Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 70320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
“And threatened his alliances. Oui, yes, I understand.” Reina flicks her cigarette butt away. “We have no ships. No captains. No help. And now Rastus Filo wants to fuck us, and your father wants to kill you. Tell me why I shouldn’t get up and walk away? I have a nice life back in Marseille and I’d like to continue living it. I didn’t come here to end up buried in some Greek cemetery. Such ugly places.”
“This deal isn’t done. Balaska still wants it.”
“Balaska is one crime lord. I am thinking maybe more crime lords will come out against it when they hear Filo is taking the lead.”
Peter grinds his jaw, but I speak over him. “No, they won’t, not if we offer them terms.”
Both of them look at me. I feel a sudden flush in my cheeks as Reina tilts her head, studying me with a curious smile. “The mouse suddenly speaks. Have you grown bold now, little mouse?”
“Don’t call me that. I’m only saying, the crime lords have no loyalty to each other. They’ll do whatever will bring them power. If we can get a couple more cut into this deal, it can still get done.”
“And will Balaska go for that?” Reina looks to Peter.
He glares at the canal water, considering. “I don’t think he will. But Katarin might and that’s even better.”
“Bon, alors, perhaps we can do this.”
“We still don’t have a way to move the product into Greece,” I point out. “Even if we can set up mutually beneficial terms and get some of the other crime lords interested, our logistical issue stands.”
“Actually, I have a fix there too.” Reina takes a business card from her cigarette case and hands it to me. I frown at the words. It’s a name and a number, but it’s written in Greek. But the fact that she gave the card to me, and not to Peter, says something, like she’s starting to see me as an actual partner in this. “There’s a pilot my organization told me about. If we can’t bring it over by sea, perhaps we can bring it over by air.”
“That could work,” Peter says slowly, sounding surprised. “And this guy’s legit?”
“Legit, yes, very legit. But also expensive, which is why he is a last resort.” She shrugs, lights another cigarette, takes a drag. “Contact him. Set it up. We will meet again in two days.” She stands and looks around and something crosses her face. It’s a shadow, an ugly scowl. She turns to Peter, casually holding her elbow in her hand, the cigarette held up by her mouth. “Did you know that you were followed? You lazy fucking—” She spouts out a lot of French curses which I don’t understand, but I take it she’s unhappy.
Peter stiffens. He looks only at Reina, but I can tell he wants to stare around them. It takes all my willpower not to crane my neck all over like an idiot searching for a kid playing hide-and-seek.
“I made sure,” he says quietly. “I was careful.”
“Not careful enough.” She releases another quick stream of curses in French. Then says, “Okay, this is happening. You are compromised. Filo, your father, someone’s watching. Which means you cannot go back to your place, and if we aren’t good, we can’t go back to mine.”
“We can ditch the tail, but—”
“You will come with me. Adrienne, stand up, please. We will ditch your tails together, okay?”
Peter stares at her for a moment. “That’s a risk for you. Are you sure?”
“I don’t trust you to do it yourself and I still need your help. Besides, my apartment is clean and nobody knows about it. We ditch these men and you two can stay with me for a night. But one night, no more. Now, come on, let’s go before I realize how stupid this is.”
She marches off, around the bench, and down along the canal.
Peter gives me a completely bemused look. I get up and hurry after her with Peter on my heels. “Did you know she was so bossy?” he asks quietly.
“I can’t say I’m surprised. We’re sisters, remember?”
He snorts once and stops talking when Reina gives him a look.
An enormous white window-studded building with a large flat roof like a piece of paper and a jutting wing of offices and rooms looms over the park. It’s some kind of community center—I can’t tell exactly because all the signs are in Greek. Reina walks toward it at steady clip. We pass people out jogging, riding bikes, walking along together, couples laughing and smiling. Reina angles toward the big building and I realize it’s a library as we hurry inside.
The interior is cavernous. She practically runs down a side hall. Our footsteps echo off the marble floors. We have to sprint to keep up until she turns, takes a stairway, and moves down a series of corridors seemingly at random. “I had a contingency plan in place,” she says as we take another stairwell up. “In case something like this happened.”