Another nod, and this time a smile. “Thanks again, Hud.”
As hard as it was to do, I slid off the bed and got dressed. After smiling at her one more time I stepped out of the room.
“Hud!”
I stopped, turning to see Ajax coming down the hall.
“Were you speaking with the princess?”
Wasn’t all that muchspeakinghappening, really but I obviously kept that comment to myself.
“I was. Just a little.”
He stepped up to me and looked me up and down.
Shit. The look on his face said everything.
“It’s not important,” I said. “What’s up?”
He glared at me for a moment more, as if trying to decide if he wanted to make the issue an issue.
“Come into the room,” he said. “We’re going to talk about our next move.”
With that, he turned and walked away, leaving me no doubt in my mind that he knew exactly what had just happened between Vic and me.
Whatever the consequences of that would be, I could only guess.
24
KID
Igroaned, the pain in my shoulder burning like mad.
“Easy, kid!” Pyke was seated next to the bed. He reached over and put his hands on my back, helping me up. “You’re moving like a guy who didn’t just get shot.”
“It’s fine.” I looked at the bandages. There were some red marks here and there from blood, but nothing more than that. It was a good sign—the stitches were holding and that meant the wound was starting to heal.
“Maybe, but you’re still going to need to take it easy for another week or so.”
The world came back into focus, and when it did, I was immediately assaulted by the sounds of men arguing—not unusual when you had the co-workers I did.
“Not a chance we go back to America,” Hud said. “I can’t believe you’re even considering it.”
Ajax, standing on the other side of the room with his arms crossed over his chest, glared hard at Hud.
“We’re doing more than considering it—we’re planning on it.”
Hud scoffed. “You’re kidding me. Youseriouslythink that what, we’re going to head to bleeding De Gaulle Airport and hitch a ride to Boston with thePrincess of freaking Candarawith us? How much do you want to bet that this Jurgen prick has already spent some of his billions placing intel lines in the airport so the second Vic’s name pops up on a flight list he can have a team waiting for her on the other side?”
Even through the pain and grogginess, I knew that Hud had made a good point.
There was something else, too, something about the way Hud and Ajax were speaking to one another. Maybe I was just imagining things, but it almost seemed like there was something else under the surface that they were arguing about, some other source of tension.
I put that out of my head as best I could, focusing on the discussion at hand.
“You don’t think I’ve already thought of that?” Ajax asked. “Come on, those guys we wiped out were the amateurs, not us.”
“Then what’s the plan, big guy?”