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)
“I’m so ready. We just need to call the security team to escort us out and make sure the car is right there waiting, and we’re good to go.”
Vienna wished she could see Zale one more time before she left, but she knew that all the trouble they’d gone to in order to convince whoever was trying to kill the undercover agents she wasn’t part of them would have been for nothing. She left without looking back.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Shabina, you’re killing us with this breakfast. We’ll never be able to climb,” Stella Harrison proclaimed, scooping more of the egg scramble up and placing it into a tortilla wrap. “How do you manage to make everything taste so good?”
“I just want to know how she gets up so early and has her brain cells working enough to figure out an actual entire menu,” Zahra Metcalf said. She managed to sound and look exhausted even as she took more scramble from the warmers. Zahra had dark, dark eyes and hair that was cut chin length to frame her pixie face. She was the shortest of all the women and worked as a hospital administrator.
Vienna had to admit, Stella was right about the excellent food. It wasn’t a normal breakfast scramble. And Zahra was right about the early morning hour. They’d gotten up long before the sun to make sure they could boulder before it got too hot.
“You’re looking good, Stella. So far, the thought of marriage to Sam hasn’t made you want to run for the hills and disappear. We’ve taken a bet on it, you know. The odds of you actually making it down the aisle aren’t that great,” Vienna said.
Stella did look good, with her silvery blonde hair and crystal blue eyes. “Sam says he’s watching for the big runaway, and if I’m running, he’s running with me. He would too. He doesn’t mind not being married. Or eloping. Or just marrying quietly with only the dogs there.”
“That sounds like Sam,” Vienna said.
“He could track you too,” Raine predicted. “In any case, you do love him, even if I think you’re crazy to fall in love, so you’re stuck. You may as well get over your cold feet and just marry the man. You’re definitely going to stay with him. Sooner or later, he’s going to knock you up and you’ll have kids, and if you aren’t married, when the kids go to school, there might be a bully who’s mean to them. Sam will retaliate in some huge way and you’ll have to live off the land in the mountains for the rest of your life.”
Raine took thirds on the egg scramble without a qualm.
“Hey,” Harlow protested. “I haven’t had seconds.”
“You’re just lounging there with your feet up,” Raine pointed out, unrepentant while everyone else laughed at her tale of Stella’s life with Sam without marriage. “Who knew you were going to get energetic enough to actually get food for yourself?”
“There’s plenty,” Shabina, the peacemaker, said. “I counted on Raine to have an extra helping.”
“While we’re all sitting around and Raine is telling tales about Sam, I’m going to tell you about my fun stay at the Northern Lights.” Vienna proceeded to tell her friends everything that had happened, including the malevolent feelings she’d gotten from the crowd. The warnings about Benny. The attack on her from Charles. She showed them the fading bruises on the side of her head and across her belly, close to her ribs. She ended with the things Daniel Wallin had said to her privately after her win.
“I don’t know if he was threatening me or warning me,” she concluded.
Raine already had her computer out. She could access almost any site. She had a very high government clearance, but in this case, she shouldn’t need it. If what Wallin said was the truth, Liam Gram’s death would have been in the newspapers. Bodies were found in the desert occasionally during certain time periods. Raine had the name and the approximate date the murder might have happened.
“Did it feel like a threat?” Harlow asked. “What did your gut tell you?”
“I wanted out of that room. After two of his security team had come to my room the day before—I was certain to kill me—I didn’t want to be alone with any of them. Wallin or his security. I didn’t trust any of them. I wanted to get out of the hotel. I couldn’t be seen with Zale. I felt very alone and was so happy to see Shabina and Raine. I didn’t even say thank you for getting a plane and coming early. I was afraid they’d overhear. The relief was tremendous.”
Raine held up her hand. “I found something. Liam Gram was found in the desert by two young men riding dune buggies. He’d been missing for three weeks. He was found buried up to his neck in the sand, both eyes shot out. Cards had been shoved in his mouth and it was wired shut with his teeth clamped around the cards. When they performed an autopsy, they found he’d been tortured for some time. He was thirty-five years old at the time of his death. That was in 1980.”