Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 112398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
I sat forward, and from over her right shoulder, I pointed at the narrow lane between two stores that would lead around to the back of the building. “Go in down the side right there.”
Dani jerked the steering wheel, and the car whipped to the right as she took it fast. She barreled between the two buildings, the thick gray bricks of the walls blurring by on each side.
The second she rounded the corner at the rear of the building, she skidded to a stop.
I threw open my door and jumped out. Timothy was quick to follow, slamming his door shut and rounding to the trunk.
I thumped my hand against the top of it.
Dani popped it, and I dug around on the right side, where I’d stuffed a crowbar I’d seen on a workbench in her garage.
I tossed it up, testing its weight.
“That going to be enough?” Speculation lifted Timothy’s brow.
“It’s gonna have to be.” I strode over to the door as I felt Aria climbing out from her side. Both she and Dani ran up on their toes like they needed to remain covert, when we were assuredly getting ready to let the whole fucking neighborhood know we were there.
Right at where the lock was located on the door, I stuffed the crowbar into the tiny gap between the doorjamb.
I pulled with everything I had.
Metal bit against metal, a high-pitched groaning that pierced through my head as I put all my weight into it, teeth gritting as I tried to break the fucking industrial lock.
Even in the cold of the winter morning, sweat instantly beaded on my forehead and slid down my back.
I kept trying to work it, moving it up and down the slot, throwing myself against it.
It didn’t budge.
Timothy jumped in and gripped the end of the rod. Grunts rocked out of each of us as we tried to force it open.
“Come on, man,” he said through clenched teeth. “We need to get this bastard open.”
Could feel Aria itching. Her attention wandering the area, watching for anyone who would notice what was going down.
“Hurry,” Dani said.
We pushed harder; then I felt the shift. The force of Aria’s presence as she came up between us. She placed her left hand on my shoulder, and with the other she reached out and grabbed hold of the rod, too.
A bolt of energy suddenly streaked down the metal, and the lock popped with a small boom.
Timothy chuckled under his breath. “Now, why the hell didn’t we think of that in the first place?”
We didn’t have time to contemplate it, because the second the door burst open, the siren started shouting.
Deafening.
Disorienting.
Lights flashed from the ceiling, doing their best to chase us out, like we hadn’t been expecting their welcome.
“Hurry. We won’t have much time before someone shows,” I growled.
Unless the authorities were too busy dealing with all the alarms that no doubt were going off all over the city.
“We’ve got this,” Timothy said, and he snatched Dani’s hand and made a beeline up the aisle, heading in the direction we’d already planned.
Any weapons we could find were going to be at the back of the store.
Dani and Timothy were assigned to knives and bows.
I grabbed Aria’s hand. The heat of her slashed up my arm the second we connected, a jolt to my heart. A zing reminding me that we had to do whatever was required to see this through.
“This is insane,” she wheezed as we sprinted down the aisle.
“I know, baby. That’s what happens when the world goes crazy.”
I hooked a left at the end of the aisle. Releasing Aria, I snatched two big duffel bags displayed on an endcap and tossed her one.
“You can do this,” I shouted above the blaring, feeling the bleak desperation that poured out of her. The siren was so loud that it thundered our pulses into chaos. Doing its best to drive us out.
“I know. We have to,” she said as we broke apart.
I ran straight for the glass cases that displayed a bunch of handguns. But what I was interested in was the wall of rifles on the other side.
The area was blocked off, only intended for whatever employee worked this section.
I planted my hands on the top of the case and used it to propel myself over, while Aria rushed to a tall display case where a ton of ammo was displayed off to the side. I could feel her frustration when she found it was locked, and she spun around, searching for something she could use to bust it open.
Relief gushed out of her when she saw what she was looking for, and she ran two aisles down to where mallets used to drive in tent posts were set up on an endcap.
She grabbed one and came hurtling back up to the case. She swung it back, then smashed it through the pane.