Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
“Do not apologize for either your father or my mother,” I order softly, pushing to my feet to face her. And it is an order. A fierce, guttural command. I won’t let her destroy herself over them. And I will not allow my mother an out. “We need to operate on the assumption that there is no manipulation of my mother. She knows what she is involved with.”
“You can’t know that, Creed,” Addie insists, closing the distance between us and stopping directly in front of me. “Why is the fact that your mother is selling Green Hornets to the government any different than selling them any other weapon?”
“She knows those bullets are being used to kill Renegades, me included,” I assure her. “Your father was with her last night. They’re fucking, Addie.”
She pales with my words that hold implications for us both, perhaps for our relationship.
“Do you have any idea where your father’s PMI lab is, Addie?” Caleb asks, sitting to our right.
She laughs a bitter, humorless laugh, and I step to her side to allow her to speak to the room. “He kept that from me ‘for my own protection.’”
Caleb curses and runs a hand over the back of his neck. “We need that location. We’re chasing our tails here.”
“I’ll find the lab,” Addie vows. “I’ll get into his hard drive and dig around his personal space, his office, and his house.”
“No,” I say, my tone implacable. “Even if I’d let you attempt such a thing, which I won’t, it’s too dangerous.”
She stiffens, throwing a fiery glare in my direction, as I add, “He has cameras everywhere, Addie. He’ll know what you did.”
“And he knows I’m nosey,” she argues. “If I get busted, I’ll suck up and make up a lie. I can get by him. And it’s not like you have a long list of options here.”
“We’ll start with my mother’s place,” I say. “Search it fully. Look for proof that Taylor is involved in Red Dart.”
“Whatever we do,” Addie says, “I need to call my father. It’s getting late. He’ll be suspicious if I’m not at work without a phone call.”
Jensen snatches up the portable phone sitting on the table and passes it to me to hand to Addie. “It’ll look as if you’re calling from your cellphone.”
She gives a nod and draws in a heavy breath, nerves fluttering in her stomach. “It’s ringing,” she tells me. “I’ve never been so nervous calling my father in my life.” A moment later, she says, “Morning, General,” into the phone. Everyone knows he hates when she calls him General, and thus she teasingly does it often. “Reporting in sick.” She listens a minute. “You know how these headaches linger.” A pause, and then, “Yes. Really. I’m fine. I just need to sleep off the haze, so I’m going to turn off my phone. I…” She listens again. “Yes, just like mom. I should be in tomorrow.”
I capture her hand and mouth, no you will not.
Defiance flashes in her eyes as she adds. “Maybe we could have dinner tomorrow night? I feel like we’re disconnected.”
I glare at her, and she glares right back, saying a few more words to her father before hanging up. “What the hell was that, Addie?” I demand.
“Smart,” she proclaims firmly, her spine stiff and her resolve steady. “That was smart. No one is closer to my father than me. He’ll make time for me. That means he won’t be at your mother’s house. That means I’ll go to his house after dinner for coffee. I can get his hard drive, and you can do whatever you need to do, too, while he’s distracted.”
“Your eyes are black.”
“That’s why they make colored contacts,” she counters. “I can manipulate those shipments of bullets the same way Brock did. I can get you your ammunition. I’m all you have.”
“Your eyes will not look the same in contacts,” I assure her.
Sharp-witted as she is, she says, “He’ll blame the migraine if they look funny.”
“Julian knows you are with me, which means Brock will know.”
“All the more reason to do this sooner rather than later,” she argues.
“We should have talked about this first.”
“There is no talking to you,” she snaps back. “You simply blast orders.”
“No, Addie,” I say firmly. “No.”
“You don’t get to decide for me, Creed.” She cuts a look at Caleb. “Does it make sense to use me to help?”
“I am your lifebond,” I state flatly. “I don’t give two fucks what Caleb says on this.”
Her eyes rocket back to me, Caleb forgotten. “No, you’re not,” she corrects. “Not yet. And I can promise you that some biological or physical connection does not give you a license to make my decisions.”
“The hell it doesn’t.”
Caleb and Jensen stand up and head for the door, clearly getting the idea they’re intruding. Neither me nor Addie pay them any mind. “You cannot come in and out of my life,” Addie ground out, “and then snap your fingers and expect me to obey. You don’t scare me, Creed. You’ve never scared me.”