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.
Vanko waved a dismissive hand at the guard who’d walked Kairo to the office. Kairo didn’t look at the man, but Vanko was forced to snarl something at him and wave him off a second time before the double glass doors to the office closed loudly, leaving them alone.
Awww, someone didn’t trust him alone with his boss.
At least there were smarts somewhere to be had in this group. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much he could do at the moment other than maybe save his own skin. But there was no way in hell he was leaving Athena and Isidore behind. It was better to wait for the right opportunity to strike.
“You know, I did a little research and I can’t find anything on a hacker by the name of Kairo Jones,” Vanko opened.
A snort jumped from Kairo only for it to dissolve into a snicker. Leaning his head against his fist while balancing his elbow on the arm of the chair, he grinned at the older man. “I wouldn’t be very good at my job if I was so easy to locate, now would I?”
“But how would someone like Panopoulos know about you? He certainly doesn’t seem the type to be acquainted with skilled hackers.”
“No, but he’s clearly the type to have very stupid friends. One man, whose level of stupidity I happened to underestimate, hired me to clean up a mess that he’d made. Despite his claims to want to protect his privacy, he went on to blab to his bestie, Panopoulos,” Kairo explained, wrinkling his nose in disgust. “But at least I gotpaidfor that job,” he tacked on snidely.
Vanko lifted his hands, holding them out to his sides. “Who says you’re not getting paid for this job?”
“Oh please, don’t even waste my time by telling me that letting me live is payment enough. Fucking bullshit and I don’t have time for it.” Kairo dropped his head back against the chair and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to exude boredom and irritation while his heart was racing. “I’m talking money. My services require cold hard cash, gold, or gems.”
“That can be arranged.”
That was…surprising.
Kairo lifted his head and opened his eyes to stare speculatively at Vanko. He hadn’t expected the man to agree so easily. Of course, it was very likely that he was lying. Once he got what he wanted from Isidore and Kairo, he’d probably kill them both and then kill Athena if he didn’t choose to sell her off.
“What’s your price?” Vanko inquired.
“You’ve already racked up my consultation fee of a quarter of a million euros. The rest of my fee is determined by the complexity and risk associated with the job.”
“I’m handing you the chairman of the company,” Vanko nearly growled.
“And yet he knows next to nothing,” Kairo shot out with equal annoyance. “If you want to saddle me with a dead weight on this job, you’ve done a wonderful job.” Kairo paused and heaved what he thought sounded like a reluctant sigh. “However, I can use him to open a door through their hiring department. It’s a way in that is easier than using brute force, so I can cut you a deal. Five mil with half due when I start the hack.”
“Seven, all paid when the hack is successful and I have the token algorithm.”
Kairo sneered at the man behind the desk. “How can I say no?”
Vanko’s smile was oily and smug. “That’s why I tacked on the bonus, for the trouble we’ve caused you. I’m sure you usually don’t like to be this close to a situation, to get your hands dirty.”
“It’s kind of why I chose this line of work. No dealing face-to-face with the clients.”
“And yet both the Panopoulos brats listen to you.”
“Probably because they honestly think that they’re going to get out of this alive after I’m done with hack.” Kairo forced a laugh. “The faster I complete the job, the sooner they are free.”
Vanko leaned forward, resting both of his forearms on the desk that had likely been used by generations of Panopoulos men, who were rolling over in their graves at this very second. Kairo would be lucky if a bunch of Greek ghosts didn’t haunt him for the rest of his days.
“As part of this job, I want you to not only get me the information I want, but also keep the brats in line. Make sure they don’t cause my men any more trouble.”
Inwardly, Kairo celebrated. This was exactly what he wanted. Vanko needed to see him as his man on the inside. That way, he’d be kept with Isidore, which saved him at least one step in their eventual escape. If the three of them were separated, it would make passing messages and timing their departure that much harder.
But he had to play it cool.
“How the fuck am I supposed to do that? This is the first time I’ve met Panopoulos. Do I look like the type of guy he went to private school with? Or his frat buddy from his university days? No. We’re from completely different circles. Why should he trust me?”