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CHAPTERTHREE
HADES
“Are you sure that the trucks are still in the warehouse?” I ask in careful Arabic. Glancing out the window of my hotel room, I slide a finger between the skin of my neck and my silky black button up shirt.
My heart pounds. It’s been twenty four hours since Lazlo dropped a bomb on me, telling me he will trade Penny’s location as part of this arms deal.
Since then, I’ve been suffocating, needing to jump into action the second I get the news.
On the other end of the phone, Mohamad pauses. His moment of hesitation stretches into half a minute. “I am at the location. Let me just check again.”
Mohamad sounds worried, though I’m fairly sure that he’s more worried about my reaction than whether or not the goods are there. It’s his job to protect my cargo and if anything happened to the weapons in the trucks, his ass is on the line.
I crack my knuckles. Lazlo needed time to scrape the paltry half a million euros together. Checking my watch, I reassure myself.
Only half an hour until I lay eyes on Lazlo. Until I can finally have actionable intel that I’ll pounce on immediately.
“Text me confirmation,” I say. “If everything goes according to plan, your work will be finished this afternoon.”
“Yes, boss.”
He hangs up and I purse my lips, putting the phone in my pocket.
Eros pokes his head through my open bedroom door. “Do you have confirmation that the trucks are still at the warehouse.”
“Mohamad is executing the final checks.”
“Good. The trucks have been under surveillance this whole time. But it can’t hurt for Mohamad to inspect them a final time.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Scooping up my suit jacket, I put it on as I head toward the door. Eros steps back to let me pass by.
“Let me get my jacket and then we can go.”
I stop in my tracks, looking around. “Where is Ares?”
“He said something about a personal emergency and that he would be back in a few days.”
Giving Eros a skeptical glance, I check that my gun is still holstered under my jacket.
“Do you believe him?”
Eros snorts. “That he had a personal matter come up?” He shrugs. “Sure. But I also think he was careful to make his excuse as broad as possible.”
“Hmm.” I check my watch. It is impossible to worry about such mundane details when Penny’s location will be revealed to me in short order. “I’ve got the meetup location. It’s in a busy area, close to the French embassy.”
“Here.” He tosses me a black baseball cap and pulls on a similar dark grey one. He jerks his head to the door. “Shall we?”
We head out, my heart rate speeding up the second we exit the elevator doors in the grand marble hotel lobby. I don my hat and add sunglasses, pulling the brim down for an extra bit of security.
The last thing I want is for someone to recognize me and make my life harder by holding me up somehow. Not when the tantalizing answer to a months-long question is so damned close to being within my grasp.
I step out into the chaos of a busy Egyptian street. Horns blare from older model cars, their drivers impatient yet strangely content with their lack of movement. People on foot weave between the cars, heading in all directions. And everywhere I look, there are billowing clouds of dust, forced down by the heavier smog that lies like a thick carpet over the city.
Following Eros closely, I hurry down the street. Getting to the plaza itself is no problem. In a couple of minutes, we turn into a crowded street market, packed with vendors at their booths, haggling with patrons of all ages.
Eros pulls me to a stop, squinting around. “Now we just have to find the fucker.”
I nod, my muscles tense, my posture ready for action. My eyes scan the crowd, skipping over old women wearing niqabs and a group of rattily dressed kids playing football in the street.
