Order of the Omni: A Supernatural Romantic Suspense Novel (The Immortalies Book 1) Penny Knight (100 best novels of all time TXT) 📖

of the pages and come up empty. The only thing is a mobile phone number scribbled in the side margins.

Whoever organised this job wanted it to be low key. That’s obvious.

I scrummage to find a pen when I hear a car door slam from outside.

Tony?

Shit.

I look out the window and see a white van. Not one, but three large men hop out. They gather at the front of the entrance, talking. The blonde one reaches to the back of his jeans and pulls out a gun.

A gun? What the hell?

Double shit.

I drop everything in my hand and scream out for Topher, my feet barreling towards the door as my heart pounds.

“Topher!” I yell again.

“What? What?” his head pokes out from the office.

“Guns!” I charge towards him. “Men with guns. Quick, get what you need. Get the laptop.” I run into the room to find the book.

“What?” Topher screeches but does as I say. “What the hell Elita?”

“Get the laptop and the book out,” I whisper, packing the book in his laptop bag.

“What about you?” he shoves his computer in too.

The door chimes. They have entered the building. Topher’s eyes go wide and looks at me frightened.

“I will cause a distraction. You get this out. Go. Now. Down the emergency fire exit.”

He’s the fastest of us both. He needs to get both the drive and the book to safety. And given that it’s daylight these must be human men with guns. I’m now contemplating my tactics based on either humans or supernatural’s. How life has changed. I know I can handle myself in this situation. Topher, not so much. I hate to say it, but I need my wits about me, and the book safe. So, I don’t have the time or mental capacity to coach him through this.

I push him out of the room. Shoving him towards the fire exit.

“Elita I…” he stammers.

“GO!” I snap back.

“Fuck!” he curses and runs towards the door.

“Meet you back at the hotel,” I say. My last direction I need him to understand.

He needs a clear exit and no one on his tail to give him a head start. And I need to not get dead in the process.

When I hear the fire exit close, I feel a sense of relief. It’s fleeting. The scent of danger hangs in the air. I must act quick.

Going to my computer, my fingers fly pressing play on my playlist. Distraction is key to bide some time and plan my exit. Hopefully, I can find some information on who these men are in the process.

If anyone can play a deadly game of hide and seek, it is the girl who used to spend her time hiding in an air vent.

Once the music starts, I quickly take my lock bag, filled with all my tools to break into houses, from my top drawer.

Sprinting out of the room, I close the door, making sure it does not slam and make noise. Then run to the opposite conference room and hide behind the open door.

A flurry of footsteps comes from the stairs. I inhale deeply and calm my breathing to silence my movements.

“Find her first. We don’t have long,” a gruff voice says.

“I can hear something.” Another man’s voice, higher pitched but still whispered.

He must be talking about the music from the trap I set in the room. That’s all they say. The only sound now is the footsteps, soft as they creep to my office.

There were three men that came from the car. I know there were two different voices, but it doesn’t mean the third isn’t there. Or maybe it’s two and once they’re locked in the room, there might be another one loose.

I need to get stage two of the plan in motion and deal with the third if it arises. As quietly as possible, I unzip the bag and pull out my portable door lock. It looks like a bent fork and another piece of uninteresting metal. But this homemade device can be jammed into the door, securing it.

I must be quick and precise. There’s only one shot to get this right. I hope I can pull it off before anyone starts shooting.

The footsteps stop. Men hovering at the office door.

I hold my breath.

Time feels like it has stopped.

I visualize them nodding about breaching the door. Counting down their attack.

I count with them.

One.

I swallow the lump forming.

Two.

Be quick Elita.

Three.

It takes a split second when I hear the door across the hall burst open, the sound of the handle turning penetrates me first. I leap out from behind the door, not breaking movements. I was right, there are only two. Their backs are to me, one with a gun drawn, the other possibly holding a phone or a device.

It happens within a few seconds, and at the same time. I put the fork-like device in the door’s hole lock. I pull it closed.

The man with the device turns just as the door is about to close, his mouth opening is the last thing I see.

The door slams shut, and in the same moment it does, the device locks into place, securing the door. I did it.

Jumping to the side I get out of the way, thinking bullets will start sounding out.

Nothing. Only yelling and pulling at the door when they realise their predicament.

Then it hits me. I should be running and not waiting.

“Stop!” I hear a growl.

I freeze.

At the top of the staircase the third man. I knew about him, yet I still let this happen. Damn. Leo is gonna flip if I die. What the hell? When did he become the first person I think of when my life is in the balance?

I hear thumping and cursing sounds behind the closed door.

I look at the man.

Yep, this one, of course, has a gun. Why couldn’t he be the one to have the phone?

“Don’t fucking move,” he says.

“FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!” I hear a desperate, wretched scream from behind the door, causing even the man yielding the gun with