“And here I thought you hired me for a job. That this was all my job to take care of and protect you and your sister,” Kairo countered. “Are you saying I’m not getting paid anymore?”
That worked. Isidore lurched upright in his seat as if someone had shoved a steel pole up his ass. “What? No! Of course not! I didn’t mean—”
Kairo placed his hand on Isidore’s shoulder and pushed him back down. “Stay low. You and Athena. We don’t know what Vanko is driving, and we don’t want to risk him seeing either of you if we pass him on the road.”
“What’s our next step?” Athena inquired.
Kairo nearly released a sigh of relief as she managed to get them moved on to more important topics. They might be out of the house and away from their captors, but that didn’t mean it was going to stay that way.
“We need a safe place to hide for a while and a way to contact my friends so they can give us a hand,” Kairo listed. He tightened his hands on the steering wheel, causing a couple of his knuckles to crack. The noise was uncomfortably loud in the quiet car. “I managed to grab only forty euros off the first guard that I knocked out. That won’t get us far.”
“When we get into town, we can ask someone to let us borrow their phone. I can call the head of my security team. He’ll bring the entire team to us for protection as well as provide all the money we need until we can get home.” Isidore made the solution sound so very simple, but Kairo was cringing on the inside. He really hated to drop this bad news on the man’s head.
“We can’t contact anyone who knows you. At least, not yet,” Kairo began. “That goes for both of you.”
“What?” the Panopoulos siblings cried in unison.
“I’m afraid there might be a traitor in your inner circle.” He glanced over at Isidore to see the man had paled, his eyes wide as he stared straight ahead. “Isidore, you told me this was your third kidnapping. Athena?”
“First,” she answered quickly.
That was a little reassuring at least.
“Three is a lot, Isidore. From what you’ve described to me, you’ve both grown up surrounded by security and bodyguards. Maybe the first one was bad luck. Maybe even the first two. But three?” Kairo shook his head. “That should be impossible. I don’t think anyone’s luck is that bad.”
“Isidore’s security team is the only group to know his entire schedule as well as mine,” Athena offered.
“But most of them have been with me—me and Athena for years. How could…” Isidore’s strong voice faded at the end, and he directed his gaze out the passenger window.
Kairo’s heart ached for the man. No one wanted to hear that they were betrayed by the very people they depended on for safety. How could he sleep at night now? Isidore worried almost constantly about his sister. This was not helping.
Reaching across the center console, Kairo grabbed Isidore’s forearm and squeezed. “Look, I could be completely wrong and it’s bad luck. They could have been watching you for a while without you knowing, giving them time to figure out a hole in your security. The thing is, if you do have a rat and we call them, Vanko will know within minutes. That bastard could wait until I’ve dropped you off and left Greece completely before he snatches you and Athena again. And the next time, he will make sure there are no opportunities for you to escape.”
“No, you’re right,” Isidore agreed. He turned his head to flash Kairo a weak smile that did nothing to alleviate the sadness filling his gray eyes. “It’s better to be cautious. I guess it’s a good thing I grabbed a wallet from one of the goons as we hurried out the door.”
“What?” Kairo gasped. He’d just been proud of the fact that Isidore had snagged a set of keys and they had a car to escape in.
“I grabbed two.” Athena shifted in her seat and suddenly held up two black leather wallets for him to see in the rearview mirror.
Holy shit. The Panopoulos siblings were part-time pickpockets. He honestly didn’t know whether to be excited or horrified.
Some of this must have shown on Kairo’s face because Athena added, “They took my purse! I thought it was only fair that I took their wallets. I wasn’t expecting to escape. I thought I would just destroy their cards and rip up their cash. Flush it all down the toilet.”
“Give the wallets to Isidore. We need cash. We can’t use any cards as they are easily traced.”
Athena handed the wallets she’d procured up to her brother. Isidore grabbed what cash could be found and set the wallets aside. Kairo would go through them later when he had access to his computer. He was definitely digging into the backgrounds of these bastards. If they were still alive, he was going to make sure they regretted ever hearing the name Panopoulos.
After a couple of minutes of relative silence broken only by the purr of the air conditioning and the soft chittering from Joey, Isidore announced, “Counting the forty you said you grabbed, we’ve got five hundred euros.”
“Not great,” Athena murmured.
“But better than I was expecting,” Kairo said with a sigh of relief. “It’s enough for food, a cheap cell phone, minutes, and a cheap place to stay for the night. After that, I can get my friends to wire us more if they can’t reach us soon.”
“It might be a good idea to get a first-aid kit and you a change of clothes.” Isidore reached out, pinched a bit of his T-shirt, and gave it a tug. Kairo glanced down and was reminded that he was covered in blood. It was not a good idea for him to be out in public.
“True,” Kairo agreed, flashing him a small smile as Isidore released his shirt. “Let’s get farther away from Meteora and closer to Athens. A smallish town where it is unlikely we will run into any of Vanko’s people or anyone who might recognize you.”
“Kairo, thank you,” Isidore whispered.