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“Not really, but a little, yes,” Ziggy said. “And they tried to unleash a lethal strain of smallpox into our country.”
He stopped thinking about Harrison Ford.
“We stopped them, but Arkady Petrov is up to something. Or so we think. About a month ago, a large amount of radioactive waste was stolen from a nuclear storage facility in Switzerland and then deployed in a training event over Slovenia. Thankfully, your brother Jonas”—she pointed at Iris—“figured it out, and a SEAL team stopped them.”
“Ned was on that team.”
Ziggy nodded. “Yep, I met him too.” She stood up, stalking the room.
Nice room, with a plush velvet sectional, a huge flat-screen, and two big bedrooms located upstairs for an even more stellar view. It came with a kitchen, a dining area for ten, and a marble bathroom, along with views of Athens and even the Saronic Gulf.
Ziggy stood at the window.
Iris got up. “I’ll text Martin. Tell him to meet me.”
Ziggy turned, her mouth open. “I like it.”
And this was where Hud had first stood up with a resoundingNope. Never. Not gonna happen.
He might have gotten a little worked up, but that’s when dinner showed up, and Ziggy had shut up about it and he’d nearly dropped off to sleep in his mashed potatoes.
So he’d gone to bed.
And he thought they had too.
Apparently not, because this morning, when he came downstairs showered and dressed and ready to not do whatever crazy, dangerous thing Ziggy had cooked up, he found the ladies also dressed and ready to enact Ziggy and Iris’s Crazy Plan That Would Get Iris Killed.
So now he looked at them again, at their nonplussed expressions, and said, “Do I need to repeat myself? Over. My. Dead. Body.”
“Just calm down, Hud,” Iris said. “I’m not actually going to meet him. Ziggy’s team can ping his phone, and they’ll track him. But they need him to text me back first.”
“And this is the guy who you think put a hit out on her?” He turned to Ziggy.
“We’re not sure. There’s an organization called the Orphans who broker hits—”
“Seriously. An organization? Why don’t they call themselves, Assassins R Us?”
“It’s a little on the nose, don’t you think?” Iris said. “Maybe 1-800 Kill Me?”
He just stared at her. Shook his head.
“I’m kidding, Hudson. Take a breath.”
He’d breathe when they were safely on Santorini. “So, these Orphans, they know who is trying to kill her?”
“I’m in touch with the leader, a woman named Raisa Yukachova who has helped us out in the past,” Ziggy said. “She’s looking into the source, but’s it’s difficult to nail down. Often the hit has to be completed and the payment made before they can track it down.”
“Perfect. Just…yep. I’m getting the boat.” Hudson got up.
“Hudson—”
“No!” He rounded on Ziggy. “I rue the day I met you at that bar. I even bought you a drink! What was I thinking? I’m an idiot—”
“It’s possible the information that you helped deliver will save Shae’s life.”
He looked to Iris, back to Ziggy. Then, “But I don’t want it to cost Iris hers.”
And it was probably more emotional and weirdly possessive than he meant, but…well, shehadsat at the hospital with him for a day. Or two.
