Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
And Grizz? Since the day we found Kira in that snowstorm, he’s been a gentle giant, but now, he’s something else entirely.
He’s the Grizz who keeps people alive when things explode.
CHAPTER 45
GRIZZ
My fingers are surprisingly steady as I arm the line. “Det charge set,” I mutter. “Primary access road is compromised.”
Atlas doesn’t question it. “Execute.”
I trigger the blast.
Rock and snow collapse exactly where I want them, with no wasted force. The primary access route disappears in a roar, funneling the attackers into the kill corridor we mapped long ago.
But they adapt fast. Too fast.
“Multiple targets approaching north tree line,” Viper calls. “Heavy kit.”
“Copy. Adjusting.”
Lungs burning, I duck and sprint, hands busy with another charge. I angle it toward the line of advance, then roll clear.
The blast lifts the ground beneath them and drops it behind them.
A round cuts through my shoulder before I can reposition. The wound screams, hot and blinding, but I ignore it.
She’s inside, I tell myself. And they’re not taking her.
I set off another device. The charge goes where I want it, but something goes wrong at the edge of it. There’s rock where there shouldn’t have been rock, and pain tears through my side like I’ve been split open.
I stagger, catching myself on a tree, the breath knocked out of me. When I test my ribs, my hand comes away bloody.
“Grizz,” Atlas barks over comms. “Status.”
I force air back into my lungs and grit my teeth.
Before I can answer, movement flashes at my far right. It’s too close and too fast. One of them broke through the funnel.
I pivot, pain lancing through my shoulder, and level my weapon. He’s raising his when I fire.
One clean shot takes him down hard.
I stay rooted a half second longer, scanning all around me, making sure he’s the only one.
“Threat neutralized,” I tell Atlas as blood soaks my sleeve. “Line still holds.”
And it will. As long as I’m still breathing.
CHAPTER 46
KIRA
The walls feel like they’re closing in on me, no matter how many times I tell myself it isn’t true.
After the safe room door was sealed, the thud echoed in my head like a nightmare. When the radio communication starts up, it makes me wish I were only hearing the ghostly thud.
“… det charge … multiple targets …”
Channel three crackles, the words broken by static, but clear enough to create horrible scenes in my mind with each communication.
When the radio goes quiet, I stand in the center of the room, listening to the sound of my own breathing, counting the seconds until I hear one of their voices again. Until I know they’re okay.
I rest my palm on my stomach and try to focus on my breathing, but it doesn’t do a thing for my racing pulse.
There are no windows for distraction. No corners deep enough to crawl into. Only solid walls that remind me that nothing here is meant to fail.
Nothing.
I’m still wearing Atlas’s sweatshirt, and I bring a handful of it up to my face so I can breathe in the scent of him. Please let them be okay.
Something hits the structure with enough impact to send a vibration through the floor.
The urge to do something, to run, nearly overwhelms me, but I won’t let myself act on it. My men were incredibly clear on that point, and I trust them.
Silence doesn’t mean safety, and noise doesn’t mean danger.
My gaze flicks to the shelf beside the door, where the pistol waits exactly where they told me to put it. I leave it there.
I sit. I stand again. I pace.
A distant rumble rolls through the mountain. Is that Grizz’s work?
I sit again and drop my head into my hands, trying to blot out the pictures that keep filling my mind without my permission.
I can’t lose these men when I’ve only just found them.
The radio crackles again. “…still holding …”
I’m dizzy with relief.
I slide down onto the floor and draw my knees in as close as my changing body allows. I whisper promises to my daughter that I don’t realize I’m making until they pass my lips.
You’re safe.
They’re coming back.
We’re not alone.
Time stretches and compresses until I lose track of it entirely.
Much later—who knows?—a voice comes over the radio that sounds like Grizz, except it's nearly breathless. “…don’t wait for me—”
My heart pounds as my skin turns to ice. Don't wait for him? What the hell's going on?
“…if we lose the perimeter—fallback protocol—”
Atlas? But he doesn't sound the same, either.
There's a crack of gunfire before the radio cuts out, and a sob tears out of my throat.
I’m clinging to the comm like a lifeline, but it goes quiet again for far too long.
Then come unfamiliar voices making loud commands. Next, the wail of sirens. Even muffled, they’re unmistakable.
I don’t move.
I don’t even breathe.
The radio goes silent.
CHAPTER 47
ATLAS
The turning point comes when federal vehicles arrive with sirens loud enough to rival the gunfire.