Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 33642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 135(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
“Christ, Evie.” Apple rolled her eyes. “Can you get any more cheesy?”
We all laughed and Evelyn threw a pillow at Apple, hitting her in the face. Apple laughed until tears rolled down her cheeks, as did Evelyn.
The rest of the night was spent binge watching the rest of the current season. By the time the winner was decided, we were all drooping. And I was more than a little whacked from the fruit punch. Me and Lemon managed to get some blankets and pillows for everyone and we piled up on couch and chair cushions in the middle of the floor like kids at a sleepover.
I suppose that’s what it was. I’d never had one, but it seemed fitting that these women were the ones at my first sleepover.
As I lay next to Cecilia, I looked at the other woman. She was on her side facing me and reached out her hand to grasp mine tightly. “It’s going to be all right, Gina. Lemon won’t let it be anything else.”
“Yeah. I should have realized that. Sooner.” The woman was a force of nature.
“Falcon and Lemon are at each other’s throats most days, but she respects him. He’d have to be a good man to earn Lemon’s respect.”
“I know he’s a good man. I don’t know many men who would ride around on a pink bike just because I enjoy it.”
Cecilia grinned and squeezed my hand again. “See? That’s true love right there.”
We both laughed, but I was ashamed to admit how that simple observation helped me relax. It was either that or the pot in the fruit punch. Could be either, but I thought it was that damned pink bike.
I closed my eyes and drifted for a long time before I finally let sleep drag me under. Then I didn’t move until morning.
Chapter Eight
Falcon
“Hard to believe the one place that gives me fuckin’ nightmares is in fuckin’ Oklahoma.” Rattler muttered his objection as we approached the big ranch house where we thought Joilyn was being held. Crush and Byte had hooked up with ExFil’s intelligence crew and were helping coordinate the rescue. It wasn’t something Cain would normally allow, but the man understood our situation. Besides that, I thought he was trying to recruit some of Grim Road’s members to ExFil.
“We still looking at thirteen people on the grounds?” I peered through my field glasses, trying to spot as many people as I could. The last thing I wanted was to accidentally cut through the path of one guard trying to avoid another.
“Yep. Thirteen plus your girl,” Scout answered from my earpiece. He and another ExFil agent were on one side of the structure while me and Rattler were with three other ExFil team members.
“These guys look like they know what they’re doing.” I thought that was a guy called Goose. He and the team sniper, Deadeye, were positioned on a small hill about three hundred yards away. About the time he commented, someone ran out of the house, stumbling down the stairs, and bent over as he braced himself on the porch. Looked like he was puking. “At least, some of them know what they’re doing.” The last was a dry mutter.
“Data says he’s only found one device on any network in the house or surrounding areas,” Scout muttered. If he was anything like the rest of the team, he had his eyes firmly on the target.
Of our group, two out of the three were studying the house with binoculars. The third guy constantly swept the surrounding area but without the field glasses. His name was Chase. I thought he’d been part of a shady organization before he’d ended up in Bones MC with Cain and most of the ExFil team here currently.
“One?” I couldn’t help the question. “You mean like they truly are off the grid?”
“Seems that way. Cheetah, what are you seeing?” Cheetah was in her forties and one of the most cheerful people I’d ever met. It was almost sickening but the damned woman had me in stitches before we’d left for this operation, laughing at wartime stories of this team and others she’d served with. Goose had told me she had a knack for picking up on people’s emotions and had known I was tense. I liked her immediately. She was completely different once we stepped in the vehicle to start this.
“Female target is in an upstairs room on the south side. I have a partial visual on her and it looks like she’s shackled. I don’t see her being out of line of sight without someone freeing her first.”
“Good, Cheetah. You’re in charge of her.” Scout gave orders like a man well used to this kind of operation. He was thoughtful and deliberate, but confident in every intel question and every command given. “Deke, you have Cheetah’s back.”