“We’ll text this number with the address of the safe house as soon as it’s arranged and provide an ETA when we have it,” Charlie finished.
“See you in Delphi.”
The call ended and Kairo smiled at the Panopoulos siblings, who were watching him. “Now I get to introduce you to the rest of the team.”
8
ISIDORE PANOPOULOS
They were goingto hate him.
He’d arranged for Kairo to be kidnapped, put his life in danger, and generally subjected him to chaos and mayhem.
He didn’t want Kairo’s friends to hate him, and it wasn’t because he feared for his life. No, if they were friends of Kairo, they wouldn’t hurt him.
But he didn’t want them to hate him because Kairo cared for and respected these people. They were important to him. And if they hated Isidore, Kairo might hate him too.
The drive from Meteora to Delphi was relatively uneventful. Athena had stretched out and napped in the back seat with Joey curled up on her chest while they crossed the Thessalian plain. She didn’t miss anything. The land was painfully flat with vast stretches of green with only the occasional tree to break up the monotony.
Near Thermopylae they changed roads and started into the Pindus mountain range. He barely managed to refrain from talking about all he knew about the Battle of Thermopylae where the Spartan Leonidas led the Spartans and allies against Xerxes and the Persians.
Instead, they told each other random stories about their lives and discussed various places they’d seen in their travels. It was interesting that very few of their travels overlapped. Sure, they’d both been to the major cities of New York, London, and Paris, but Kairo had seen more of South America than Isidore, while he’d visited more of the Middle East and parts of Asia than Kairo.
For a couple of hours, they were in their own little world and Isidore had managed to forget that they were on the run from kidnappers. This felt like a friends’ vacation, sightseeing and enjoying their time together.
Except Kairo’s phone finally rang and he chatted easily with whoever was on the line, a broad smile gracing his handsome face. Was it wrong to be jealous of the person who put that smile on his face? He definitely shouldn’t be wishing for the person’s tongue to fall out of their mouth.
After the call, Athena woke up and Kairo informed them that his friends had managed to rent a big house outside Delphi near the coastal town of Itea. Isidore was only vaguely familiar with it. He’d visited years ago when he was a child, but even then, he was pretty sure they’d stayed in Delphi.
“We’re about thirty minutes ahead of them. We can stop somewhere and relax while we wait. Maybe somewhere we can see the water,” Kairo suggested. “It’ll give us a chance to stretch our legs.”
“We could have another snack,” Athena chimed in.
Kairo chuckled. “Don’t fill up too much. If I know Ed, he’s going to make it a priority to find food the moment they reach town. He’s the one who just called, and he’s already been searching through the lists of restaurants. Apparently Itea has a good selection.”
It didn’t take long for Kairo to find a spot to park that gave them a nice view of the Gulf of Corinth. The nearby beach wasn’t overly tempting, though, as it was overloaded with sunbathers and children splashing in the water. But the scenery was nice with Mount Parnassus towering in the background as if guarding the tiny town.
Athena even dipped away to one of the nearby shops and picked up a T-shirt for Kairo to change into so that he could walk about the town without drawing attention. Some of the swelling had gone down in his face, but he was still battered and bruised.
“Do you think your friends are going to hate me?” Isidore finally blurted out as they were strolling along the wide path that ran parallel to the water.
Kairo jerked to a sharp halt and stared at Isidore with his mouth hanging open. “What are you talking about? Why in the world would they hate you?”
Isidore winced and pointed a finger at Kairo’s face. “If it wasn’t for me, that wouldn’t have happened.”
Kairo groaned and wrapped his fingers around Isidore’s extended finger, holding him frozen. “They are not going to blame you. If they say anything, it’s either going to be to blame the people who actually did the hitting or blame me for not moving fast enough.”
Isidore gasped and grabbed the hand that was still holding his. “They wouldn’t! You were outnumbered! It wasn’t a fair fight. Plus, there was a ferret!”
Kairo’s shoulders shook with silent laughter. “Do me a favor. If you do decide to defend me from my friends, please don’t bring up the ferret. I’ll never hear the end of it.”
Some of the tension eased from Isidore’s chest, and he felt as if he could draw in a deep breath. He gazed into Kairo’s warm, amber eyes, getting lost in the joy he found there. The world disappeared when Kairo smiled at him, and old pains that haunted him faded against Kairo’s shining light.
The smile on Kairo’s lips turned into a sort of smirk, and he looked at their hands. It was only then that Isidore realized that he was standing there, holding Kairo’s hand, forcing him to continue to grip his finger. With a strangled cough, Isidore released his hand and took a quick step backward.
Was the sun extra hot today?That had to be it, because his face was on fire.
He didn’t know whether to be disappointed or grateful that Kairo’s friend texted a minute later to inform them that they were at the house waiting for them. He ignored the pointed look from Athena and led the way to the car.