Total pages in book: 238
Estimated words: 231781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1159(@200wpm)___ 927(@250wpm)___ 773(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 231781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1159(@200wpm)___ 927(@250wpm)___ 773(@300wpm)
And I’d been kind of glad he had her at his side. As long as I didn’t let myself wonder if she was better for him. If she made him happy.
But now I couldn’t keep the thought from my mind.
She’d come for him. I hadn’t.
She was better for him.
I opened my mouth. “Alex, I—”
But she pressed her finger to her lips. “Shhh.”
The hallway outside my door creaked, and she grabbed my hand, pulling me into the secret passageway.
She closed the painting, and we stood there quietly as she dug in the bag at our feet for something.
“Do they know about the passageways?” I asked quietly.
“I don’t think so,” she told me. “I’ve been able to skulk around undetected.”
“Seems weird,” I said. “There’s a secret room off Aydin’s bedroom with a two-way mirror. They should suspect there’s more disguised rooms and tunnels.”
She rose, and then I heard a winding, the rechargeable flashlight illuminating as she pulled out a large, folded-up piece of paper that looked like a map.
I dropped my eyes, noticing it wasn’t paper. Not normal paper, anyway.
I grabbed it from her, the feel instantly familiar. It was vellum. This was a blueprint.
How did…? Where…? I snatched her flashlight and turned away to inspect the plans.
“If I’m being punked, I’m going to kill you,” I hissed, studying the floor plan. “If this is someone’s idea of a prank, and we’re in Thunder Bay…”
“And they imported that waterfall you saw outside?” she spat out. “Think, Em.”
She snatched the blueprints and flashlight out of my hands and walked past me, down the tunnel. I couldn’t help but glare at her back as she flipped over the folded document in her hand and studied it while we walked.
No, there wasn’t a waterfall in Thunder Bay. But there were plenty throughout New England and possibly more on the hundreds of islands dotting the coast.
I needed to see that blueprint again. I could read it a hell of a lot faster than she could.
A faint light caught my eye, and I stopped. “Alex…” I whispered, inching toward the wall and closer to the light. “What’s the plan here?”
If we were on an island, she had to have a boat or someone airlifting us out of here. I guessed she had some kind of tracker on her so they knew where to come.
“I have a satellite phone,” she told me. “The cavalry is on its way.”
“What does that mean?”
“The Horsemen,” she clarified. “They tracked me when I was transported here. We just need to hang on.”
Hang on?
“It’s been days,” I bit out in her face. “I could’ve gotten to China and back by now! Twice! Have you even talked to them? How do you know for sure they tracked you? Satellite phones use a lot of power. You would have to keep it turned on for them to track you.”
“Or make a call,” she retorted.
I narrowed my eyes. “You called them?”
“Yes.”
“And they’re coming?”
“Yes.”
My shoulders relaxed a little, but still…something concerned me. “Have you talked to them recently?” I asked.
Her eyes sharpened, and she studied me. “Why?”
“It’s been too long,” I told her. “They should’ve been here by now. When was the last time you spoke to them?”
She shifted on her feet, looking hesitant. “The night we arrived,” she murmured.
I closed my eyes, turning away. “Shit,” I said under my breath.
“It’s fine, Emory.” Her tone was firm and decisive. “They’re traveling, there’s been storms, and I haven’t been able to use the phone at times because I was afraid of being heard. They’ll be here.”
When? One day? Eight more days?
We needed to leave now. Make it to the coast and wait for the boat. Anything could happen, and I still didn’t know who dumped me here, but it was only a matter of time before the shit hit the fan.
She walked down the passageway, and I spotted slits and holes in the concrete, light from the rooms on the other side streaming through.
“What do you know about these guys?” I asked.
All I knew was what they’d wanted me to know.
“Stay away from Taylor,” she said, flashing her light ahead. “And stay away from Aydin Khadir.”
Wow, better late than never.
I pulled her to a stop and looked at her. “Why?”
She sighed and pulled out of my hold, continuing down the tunnel. “Micah is harmless unless you hurt Rory,” she told me. “Rory Geardon…”
“Killed people,” I finished for her.
But she stopped and peered through a peephole, whispering, “His twin sister was born with cerebral palsy. She was confined to a wheelchair. One night, a small party of teenagers broke into their house and brutalized her.” She peered over at me. “And I mean, brutalized her.”
I stopped breathing for a moment, remembering his story. And one by one, he sank them to the bottom of a lake and drowned them.
For his twin.