face on the step, splitting her lip. But it added a convincing note to the story he told Orson about having to subdue her. He told her the whole story before he took her to Orson. He helped her—and us. He took the first shot at Orson.”
“There was a second?” I rasped.
“I took the kill shot,” Sean stated smugly. “I was done with that fucker.”
I arched my eyebrow at him.
“He already took my brother, and I thought he’d taken both you and Skylar.” He leaned forward, scrubbing his face with his hands. When he dropped his hand, his eyes were watery. “There was so much blood, Cian. I thought you were both gone. I didn’t care about the case or jail for him. I wanted to be the one who sent him to hell.”
I held out my hand, and he grasped it. “You’re like my own son, Cian. I thought I’d lost you. My rage knew no bounds. If I could have, I would have resuscitated him so I could kill him again.”
“I’m okay, Sean.”
He let out a deep sigh. “Thank God.”
I groaned, feeling the weight of my injuries pressing down on me. My chest hurt, my shoulder ached, and my head felt about five times the size of my body. I shut my eyes, the darkness soothing the pain that pounded in my head.
“You need some meds?”
“Yeah.”
Sean left the room, returning a few moments later with the doctor. He bustled around, checking me over, and my eyes fluttered open as he added something to my IV.
“I need Skylar brought in here,” I mumbled.
“I’ll take care of it, Cian,” Sean assured me.
“It’s against our policy,” the doctor tutted.
“What about a nice donation to the hospital?” Sean suggested. “Maybe a new MRI machine? I heard the nurses say the one you have is always backed up.”
Their voices faded as they moved away from my bed. I drifted a little, opening my eyes when I heard Sean come back.
“Well?”
“You’ll be getting a new roommate.”
I relaxed into the pillow. “Good.”
“Rest, Cian. We’ll talk more later.”
There was still one thing I didn’t understand. I forced my eyes open.