“Hey!”
He kept right on singing.
I couldn’t tell if he was trying to ignore her, or if he was so into the music that her voice didn’t even register. Going by the look on her face, Victoria was clearly not the kind of woman who was used to being ignored. She grabbed a nearby notepad, the top decorated with what looked to be the royal seal of Candara, ripped off a page, then balled it up and whipped it straight at Ajax’s head.
It bounced off, Hud and I getting a good laugh at the sight.
“What the fuck?”
He turned around, the chorus of the song still blasting.
“Who threw that?”
“Me!” Victoria said. “Now, can you turn that down?”
“What?”
“Turn that down!”
“Huh?”
She groaned. “Turn that—”
Before she could finish, Ajax reached to the stereo and turned the volume down.
The silence was immediate and intense, the blasting rock music replaced by the low rumble of the engine and the tires on the road.
“Now, what was it you were saying?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Please keep that horrible musicdown.” She lifted up her headphones. “These are noise canceling. If I can still hear your terrible rock and roll through them, it’s too loud.”
Ajax laughed. “Alright, alright, message received. Just a little tradition of mine to play some Dropkick before a mission. Gets my head in the right place. It’s a Boston thing, you know?”
“I don’t know, nor do I care. But whatever it is, it’s most certainly not gettingmyhead in the right place.”
“Fine, fine,” Ajax said. “I can play it when we get to the house. Say, how long we got left in the drive, anyway?”
Pyke cleared his throat. “Eleven hours and fifty minutes. That’s assuming that we make a minimum of stops. With any luck, we’ll be arriving at the chalet around three-thirty-five in the morning, and that’s including the time change.”
I had to laugh. Pyke was as precise as ever.
I glanced back to see an expression of mild confusion form on Victoria’s face.
“Wait, we’re getting intonight?”
“Tomorrow morning, to be exact,” Pyke said. “But yeah, we’re doing this in a straight shot.”
“Doing it this way is in the best interest of your safety,” Hud said, putting down his Kindle. “The quicker we get there, the sooner you’re in a secure spot.”
Victoria was still aghast. “That’s insane. I’m not going to spend the next twelve hours in this car. We need to stop somewhere for the night!”
“Not necessary,” Pyke replied. “Between the four of us, that’s a maximum of four hours apiece at the wheel—that’s a good amount of time for a driver before he becomes impaired. Not to mention the hassle of stopping at a hotel and having to secure it. Trust me, it’s better this way.”
“Just think about it, lass,” Hud began. “We get this drive out of the way and before you know it, we’ll be all nice and tucked into our beds. Hell, maybe we can even split a little whiskey in front of the fireplace.” He winked at her, letting her know he was mostly messing around with his picturesque description.
“I don’t like this one bit,” she said. “I refuse to believe that you’re going to have me jammed into the back of this car for that long.”
“We’ll stop for bathroom breaks if that’s what you’re worried about,” Hud said. “You’ll get a chance to stretch your legs. Though, by the looks of things, you’ve already got more than enough space back there to get good and comfy.”