Looks like I was going to have to try my least favorite method.
Taking the long end of the zip tie between my teeth I tightened the zip tie even more, humming to myself as it dug into my already sensitive wrists.
Then, I lifted my arms high above my head.
You’ve got to use all of the force in your little body, Lennie,my dad’s voice whispered in my ear like he was right next to me.It won’t work otherwise. You want to be free.
Sucking in a deep breath, I brought my fists down with as much force as I could muster and separated my elbows.
The plastic thankfully separated and I was free.
My wrists burned and bled as I clapped a hand over my mouth to keep from crying out.
“Okay, you’re okay,” I whispered to myself, my voice shaky. “What’s next?”
I couldn’t go up into the house. That was clearly a bad idea.
There was a teeny, tiny window that was covered in grime on one wall and when I went over to it I found that it had been nailed shut, so that was out.
My mother would find me eventually, and if she didn’t, the guys definitely would. I felt it in my bones that they would stop at nothing to get me back.
Feeling deep inside of myself, I touched the bond that I had locked down tight. There was no way they would be able to feel me this far out—wherever this far out was—but it felt wrong to keep them locked out of my end of the bond now.
So I sat against the walk and slowly chipped away at the walls until they were gone and my end of the bond was whole again.
It was a nice distraction, almost meditative enough to quell the rising panic I was feeling as I stared at the derelict basement around me.
A wave of a soothing sensation washed over me, so potent that I was worried that I was going into shock from the events of the day.
Then another, and another.
It took me another minute to realize it wasn’tmewho was doing that at all but Brooks, Maverick, and Zeke’s ends of the bonds sending me comfort. Which meant that they were close by.
I sat up suddenly, excitement filling me. My alphas had come for me, just like I’d known they would!
But what if they got hurt?
I didn’t know how many men were upstairs, nor did I know what sort of weapons they had.
Lesson number four, sweet girl,my father said one afternoon while we sat together at Camp David while he tried and failed to fish at the lake that was frankly overstocked with fish.There are times when a distraction is called for and you might need to create such a distraction…
Glancing over at the furnace that the men had been talking about earlier, I scanned the room for something else to use before my eyes landed on the red gas canisters in the corner.
Wrapping my fist around the locket that Zeke had given me, I sent a quick prayer up to my dad, hoping this wasn’t a completely crazy idea, and got to work.
Chapter Thirty Seven
“This place is crazy,” I whispered to Zeke who was next to me as we crouched in the forest, staring at the complex in front of us. It was deep in the Blue Ridge mountains but lit up like the damned Fourth of July with flood lights illuminating every inch of the place.
Several smaller houses dotted the area but what we were circling in on was the larger house with a wraparound porch in the center.
“Alphas Primus has been on our radar for years,” Agent Harris, an FBI agent who was running the operation explained into my earpiece. “But the fact that they were ballsy enough to plan this operation is concerning. Trying to disenfranchise an entire election seems too big a fish, even for them.”
“You think they have someone paying them to do this?” Maverick asked, his voice crackling in my ear.
“That’s above my pay grade, kid,” Harris said. “All I know is that I’m not sure how we move in when they have those guard towers at twelve, three, six, and nine o’ clock. It’ll be a blood bath before we can even get to Flicker. They’ve also got enough fire power to turn this into another Waco.”
“So what is it that you propose we do?” Zeke asked, glancing into the dark in the general direction of where the agent and his men were.
