Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“Sam doesn’t mind that you think he’s hot,” Zahra pointed out. “Although, he has a big head now. His ego is totally out of control.”
“Sam doesn’t have an ego. He’s zen.”
“Sam’s zen?” Zale repeated.
Stella glared at him. “You know very well Sam is zen. Don’t pretend you aren’t aware he’s zen, unlike the two of you.”
“What’s not zen about us?” Zale demanded.
“Rainier isn’t zen,” Shabina ventured.
Rainier looked up, his eyes capturing Shabina’s. “You once told me I have a stone face. There’s an affiliation between stones and zen,” he said, without any expression whatsoever.
Shabina burst out laughing. “Only you would make that association count.”
“But it does count,” Rainier insisted. He waved dismissively. “Poor Zale. Nothing zen about him.”
“My name starts with the letter ‘Z,’ ” Zale defended himself.
That made Vienna laugh. “You’re really grasping at straws.”
“I can’t let Rainier outdo me in the zen area. Especially when all of you think Sam is so perfect.”
“He is.” There was a chorus of female voices instantaneously rising together. They looked at one another and burst into laughter again.
Rainier groaned and covered his face with his hand. “How did Sam manage to pull the wool over your eyes? Raine? You too?”
“He’s our sober driver and keeper of all our secrets.” Again, they looked at one another and burst out laughing. “He has the patience of a saint.”
“Well,” Zale conceded, “Sam does have patience. There’s no doubt about that. He likes the mountains. Once he’s in them, you never see him. It’s impossible. He blends in and can be so still I swear he becomes part of the terrain. I used to go with him and I could never spot him, even when I knew where he had gone. That was part of the game, trying to find him.”
That little piece of information fascinated Vienna. There was admiration in Zale’s tone. She knew he was good at his job. He didn’t take the kind of work he had been doing in the casino often. Mostly, he worked alone in foreign countries, so he had to be as skilled as Sam, yet he was openly admiring Sam for his expertise. She liked that about Zale. He wasn’t so egotistical that he couldn’t show respect for another man’s abilities.
“And Rainier?” Shabina asked. “Is he like Sam?”
“I’m right here, Shabina,” Rainier pointed out. “It would be difficult to say anything either way.”
“Not if Zale was going to be truthful,” she said, lifting her chin stubbornly.
“I doubt if Zale or Rainier would be able to tell the entire truth without lightning striking them.” Vienna couldn’t help her honest opinion from tumbling out. She clapped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late.
Zale raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think I tell the truth?” He put a hand over his heart. “You make my heart hurt.”
“Car just pulled up in front of the house,” Harlow observed. “If you’re about to have a heart attack, now might be the perfect time. This could be the doctor. Zahra, you’re the one with the laceration.”
“Rainier and Zale, you need to get out of sight. Two men walking up to the door,” Raine reported as she moved quickly toward the front foyer. She pulled out her compact rose-handled Sig Sauer, concealing the gun behind her back. “Spread out, everyone. Be somewhere you can get to cover fast.”
Zale didn’t wait for Vienna to find a spot in the spacious living room. He caught her arm and took her with him to the shadowy alcove just to the right of Shabina’s bedroom. There was a massive cabinet in the alcove there. He placed her beside the cabinet as he stepped inside the bedroom, leaving the door ajar so he could cover the front door with his drawn weapon. Rainier had chosen to go to the opposite side of the room, indicating for Shabina and Harlow to accompany him. He concealed himself in the shadow of the doorway to Stella’s bedroom while Harlow leaned against the wall close to the guest bathroom door. Shabina was beside Stella’s bedroom door.
Zahra stood in the kitchen with a tea towel wrapped around her hand as though she were injured. She could easily dive behind the center island if necessary. Raine’s phone pinged once and then there was a firm knock on the door. Raine glanced at her phone just to make certain before she opened the door. Still, even with the information stating the doctor had arrived, she kept her grip on the gun behind her back.
“I need to see your ID.” She was very firm about that.
Both men had their IDs out and ready to show her. She looked them over thoroughly. Raine was good at spotting fakes. “Thanks for coming.” She stepped back and allowed them entry, closing the door and taking up a position behind them.
“You’re the legendary Raine O’Mallory. Dr. Briac Brannan. Please call me Briac. This is my colleague Gage Barrington.”