Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 31820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 159(@200wpm)___ 127(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 159(@200wpm)___ 127(@250wpm)___ 106(@300wpm)
“What the fuck?” Marshal asked.
Knox sped up the timer, and it wasn’t long after he left that the guy was joined by a second man. He watched as Ava went into the kitchen and started preparing food. At the same time, the second man climbed into Marshal’s open bedroom window.
“Okay, I think I’m getting why Ava told me to start closing and locking my windows. None of this happens to me.”
“Your wife put a hit out on you, this shit happens to you,” Knox said.
He pulled up the kitchen, and saw the other man approaching the house, as Ava tried to assess the noise she heard. Knox watched as she went into the dining room, finding the mirror. He saw all of it and knew she must have started to panic.
With it being dark outside, she didn’t see the man, and he watched as she literally rushed into the man’s arms, and he also saw her getting punched in the face. Her whole body dropped to the floor. The knife landed where he found it.
The man was masked, and he didn’t take it off, not even as he picked Ava up off the floor and threw her over his shoulder.
Knox’s hands clenched into fists. The beast he reserved for work slowly began to awake. His woman had been taken.
“What do we do?” Marshal asked. “I don’t have a clue who has taken her.”
“I do,” Knox said.
He pulled out his cell phone and waited for his guy to answer.
“I want to know where Ava is,” Knox said.
Marshal frowned at him. “What are you doing?”
He got the address in less than a minute. Knox thanked him and quickly sent him the money he needed.
“When I saved Ava three years ago and she offered to be my PA, I asked her to have a tracking system installed in her. She agreed that in the event of her being taken, I’d know exactly where to find her. We just activated it, and now I am going to get her.”
“You mean we,” Marshal said.
Knox stopped and looked at Marshal. “I’m not taking you.”
“You can’t be serious right now. You’ve got no choice but to take me.”
“How do you figure that?” He wasn’t used to arguing with anyone. This was his life. This is what he did, but at the same time, this was Ava, not some random rescue. This was his freaking soul, and what was worse, Ava didn’t even know what she meant to him.
“You’re going to need backup and I’m your guy.”
“You’re not my guy.”
“Damn it, Knox, you’re not doing this alone. I’m right here, and you don’t think I feel responsible for her being taken? You came looking for me.”
He was not interested in playing the guilt game. The fact was, Ava had been taken and now it was up to him to get her back. Taking Marshal would be a big mistake. He was tempted to just knock him out and go get her. Only, most of the bounty hunters he encountered knew he worked alone. Having an extra hand might become useful.
“You’ve handled a gun?”
“Well, not exactly. I own a couple of guns, but I’ve never needed to use them.”
Knox put his hands on his hips. This was going to be a big mistake. “That all changes tonight.”
He started making his way toward Marshal’s garage, where he had stored a large bag of weapons. It didn’t matter where he went, he always came prepared. Marshal followed him without a command, and when he grabbed the bag and pulled it onto the table, opening it up, Marshal gasped.
“Is that mine or yours?”
“It’s mine,” Knox said. “You better listen closely to what I’m going to tell you, because if you fail me tonight and anything happens to Ava, I will kill you myself. Do you understand?”
“I’m all ears,” Marshal said. “Tell me what you need me to do.”
He needed Marshal to keep his shit together.
Chapter Eleven
Ava came to with her vision slightly blurry. She closed her eyes then opened them and closed them again. Slowly, her vision started to clear and as it did, she glanced around her surroundings. They were at ... the docks?
Was that the ocean she heard? She inhaled and it smelled fresh. Well, as fresh as a rotting sea shed could smell. She saw several hooks and what appeared to be fishing tackle.
She tried to move, but she was tied to a chair and the rope was cutting into her body. It was tight. It had been a long time since she’d been tied to anything, and she had no choice but to slow her breathing down. Panicking would not be ideal.
As she looked across the shed, she then noticed someone hanging upside down. The man wore all black, only his mask had been pulled off and his throat slit. The blood dripped onto the floor, and she imagined it soaking through the floorboards and into the ocean below.