Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 61190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 245(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 245(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
“Black bird marks the cage. Save the helpless from the snakes,” Emmett read the message with a confused look on his face. He then huffed and leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed. “Great. Now, we get a riddle.”
“It’s an important message. Seems like a cry for help, and I doubt they want their enemies knowing they’re asking for help,” I pointed out before lightly bumping my shoulder against Brianna before I could even register the motion. “But if anyone can help us figure out what it means, it’s you.”
What was I doing? Obviously, I wasn’t the most confident or smooth guy in our unit, but I wished I could have a normal interaction with a woman like her without overthinking every little move. It wasn’t like I was trying to impress her.
Well, I didn’t need to be trying to impress her, but I liked the feeling of her eyes on me as I did a write-up on the rebel group’s code use for future reference. It made me feel a little better to know that I wasn’t the only one intrigued by her sudden but captivating presence.
When Brianna started fidgeting with her shirt and shifting around in her seat, I pitched her a concerned look.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
A sheepish expression crossed her face.
“Yeah, I just should’ve worn a bigger shirt. It’s a bit too… exposing,” she replied, folding her arms in her lap like she was trying to cover her stomach.
“Not to overstep, but that’s the worst thing you could do with curves like those. They’re supposed to shown off,” Emmett assured her with a small grin.
His confidence boosted the little amount that I had, throwing fuel on an already burning fire.
“Yeah, you shouldn’t try to hide them,” I added, feeling pure desire burn within me. It mingled with some guilt because I could only imagine David getting pissed if he found out that Emmett and I were checking out his wife.
Brianna stiffened a little, winding her arms around herself tighter as she shook her head.
“Most guys nowadays prefer younger, slender women. I can’t tell you the humiliating comments guys have made about me… telling me that I couldn’t pull off a certain outfit or that I needed to watch the calories,” Brianna replied, swallowing hard afterward. “It’s awful.”
What assholes. I grinded my teeth, unable to fight off the aggravation that I felt over the fact that some dickheads would tell someone as kind and beautiful as her that she was anything less than gorgeous.
“Well, you won’t hear any of that bullshit around here. The more we get to look at, the crazier we’re driven,” I told her with a light chuckle afterward to soothe away the tension.
“David is a lucky guy,” Emmett added, sharing an agreeing look with me.
We had all seen pictures of Brianna over the years, but pictures never did anyone justice. Seeing all of her beauty in person really put it in perspective of why David got so antsy toward the end of our missions. He was dying to get home to his smart, sexy wife.
Yeah, he was a lucky bastard indeed.
Brianna looked down at the ground for a moment with a shy smile, seeming to not even know how to reply. She then brushed her hair out of her face and straightened up, adopting a serious look.
“We should get back to work,” she said.
She was right, but dealing with a riddle was the last thing that my entranced mind wanted to focus on right now.
Chapter 6
Aziel
We finally had our first big lead thanks to the efforts of Elijah, Emmett, and Brianna. Amir and Erick scoped out the city from a safe distance with binoculars and spotted a building with what looked like a messy depiction of a bird in black spray paint on the back wall.
After more recon, we noticed that members of the dictator’s forces were going in and out of the building, dragging captured rebels inside whom we didn’t see again. It was a hostage situation.
“Let’s head out!” David called to Aziel and Amir.
“You’re not going to take more men?” Brianna asked him as they stood in the foyer, a worried look plaguing her face.
Everyone was impressed with her efforts on the decoding process, and the atmosphere had a different kind of energy with her around. She brought some sort of warmth to this place, and it was nice having someone more innocent and light-hearted around because it could get a bit rough and moody around here.
We had all seen things that we never wanted to lay eyes on before. Death. Destruction. Doom. Some days, we were able to joke around and lift each other’s moods, but other days, we were too upset to even muster a smile or eat that night.
But Brianna could even make the grumps of the group, Erick, and Emmett, smile.