Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 64362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Sighing, I began walking again. The roar of Lick’s bike was followed by the rumble as he drove away behind me. Once it faded, the quiet returned, and then there was the faint sound of a familiar song. One I’d heard. I couldn’t place it. I walked toward where I thought it was coming from. As I got closer to the far-left corner of the property, the music became more distinct. It was an Irish song. I didn’t see anyone, but there was definitely music. That, or I was hallucinating.
I decided to go investigate.
It sounded as if it was coming from a storage shed in front of a thicket of trees. When I tried to open the door, it was locked. Listening closely, I realized it was coming from behind it. How odd. Maybe the fence was really close, and someone was on the other side, listening to a radio or something. That was probably it, but my curiosity had me continuing my search to see if I was correct.
The shadow from the building blocked the direct sunlight as I walked behind it.
“And again. Nothing here,” I mumbled to myself.
The music stopped.
Well, crap. I waited a minute to see if it started up again.
The crack of a limb came from behind me, and I jumped and started to turn to see who had followed me out here just as a hand went over my mouth and an arm locked around my body.
Startled immediately spun into fear as it dawned on me what was happening.
“Hello, sister. It’s long past time that we meet,” a thick Irish accent said close to my ear. “Yer a hard one to find. My little trackers were all over the fookin’ place. Damn shite city too,” he murmured.
I’d thought he had the wrong woman until he mentioned the trackers. The sister comment still made no sense. I didn’t have a brother, and if there was one I didn’t know about, he wouldn’t be Irish. And this man was definitely Irish. He wasn’t dirty. His hand didn’t smell bad. It smelled like a cigar. The same scent that Eamon often had on his hands after coming in from a business meeting where he’d had a cigar. I’d never liked it when he smoked them, but he had said, sometimes, he had to when offered one by someone he was doing a real estate deal with. Turning it down would be considered rude.
“Here’s what we’re going ta do,” the man said as he began walking me farther into the trees I’d been heading toward. “I’ll leave yer biker and his club alone if ye behave and do as I say. If not, then I’ll send my men after him, who’re currently situated outside the doctor’s office he went into over an hour ago.”
I sucked in air through my nose at his words. How did he know all this? Who was he? Why did he want me? The Landiagos weren’t Irish. This was someone different. I just couldn’t figure out who I was dealing with.
“And the few men inside that building right now aren’t a match for the men I’ve ready to go in and destroy the place, leaving no one alive. Not even yer redheaded friend.”
Goldie.
He knew she was inside. How had he even gotten past the security? There were cameras everywhere.
Panic was morphing into terror. If I tried to get free of him, then those I loved were in danger.
“Are you…are you with the Landiagos?” I asked him although it was muffled through his hand.
“Repeat that,” he said lifting his hand from my mouth by an inch at best.
“Are you with the Landiagos?”
His hand was back over my mouth before I had gotten the last word out completely as if he thought I was going to follow my question with a scream.
“Do I sound Latino to ye? No, but I had to kill the majority of the bastards. Whoever found yer trackers and planted them around the restaurant the Landiagos run their disorganized operation out of was rather creative. It took up more time than I wanted to spend here, and I’d like us to be far away by the time someone finds the slaughter I left behind,” he told me as if he were discussing something as casual as the weather.
“Right up ahead, there’s a ladder waitin’ on us, and we’ll be up and out. They didn’t make it easy on me. Gettin’ a rubber mat to go over the electrical spikes was a bit of a hassle. It’s not like ye can just buy those things anywhere. Do ye have any idea who ye were mixing up with? They have the feckin good ole boy Mafia at their disposal.” He sounded disappointed.
Who was this man, and how long had he been stalking me?
“Soon, we’ll be long gone and back on our merry way home,” he said with a lilt, as if this were a pleasant conversation between friends.