Total pages in book: 33
Estimated words: 31616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 158(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 158(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
“I’m going to find out what’s behind the wall.”
“Can I go in?” Ocean begs.
“Yes.” I give as I press down harder on the gas, needing to beat Owen home. He could have more errands. That thought sours my mood. I wonder how many more women will try to proposition my man.
“MOM,” I call out.
“Yes, sweetheart.” The soft but still robotic voice comes through the speakers. I need her right now. I don’t have my hands free. I can’t bring myself to get an electric car. They freak me out, only because I know what I’ve done to some of them myself. They can be hacked and tracked. A vehicle is a giant weapon.
“All lights green.” I give the command. The light in front of me flicks over a second before I blow through it.
“Isn’t that fun?” Ocean asks.
“Kinda,” I admit. It was always me that was turning the lights for other people. I suppose I still am. I made the system I call MOM. That might be weird or crazy, but I guess that’s what I am, after all. It’s nice to call out for her help. “Turn them back red on target, Owen.” Our tracker is still on him. A few red lights will buy me some time. “Did he get in his truck?”
“Yes, he appears to be following your direction.”
Yeah, it's the fast way home. To his house.
“Roads clear?”
“No,” MOM responds. “There is a state trooper doing radar on C highway before Montgomery Road.” Of course there is. Shit. It’s coming up too quickly for me to try and lure them somewhere else. I slow down. The last thing I need is to get pulled over.
“It’s a basement,” Ocean whispers, talking more to herself.
“Don’t blow anything up!” He’s got cute little critters all over that place.
“I’m not! I can scan it better now that you’re letting me near the damn house.”
“Oh.”
“But I can.”
“No!” I shout at her.
“I’m not going to blow anything up. I want to see what he’s got. The wall opens to a small room that only leads to the basement.” Ocean is quiet for a long moment. “Wow.”
“Wow? What’s wow?” I pass the state trooper.
“There is nothing. I can’t read it. I know there is a basement, but I can’t get anything from it. Not a temperature or a full size. He’s blocking me somehow.” Now it’s Ocean who growls in frustration.
“Don’t blow it up,” I remind her as I once again speed up. “I’ll go down there myself.”
“I don’t know. You’ll be going in blind. No signals of any kind are coming in or out of there, but there is something there.” Her anger starts to morph into fascination. “If you weren’t cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, I’d make a terrible joke about him having a girl down there.”
“Ocean!”
“What? We live off those crime documentaries.” We do, but there is no way my Owen who has a cute kitten and gives me sweet kisses is one of those monsters.
“It could all be a lie.” It dawns on me. An act he puts on for a cover. I turn down his driveway as worry starts to eat away at me. Have I been duped? “But there’s no way … I mean, he’s not … That’s not Owen. He has no idea who I am or what I’m after.”
“I’m sorry, Maggie, but I have to say it. We never should have gotten close. He has to know who you are if he is tangled with Duffy. If Parks can’t get shit on him.” Was it a lie? The things he told me about his parents?
I should turn around. Get the hell out of here. Instead, I throw my car into park and grab the sledgehammer. To my surprise, when I go to test the lock, the door opens. He really is laying on the country act thick.
My hand tightens on the handle as my mind races with so many scenarios of how the next few minutes of my life are going to play out. It makes me lightheaded.
“Don’t go in!” Ocean shouts at me.
“He’s a mile from his driveaway,” MOM announces. I enter the house and head straight for my target.
“Magic! Mags? You can’t be hammering his wall when he walks in!”
“You said my cover is already blown,” I remind her as I raise the sledgehammer and swing home.
18
OWEN
The front door is wide open as I pull up to the front of the house. As soon as I open the truck door, Alfie sprints away, dashing inside.
“Wait!” I call, but he’s already long gone.
I pocket my phone, then grab the fake eggs and head up the stairs to the porch. A loud splintering sound comes from inside, then I hear a triumphant “Aha!”
Shaking my head, I stride into the house.
“Wait, what is this? Steel?” Maggie yells.
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” I say as I turn the corner and find her gawking at the steel door that leads to the basement. “You could hurt yourself.”