Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 89763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Me: Which is which?
Hermes: You, shipyard. Them, other. Code is 69420.
Fuck, but I don’t trust her. Unfortunately, I don’t have any other choice. I catch the cab driver’s eye. “Change of plans. Keep the change, but I need you to drop me here and take them to this address.” I rattle off the one in the theater district. As much as I want to go with them, if I only have an hour, I need to get to the other location—and fast.
Ariadne grabs my arm. “What are you doing? You’ve been shot.”
“We might not get another chance like this. If I’m with Hermes when she brings the barrier down, then I know when it’s coming down. If we don’t escape in the direct aftermath, we might not be able to do it at all.”
“Then I’m coming with you.”
Fuck no. My woman isn’t trained the same way I am, and if whatever Hermes has planned is dangerous at all, it means Ariadne will be in danger. She’s not ruthless like I am. She’s not a fucking killer like I am, either. If she came with me, she’d be a walking target, and that I can’t allow.
I open my mouth to shut this shit down but pause. She’s staring at me with shining dark eyes and worry written across her pretty features. She’s not demanding to accompany me because of some arrogant reason—she’s afraid for me.
I take a ragged breath and fight the pain from my voice. “No, sweetheart. We’re going to do this quick and dirty, and if you come, you could get hurt.”
“Or you could distract him so he gets hurt,” Icarus pipes in.
I glare at him. He’s trying to help, but fuck if I want her to worry any more than she’s going to. “I am not going to be hurt.”
“You’ve been shot.”
I swallow down my frustration and pain. “I’ll get patched up before doing anything else—if you promise to go directly to this address and stay there.”
Ariadne searches my face. “Come back to me.”
“I will. I promise.”
“Okay.” I don’t like the way her shoulders slump in defeat, but she nods and that has to be enough. “I’ll go to the house. I’ll stay there. I promise, too.”
“Thank you.” I hook the back of her neck and drag her into a quick kiss. “I’m going to text you the code. Do your best to get in without being seen. I’ll call you—not text—as soon as I have a timeline.”
“Stay safe. We haven’t come this far for you to sacrifice yourself nobly.”
I force myself to smile because I know it will reassure her. “Haven’t you figured it out by now, sweetheart? I don’t have a noble bone in my body.” I point at the curb. “Drop me here. You’ve been paid, so get them where they need to go.” I let my tone deliver the threat I don’t speak explicitly.
The driver holds up his hands. “I’ve been paid. You got nothing to worry about from me, mister.” He pulls to the curb too fast, the movement throwing me back against the seat. My wound screams in agony, but I just grit my teeth and push through it. There will be time to bandage me up later. Hopefully.
I step out onto the sidewalk and watch as the cab pulls back into traffic. It takes no time at all to send the code to Ariadne. She responds with a string of emojis, which don’t mean a damn thing except that she’s trying to reassure me in her own way. I hate letting her out of my sight, but there’s no other way.
It takes longer than I’d like to flag down another cab, and as a result, it’s almost exactly an hour later when I walk through the door of the address Hermes gave me.
At first, I think I’m in the wrong place. This little building is dingy in a way that suggests no one has walked through it in a decade or two. Dust is coated thick on the floor, and the ceiling is more cobwebs than not.
Did she set me up?
“I bet you’re wondering if I set you up.” Hermes’s laughter fills the space. “Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly.”
I almost turn around and walk out right then and there. Working with Hermes wouldn’t be worth the headache if not for the proven fact that she can take care of business. But I don’t have a choice. One by one, my avenues have been closed to me. Minos is hunting us. It’s only a matter of time before the Olympians are, too.
There’s nothing to do but walk deeper into the building. I get the sense that it was an office space at one point, but it’s hard to tell. “I thought you said time is of the essence. Why are you playing games?”