Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 136048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
It fucking baffles me why the officers in charge waited so damn long to call in the cavalry. Had they put their egos aside, we could have had this situation under control and had all those hostages home before dinner. And yet here we are at five in the morning, standing on top of the building, preparing to rappel down and crash through the floor-to-ceiling window.
Nobody ever claimed that being on a SWAT team was boring.
From what little intelligence we’ve been given, the CEO of Blackstone Jewelers has already been taken out by a single bullet through the back of the skull. He was shot, execution-style, on his knees when he wouldn’t give up the code for their safe, allowing these bastards access to what’s probably millions of dollars in uncut diamonds and gold. Personally, had I been in that situation, knowing that all of my employees were also being held hostage, I would have given them anything they asked for. Whatever is in that safe isn’t worth somebody’s life. Not to mention, it is probably covered by insurance, and because of his reluctance to give up the code, he lost his life, leaving his staff to fend for themselves.
“You ready?” I ask my team. “Everyone in position?”
Ace stands beside me, double- and triple-checking that the buckles on his harness are properly secured. “Fuck, I wanna take Izzy so deep that I have a personal meet-and-greet with her IUD.”
The fuck?
“You good?” I ask, reaching out to nail him in the arm, only to watch as he takes a breath and sighs, clearly deep in thought, and definitely not with his head in the game.
“I think I’m in love.”
Diesel scoffs in my earpiece. “You don’t stand a fucking chance, bro,” he tells Ace. “She might think you’re a good time, might even let you play between those pretty thighs for a few weeks. But you and I both know that when she’s done playing with the class clown, it’ll be me she’s coming home to.”
“Fuck me,” I mutter under my breath. “We are not getting into this shit right now. Both of you need to get in the fucking zone. Apart from some wild flirting and bedroom eyes, Izzy hasn’t given any kind of indication that she’s actually interested in anything more than one night with either of you assholes, so man the fuck up. Focus on what we’re doing, and think about fucking my girl’s best friend on your own damn time.”
Ace clenches his jaw, and if it weren’t for the fact that the second we jump off the edge of this building he will do and be exactly what I need, I would have whooped his ass by now. Ace has never let me down, and I don’t anticipate him starting tonight.
“Ready?” I ask, inching toward the edge of the building and getting into position as Ace does the same.
He nods at me as Diesel speaks directly through my earpiece, leading the team on the other side of the building. “We’re ready.”
I glance at Ace and then at the two men on my other side. “In three . . . two . . . one. Go. Go. Go.”
We fly off the side of the rooftop, plunging down floor after floor as the early-morning fresh air rushes around us. Then just as we sail past the thirty-ninth floor, we all swing back to gain momentum. The strategically placed explosives detonate with perfect timing, blowing in the windows of the thirty-eighth floor, allowing us to soar through the spray of glass.
The noise is deafening, and each of my men lands in a low crouch, rolling deeper into the room while simultaneously unclipping their harnesses. The armed men inside try to catch their bearings, looking around in shock as if wondering how the fuck they lost the upper hand so quickly.
Diesel’s team crashes through at the exact same time from the opposite side of the floor, and as the piercing screams of the hostages rip through the cavernous showroom, my men quickly surround the gunmen.
The bullets fly almost immediately, and while I was hoping they’d have a few brain cells inside their heads to understand that they don’t stand a chance, apparently that’s not how this is going to go down. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.
In situations like this, they know there’s no getting away with a simple slap on the wrist, and prison isn’t for the weak-minded. There’s only one way out for people like this, and it’s a one-way ticket in a body bag directly to the morgue. Hell, it’s men like this who are the reason for Harper having such great job security.
Bystanders scramble to take cover as bullets fly back and forth. We take out two of the perpetrators within the first three seconds, all while keeping cover over each other and the hostages. It’s a fucking bloodbath, which is not at all what I was hoping for, but I knew it was a possibility.