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)
No, he simply wanted to.
At the large open doorway to the main parlor, they froze and tried to take in the chaos that was happening in front of them. About a half dozen brutes dressed in jeans and T-shirts were waving guns, pointing at the large sofa. One was standing on a cushioned chair while a second was standing on the coffee table.
Athena was pulling on the gun arm of another man, her face bright red as she shouted at him in Greek. “Leave him alone! All you’re doing is scaring him! Joey will come out on his own to me if you stop scaring him!”
“Oh my God,” Isidore breathed.
“What’s going on?” Kairo demanded, keeping his voice low. They had yet to be noticed by the guards.
“Athena’s ferret, Joey, has escaped and appears to be hiding under the furniture.”
Kairo’s head whipped around to stare at him with wide eyes as if he thought Isidore was making this up. He didn’t blame the poor man. He was shocked the kidnappers had stolen Joey as well when they grabbed his sister. She’d been traveling with Joey so she could hand him over to a friend, who was supposed to take care of the wiggly rodent until Athena was properly settled in California.
“She has a ferret here?” he demanded, utter disbelief weaving its way through every word.
Isidore nodded. “Joey. I guess that’s what they’ve been shooting at. He’s really quite sweet. He wouldn’t—”
“Hey!” shouted a loud voice.
They both turned to find that one of the guards was now pointing at them. Now nearly every eye in the room was on them rather than searching for the loose ferret. This was probably not what Kairo had wanted to happen.
“What are you doing here?” the guard demanded.
“The guard upstairs sent us to help capture the ferret,” Isidore quickly replied and then repeated it softly in Kairo’s ear in English.
Kairo nodded and smiled broadly while moving the gun behind his body so that it was pressed between them.
“Izzie! They are trying to kill Joey!” Athena cried. She released the man she’d been fighting with and stormed into the center of the room. She looked as if she were ready to decimate all of the guards and leave their corpses for the old gods to sort out.
Isidore hurried around to Athena, meeting her in the center of the room. If he could just get to her, bring her within his safe grasp, maybe Kairo could work some crazy mercenary magic. He didn’t know. It was a long shot, but he felt better with Athena at his side rather than her fighting one of Vanko’s goons.
As soon as he touched her, he wrapped her in a tight hug, resting his chin on the top of her head. He breathed a brief sigh of relief and a hand squeezed his shoulder as Kairo murmured, “Run for the door.”
Gunfire exploded behind him and his heart stopped. He shoved Athena into a crouch while at the same time tucking her close to his larger frame. The scent of gunpowder filled the air mixing with cries of pain and surprise. He glanced over his shoulder to see Kairo efficiently gunning down one man after another as they went for their own weapons.
“Run!” Izzie shouted at his sister, urging her forward.
“But—”
“Go!” He wouldn’t allow her to argue. It sucked to leave her beloved pet behind, but Kairo was risking his life to get them free right that second. He was not willing to waste any time that might put Kairo in more danger.
A hand grabbed the back of Isidore’s shirt and tugged hard enough for buttons to pop and seams to tear. In his panic, Isidore pushed Athena toward the front doors while he twisted to the guard trying to stop him. The man’s face was splattered with blood with more pouring from a bullet hole in his chest. An ugly gurgle rose from his throat while dark-red blood spilled over his fat bottom lip.
With another hard tug, Isidore pulled free and the man collapsed in a heap on the shining wood floor. He was about to leave when he recalled Kairo’s order to search for car keys. They needed a car if they were going to escape. Kneeling, Isidore shoved trembling fingers into the left front pocket of the man’s jeans but came up empty. However, the right one had a small ring with a car key fob and a couple of other keys. Yes! For good measure, he pulled out the man’s wallet from his pocket.
“Isidore!” Kairo shouted.
His head snapped up to see Kairo fighting three men in wild hand-to-hand combat. Were they out of bullets?
“Get the fuck out of here!” Kairo screamed.
“I’m going!” Isidore shouted. Part of him wanted to remain behind and help, but he was of zero use in a fistfight. He’d taken some self-defense classes and even some martial arts training when he was younger, but he’d never been in a real fight. No, he was more help to Kairo by getting out of the way.