23 Hours Read Online Free PDF Page A

glance back at the boy I realized I couldn’t wait any longer.
    I slid one of the knives from my generic sheath and carefully pinch the blade between my thumb and index finger. It was rather light but thanks to way too many hours spent honing and polishing, it was perfectly balanced. Learning to throw a balanced knife is much harder than it is to learn to throw a blade or handle heavy one, but it is worth the extra effort.
    The guard had hung up the phone but he hadn’t moved from his spot as I took a step back with the knife pulled back over my shoulder. It actually took me a minute to prepare myself but after a moment of concentrated breathing I took a quick step forward I let the thing rip. My follow through was perfect, I could feel it. I even started to smile, but at the last second the guard stepped forward letting the knife sink into the phone behind him with a loud crack.
    “Damn!” I screamed within my head before sliding another blade from the elastic. He barely had a chance to turn and see the first knife before I let loose and the second one lodged itself into his neck. His gun crashed to the floor as he flailed around before grabbing the knife with both hands, his mouth moving, gasping for air the whole time. Both of his knees had barely touched the ground before I threw the third one, burying it into his forehead.
    Sliding the door open a little more, I rushed out to collect my knives and hide the body. I said a quick prayer for the guy then went to work on the blades. It wasn’t nearly as easy to pull the knife from his skull as I thought it would be, but with enough force and a little wiggling I was able to get it. I could only hope I’d never have to do that again.
    Once I had removed the knife from his throat I went to work trying to hide the body. It might have just been the adrenaline rush, but moving the guard around was a lot easier than I expected. There was an old covered troop carrier nearby so I dragged his body over and threw him in the back. It wasn’t the most original hiding place but it wasn’t as much about keeping him from being found as it was keeping the boy from seeing it.
    So with the body stashed, I ran back to the closet and found the boy exactly where I’d left him. He reached up as soon as he saw me with those puppy dog eyes, so I couldn’t say no. I scooped him up before grabbing my bag and Excalibur. It would have been a lot easier having him across my back, but he was clenched so tight on my chest I just let him stay like that as we ran across the room to a small Jeep.
    I hated to do it, but when we reached the vehicle I had to pull him off and set him in the passenger seat as I rushed around looking for the keys. I’d half expected them to be in the Jeep, but I was wrong. There were several sets of keys on a pegboard in the corner above the desk, but none for a Jeep; such was my luck.
    Loud voices echoing from the hallway at the far end of the garage sent my heart racing. All of the keys on the board had a label but they didn’t mean anything to me. Numbers and letter designations were fine if you were familiar with military vehicle IDs, but I wasn’t. A glanced over at the closest truck trying to match up the numbers on it with any of the keys, but had no luck.
    The voices got louder and I was just about to give up and prepare to fight when I saw a set of keys labeled “MK1”; I almost jumped out of my skin. Somehow I hadn’t even noticed that there was a scout car mixed into the fleet. I grabbed the keys and raced back to the Jeep, swinging the kid onto my back before taking off through the maze of trucks.
    It took no time at all for me to find the little armored car towards the back of the pack and I had to smile. Though it was made in the fifties, the sharp angles still made it look a little futuristic. It had the machine gun turret but unfortunately no gun. It was also missing its spare tire, but other than that it looked to be in good condition and the updated