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)
Crossing another street, Vanko turned a corner. Kairo snarled and moved ahead of Ed. As he turned the corner he found Vanko standing in the middle of the street with a gun pulled, waiting for him. He just barely managed to dive backward for cover as the weapon exploded. Kairo slammed into Ed before he could turn the corner and then stumbled a few steps.
“That fucking asshole!” Ed snarled.
It had been rather rude to start shooting on a semi-crowded street in the middle of the damn day, but not totally unexpected.
Kairo righted himself and cautiously peeked around the corner to find that Vanko had resumed his run and was moving west, in the direction he’d originally come. The hotels and restaurants grew fewer, and the buildings appeared to be more residences for locals. Vanko left the street and cut through a yard of yellow grass, dirt, and thin bushes to the next street and they followed.
A stitch was forming in his side and sweat covered him. His T-shirt clung to his body like a second skin. He didn’t mind running, but these hills were a bitch. How the hell was Vanko keeping this up? The man had looked like he was in good shape, but Kairo hadn’t guessed that he participated in fucking Iron Man competitions in his off time.
“I got…some danger putty…in my sling bag,” Ed huffed from behind him. “I’m gonna blow…his fucking legs…off.”
“No danger putty!” Kairo shouted. The town was resting on the slope of Mount Parnassus, and these buildings looked freaking old. There was no telling what would happen if Ed used C-4 in this town. He wasn’t going to risk everything sliding down the mountain just to stop Vanko.
“Just a little bit,” Ed whined.
“No. Nearly all of Greece is ancient. I don’t want you destroying some random, undiscovered ruin.”
“God, this is the Louvre all over again,” Alexei moaned in his ear.
“You’re never going to let me live that down,” Soren complained. “It was just going to be a tiny fire. Besides, I didn’t actually do it.”
“No, but you thought about it and that’s terrifying enough,” Alexei snapped.
“K, Ed, do you need backup?” West demanded sharply. “I’m about five minutes from Delphi.”
“No, we got him,” Ed growled.
“Stand by. He’s moving northwest through the town, but I think he’s going to run out of street soon with nothing but mountain and sparse woods. His car…his car can’t be here,” Kairo said as he searched the map he’d memorized of the town before leaving the rental house.
Vanko was slowing down as he passed through another yard and hit the most northern street of Delphi. Behind that row of houses was just the mountain slope with bushes, high grasses, rocks, and trees.
Gravel crunched and scraped under the soles of his trainers while sweat stung the corners of his eyes. His lungs burned, but his mind just replayed the image of this fucker hitting Isidore the first day they met. That rage fueled his run, pushing the pain aside. Vanko couldn’t be allowed to escape. He was the key to unlocking the secrets of who wanted to hurt Isidore and Athena.
To his shock, Vanko left the relative protection of the town behind and started up the slope of the mountain, heading straight for the thickest grouping of trees. The cover would give him temporary advantage. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. They needed to catch up.
But they were already too far behind. Vanko made the cover of the trees first. Ed and Kairo both slowed in unison without needing to say a word while they drew guns from hidden holsters.
Just as they were about to reach the trees, Vanko ducked out, his gun held in front of him. Kairo lifted his own, aiming for the man’s shoulder. If he could just disarm him, slow the bastard a little bit, they could corner him for questions.
Ed grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him to the left just as he was squeezing the trigger. Vanko fired at the same time and Kairo swore he felt the bullet cut through the air to the right of his cheek. If Ed hadn’t moved him, he would have literally eaten that bullet.
But as close as that was, Kairo’s shot proved to be too good. As he was hitting the ground, he watched his bullet slam into Vanko’s forehead, throwing him backward and killing him instantly. Leaves and dirt lifted into the air around Vanko as his body hit the ground hard and didn’t move.
For a second, he and Ed froze there, kneeling in the dirt with their eyes locked on the newly made corpse. Their breaths were a ragged staccato after their long, uphill run.
Dead.
He’d wanted him dead but after he got his answers.
Dead now meant no answers.
“Fuck!” Kairo shouted at the top of his lungs.
“We got to move,” Ed snarled, his big hand pulling at Kairo’s left arm as he stumbled to his feet.