Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 84544 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84544 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 423(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 282(@300wpm)
The important thing right now was that Athena trusted Isidore. She would follow her brother’s lead.
He hoped.
“When I meet with Vanko, I’ll try to work in regular visitation times for you and Athena. You can use that time to reassure her and inform her of our plan as it comes together.” Kairo lifted up and grabbed his too-thin pillow. After setting it higher against the metal railing of the headboard, he sat up, resting his back on the pillow.
“Thank you. I do appreciate it. I know that Athena worries about me, and I worry about her in this house full of strange men.” Isidore stared down at his hands tangled together in his lap. “Not to be a pain, but this plan…do you have one?”
Adorable. It should be illegal how adorable this man was. Every instinct demanded that Kairo reach across, grab Isidore’s wrist, and drag him into his bed. They’d lie on their sides facing each other while whispering secret plots. Maybe he’d take little nibbles of Isidore’s lips between the man’s inevitable questions.
And he really needed to stop thinking like that. Why couldn’t they have met under more normal circumstances like standing in line for coffee at a local shop? Probably because that would never happen. Isidore likely had an entire fleet of people to fetch or make his coffee for him.
“A plan. Yes.” He paused and cleared his throat. Time to focus on work again. Isidore might be an incredibly sweet guy, but he was a client in trouble first and he was depending on Kairo to protect him and his sister. “I have the beginnings of a plan. You’ve already given me a good feel for the layout of the house and the surrounding area as well as a guesstimate of how many men Vanko has. The next step is to get a message to my friends. I can come up with an escape plan for just the three of us, but it would be far more dangerous.”
Isidore grunted softly in agreement. “Because we’re so badly outnumbered and outgunned.”
“Exactly. It’s better to have a little firepower as we leave,” Kairo stated with a grin. “I have a few ideas for getting a message to my friends, but I’m partially looking for an opportunity. Once we get the message sent, we have about forty-eight hours until they arrive and create a window for us.”
“What kind of window?”
Kairo shrugged. “No idea, but Charlie and the others will find a way to warn us ahead of time. Don’t worry.”
Isidore’s easy smile returned. “I’m not. I’m sure you’ve done this plenty of times before. You know exactly what you’re doing.”
Well, this was the first time he’d been kidnapped but not the first time he’d been held prisoner. Other teammates had been captured in the past as well. They had plenty of contingency plans and tricks worked out to escape situations like this. The complication Kairo was running into was the separation between himself and Athena. Escaping with Isidore was easy since the man was always on hand. Grabbing Athena on the way out the door would be more difficult.
He was saved from having to comment by the door opening. A guard brought in a tray of cold cereal and cold toast. Not the kind of breakfast he would have preferred, but it was better than nothing and hardly the worst thing he’d ever been served.
While they ate, Isidore told him stories of spending winters here with his family. There was never any mention of extended family, usually only talk of his parents and sister. He didn’t know it if was because they were estranged from his family or if they didn’t have the big, extended family he’d been led to believe most Greek people had. Damn you, Hollywood! Had it lied to him again? He probably shouldn’t admit to Isidore that one of his favorite movies was My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Of course, he also probably shouldn’t admit that he loved romantic comedies. It would totally ruin his image of being a complete badass mercenary.
A couple of hours later, the guard returned to escort Kairo to Vanko. It was hard not to glance back at Isidore, offering him a thread of reassurance. He didn’t want it to appear that he was too close to the man. Vanko needed to believe that the only person Kairo was looking out for was himself.
On the walk through the house to the first floor, his eyes ate up everything he passed, matching what he saw with the detailed descriptions that Isidore had given him. He’d been surprisingly accurate. Even down to the number of stairs between the different floors. If Kairo had wanted, he could have made the trip to the first-floor study with his eyes closed and not bumped into a single thing.
The leader of the goon squad was lounging in the high-back leather chair behind the enormous dark-wood desk that dominated the center of the room. Kairo gave him only a passing glance as he shuffled over to one of the chairs in front of the desk and flopped, all loose-limbed as if he didn’t have a fucking care in the world.