Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 49961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
Unlocking the door now. Bram said.
The barrier opened with a click, and the three men entered the dock, leaving the two guards at the bottom of the stairs to watch their backs. To save time and get inside quickly, Marcus drew his Roman short sword from the sheath between his shoulder blades. After carrying it for centuries, it felt like an extension of his hand.
As the door closed automatically, Marcus sprinted in a blur to the closest enemy. Ramming his shoulder into the first man’s side with monumental force, he broke the man’s spine, incapacitating him. Heaving that guard with his free arm out of the way, Marcus then thrust his sword through the bottom of the second guard’s jaw, impaling him through the top of his skull. He ended the man who struggled to drag his paralyzed body away, stabbing him through his body and into his heart.
Seven down, three to go.
Marcus wiped his sword off on the guard’s clothes, then leapt onto the dock’s landing and onto the roof. He crouched by a skylight as he waited for Bram’s report.
I’ve cut the interior lights as well, leaving them in the dark. Some moonlight is coming through the skylight, allowing me to see through the cameras. Two of the intruders have reached the dock office. My guess is that’s the boss and his hacker. They’re facing away from the dock’s interior. The hacker is attempting to access the computer terminal—not that he’s going to succeed. The last guard is standing outside the office door with his gun drawn.
Marcus opened the skylight and deftly descended undetected into the shadows of the dock. He glided behind the guard who shifted restlessly as the boss berated the hacker behind him. Obviously uneasy, he jumped at the routine sounds of the machinery on the docks. Marcus reached out to him with a mental push—Sleep. The guard dropped to the floor with a thud, his gun clattering across the floor.
The boss spun around at the commotion and hurried out of the office to investigate. Marcus smiled as the door closed behind him with an ominous click. Good thinking, Bram.
Spotting the fallen body, the boss kicked at the crumpled man as if trying to understand what had happened. Marcus palmed the top of the boss’s head and lifted him off his feet. When the leader flailed his arms, trying to shoot behind him, Marcus stripped the gun from his hand with a vicious blow that shattered his shoulder.
Marcus growled, “Good evening. I take it you and your team came to scope out the new competition in town. Someone wants to know who you’re dealing with?”
A banging noise came from behind them, and Marcus turned the man around, still holding him by his head three feet off the ground. Marcus gave him a bird’s-eye view of the panicked expression on the hacker’s face as the trapped man beat on the locked plexiglass office door. The hacker’s eyes widened with fear as he spotted the two men standing before him.
Bram, do you have everything you need from the hacker’s system?
Yes. Between the tablet and their phones, I’ve got enough to move forward from here.
Then, purge the office.
With an urgent hiss, a misty fog flooded the small space from the fire suppression system, engulfing the hacker. As the room filled with haze, the trapped man clutched at his throat, gasping for air that no longer existed. The shoulders of the man in Marcus’s grip tensed as he watched the man behind the door slump out of sight.
Marcus underlined his captive’s horror, saying, “A better question to ask is what are you dealing with.”
With a powerful flick of his wrist, Marcus broke the man’s neck. He dropped the man on the floor next to the still-sleeping guard before reaching out to his security team.
Drain the bodies and bring their vehicle around. I’ll have Sleeping Beauty here take them back to their base as a warning. That should be enough for this round.
Chapter
Eight
Carina mumbled her protest as Marcus moved. “Don’t leave now.”
Her pillow chuckled, fueling instant indignation that he was laughing at her. When he kissed her and whispered, “Sleep, Little one. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good,” she told him and squirmed to resettle. Squeezing her eyes shut, she drifted back to sleep.
The insistent morning light through her blinds woke Carina later. She threw an arm over her eyes. As her hand thumped something, she heard a masculine “Ow.”
Images of Marcus blossomed in her brain. How had she forgotten he was in her bed? Memories of his lovemaking flooded her mind. She wiggled closer to him, feeling happy and so satisfied. Could she wake up in his arms every morning?
When a random thought popped into her brain, Carina opened her eyes and turned slightly to look at the handsome man wrapped around her. “Sorry. Wait. Aren’t you supposed to combust in the sunlight?”