Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 682(@200wpm)___ 546(@250wpm)___ 455(@300wpm)
There was another explosion, this one seemingly underground, and then people were everywhere. Running. Screaming. Trying to save loved ones.
“Look at them, Zachary,” Huisman purred in his ear. “Rats. They’re all rats, running from the flames. They aren’t worthy of saving. They need a king to rule them all. You’re a smart man. No one has ever helped you. Your family weighed you down. The government didn’t help when you were hungry. Think about yourself this time. Bring me your mother or Louisa Ward and I’ll make it so you never worry about money again. You should do it. Benjamin did.”
“Tell me where you are and I’ll bring her to you,” Zach lied. He stood in the center of this localized apocalypse, the world falling apart around him. If he could get to Huisman…
“Oh, never mind. I don’t need you now,” Huisman said. “You should check on that CIA operative. He doesn’t seem to have liked your father’s present. Although his wife seems to be good with first aid. Tell Louisa if I don’t get what I need out of your mother, I’ll come back for her. And tell Benjamin I said hi. And don’t worry about Devi. I’ll take care of her for you.”
His blood threatened to run cold.
He turned and saw his brother up ahead, kneeling on the ground with Henry’s wife. Both trying to save the older man. He couldn’t see what had happened.
“We need to go.” Tasha jogged up to him. Her previously perfect dress was streaked with blood. “TJ has Lou. My father will stay with Henry, but we need to get out. His orders.”
“We need to find my mother or he’s coming for Lou.” He had to shout over the noise around him as something else blew.
“They’re gone, and we’re not finding them in this chaos. You know what to do,” Tasha ordered.
Report back to base.
What was he doing? He had to find Devi. He knew it was probably a damn distraction to get him to not follow his father.
Well, it was a distraction that worked. “We go out in the crowd and break off before they can question us. Head down. We have to get out far enough that we can call base.”
Tasha nodded.
And they joined the fleeing crowd, praying everyone he loved survived.
* * * *
Devi glanced up at the clock and wondered if she was going to survive the experience.
“Do you have to breathe that way?” Lucy asked, staring with a frown on her face.
“Yup.” Kala was laid out over the comfiest chair in the living area, scrolling on her phone. “It’s how I receive oxygen. I know demons don’t understand human physiology, but we require oxygen to live.”
Lucy’s eyes rolled. “I mean with all the sighs and obvious disdain. You know if you don’t like it here, you can go join your father at the station. I assure you I can keep Devi safe. I don’t understand why we can’t go out into the city. It’s not like Huisman is going to blow up Liverpool.”
Devi sat up from her place on the couch where she sat kind of halfway watching telly and halfway waiting for the real show to begin.
Spy v Spy
Overly aggressive alpha female v overly aggressive alpha female
Kala v Lucy
Two spies enter, one survives with her hair intact.
Yeah, it was going down if the team didn’t hurry up. “I can see The Phil later. I also want to go to Strawberry Fields. It looks pretty in the guide. Is there a reason the only juice we have here is beet juice?”
She’d kind of hoped for orange. Maybe some cranberry.
Both women turned her way and said in stereo, “Aliens.”
No explanation. Nothing more. She searched her memory. “Is this a Bliss thing?”
“Yes,” Lucy replied. “It’s a Bliss thing, and Kala is a tourist.”
Kala sat up, putting her phone down. “I spent almost every summer there, and a lot of Christmases and spring breaks, too. I know those mountains as well as you do. I’m sorry your sister likes me more than you. You made a mistake with Poppy. You let her meet you. If you wanted her to like you, you should have stayed away from her.”
“Does anyone want to tell me why you two hate each other?” She was so curious. Zach didn’t know. Cooper claimed he didn’t know. Tristan had made a bunch of shit up and Tasha, Kenz, and Lou weren’t talking. It was frustrating.
“I don’t hate her,” Lucy replied, arms crossed over her chest. “I simply don’t want to hang around with a reckless asshole who will one day almost certainly get someone killed in the field.”
“I do hate her,” Kala countered. “She’s an asshole who tried to ruin me when I was a teen.”
Oh, they were getting somewhere now.
Lucy sighed. “Sure. It was all me. You did nothing.”