Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
"Clear."
They might be gone, but my instinct tells me no. If they'd fucked off, then whoever was downstairs wouldn't have been caught out by the others. "They're still here. I can feel it in my fucking bones."
Piston nods. "If I've learned anything since we started working together, it's to trust your hunches. We'll find her."
Beast pounds the door frame loud enough that I think he just shook the whole fucking house, then yells, "Whoever the fuck you are, and wherever the fuck you are, for every hair on her fucking head that you’ve touched, we’re going to peel off a strip of your motherfucking skin!"
“Damn, son,” I say with a low whistle. “That’s rough.”
There's a thump behind one of the other doors, followed by a hissed, "Fuck!" A man's voice.
We don't even think about it. Beast kicks the door open, and I'm the first one through, rolling in, with my gun tucked until I stop at the other side of the room. There's a bed in here, and Sandra is hunched down behind it along with the guy we kicked the ass of for pushing Sandra around at work. The same asshole we saw at the scrapyard.
He jumps, giving Sandra a moment to sink her teeth into his forearm. The guy howls and tries to shake her off but she’s dug in like a badger with something to prove. He's got a gun to her head, but we all know that if he fires now, he's a dead man. I aim mine right at his fucking forehead.
"Put your gun down." I can take out a quarter thrown in the air at fifty yards. It'd be easy enough to put a bullet right between his beady little eyes, but I can't risk him twitching so his gun goes off.
He hisses with pain. "Then tell her to get her damn teeth outta my arm."
"What the fuck was your name?" Piston cocks his head, staring at him. "Pete? Keith?"
“Zeke,” Beast supplies.
“Right! Zeke! Sorry about your dog, Zeke, but look on the bright side, I don’t think hell allows pets anyway.”
The guy looks like he wants to throw a reply back, but he's too busy gritting his teeth together to keep from screaming. Sandra looks me dead in the eyes and raises her hand. Three fingers, two fingers, one finger.
Just as her last finger goes down, she ducks and I pull the trigger.
Blood paints the wall behind him in a spatter as the bullet exits the back of his head. His hand drops to the floor, the gun clattering away as it falls from his lifeless fingers.
Sandra blinks, her eyes wide as saucers as she realizes what just happened. She lets his arm drop, blood on her lips, her expression oddly empty.
"Baby girl." I snap my fingers to get her attention. “Stick with us, honey. Freak out later. You okay? Has he hurt you?"
She freezes for a long moment as she seriously considers my question. Her chest rises and falls quickly, still in the claws of adrenaline. "No… no, I don't think so." Then she turns her head, leans over, and loses whatever was in her stomach.
"Eyes on me! There's nothing back there you need to look at." I put my gun away and hold out my hand. "Come here."
I get a little nod, then she wipes her mouth on her sleeve and reaches for me. I pull her to her feet and yank her in tight, squeezing her against me like I'm never gonna fucking let her go again. She hiccups. “H-he…” A deep breath and then another. She grabs my shirt and clings to me, pressing her face into my chest. Tears wet the front of my shirt, and all I can do is hold her.
Piston rips the blanket off the bed and throws it over the dead guy. Even covered, we use ourselves to shield Sandra from seeing the body as we gently guide her out of the room. She’s still sniffling and clinging to my hand like a lifeline, but she’s moving and we need her the fuck outta here.
"Everything good?" Mack's at the top of the stairs, gun out and giving us a hard look.
"All clear up here." Beast runs his fingers through her hair, petting her gently. "How’s it down there?"
"Got three guys. None of them tried anything stupid so they're still alive." Mack glances over at Sandra again. "We leaving them that way?"
Piston nods. "Bring in whichever looks the smartest.”
“Okay, but just warning you, not a great selection,” Badass says with a smirk.
He comes back holding a scrawny guy by the back of his shirt. “How about this one?”
“Good enough.” I step in close, looking him up and down with disdain. “Bet you think you’re about to join poor Zeke in the afterlife, aren’t you?”
The guy whimpers.
“Bloodmoney, right?”