Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 93929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
“You sure you’re good with this?”
“My job’s easy.” She glances at me in the rearview. “Seriously, I’ll be fine.”
“When we come out, don’t hesitate. The second we’re in the back—”
“I know, I know. Drive like crazy out of the city. We’ll keep a low profile for a few days.”
“My family already knows we’re taking a trip. As far as they’re concerned, I checked into the hotel an hour ago. There are several well-paid employees who will say they saw us enter our room.”
“What’s my alibi?” Liam asks with a frown.
“You’re carrying our bags,” I say.
He laughs and nods to himself. “I like it.”
“Seriously, focus up. The second Caroline stops at the poker house, we’re going straight in. You know the plan?”
“I’m on it.” Liam slams a magazine into his rifle and pulls the slide to load a round in the chamber. “Locked and loaded.”
I sigh and sit back. We’re two minutes away. I don’t like the way this is coming together, but I have to admit, the plan’s solid. Only I wish we had more time to prepare.
A lot can go wrong tonight. Liam says there isn’t too much security at these events, but he’s going off second-hand information. Even though Liam’s good at his job, people aren’t always perfectly reliable. If there are more soldiers tonight than usual, or if just one little random stupid mistake happens, this can all blow up fast.
There’s one target though. Dermot Flanagan. That sadistic prick. I rub my wrists where I still have old, faded scars from when he tied me up with old LAN cables and left me in the basement for ten hours. I swear, a mouse crawled over my face in the dark. I still fucking hate rodents to this day because of him. I screamed myself hoarse and nearly sawed my own hands off trying to escape. In the end, he let me out himself, laughing like it was some big hilarious joke the whole time.
I keep that night centered in my heart. That’s the reason I’m doing this. Every time my resolve slips, I go back to those days.
They deserve what they’re getting.
But that’s not really my problem.
I watch Caroline drive. She’s locked in and ready. I love the way she concentrates with her entire body. This is the right thing, getting revenge, but did I need to drag her down with me?
She was innocent before me. She says she was always like this, but that’s hard to believe. I’m turning her into something vicious.
A monster just like me.
“Time to go,” she says, pulling the van to a sudden stop.
“Be careful.” I pull my mask up, lean over, and kiss her hard. She kisses me back.
“You too. Don’t get hurt.”
“I’ll be careful too, don’t worry,” Liam says, throwing the back doors open and jumping out.
I give her one last look before following.
She stays where she is. If another car comes, she’ll circle the block and park again. If we come out and she’s not here, we’ll run north and she’ll pick us up on the way. That’s the idea, anyway.
I push her from my mind and follow Liam.
The building looks abandoned. The windows are boarded and covered in graffiti. But the bars look brand new and I swear there’s a small camera perched under a window sill looking down at the stoop. The front door looks new and it’s definitely one of those special heavy reinforced security models. Which doesn’t matter, because Liam straps a black canister to the frame beside the handle, yanks off the top, and backs away.
I crouch, gun raised, as the grenade goes off.
The door slams inward. Wood splinters and dust patters down around our feet as I storm forward into a shockingly nice foyer. The floor is hardwood, and decent paintings are hanging on the walls. There are crystal glasses on a side table, all of them filled with champagne. A mirror’s broken into a dozen big shards.
A man steps forward. He’s burly, wearing black, one arm over his face and the other slowly raising a gun. “Drop it! Down on the ground!” I scream at him, but he doesn’t react. I pull the trigger and my rifle bucks, hitting him straight in the chest.
The security man grunts and goes down. Blood bursts from the holes in his chest. I kick him in the face, knocking him sideways, and Liam’s right behind me as we storm into a large, wide-open back room.
At some point, whoever bought these houses must’ve gutted the insides and ripped down their interior walls. Instead of a narrow single row home, it looks like at least four of them have been stitched together. The place looks like a Las Vegas casino filled with card tables, waitresses, bodyguards, bouncers, men lounging around big TVs, and women draped in their laps looking bored. I’m shocked for a split second as I scan the faces, trying to find Dermot, but there are too many people.