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He looked at Iris. “Listen. I’m sorry I got you into this. I’m not James Bond. I’m not even Tom Cruise.”
She frowned.
“I’m just a lousy wide receiver with a leaky brain who needs to get off this roller-coaster ride. And I think you should come with me.”
Ziggy looked away.
Iris, however, met his gaze. Then looked at Ziggy.
Then, surprisingly, she got up. “He’s right. I never wanted this life. I don’t need to do something brave and spectacular like my brothers, and most of all…” She turned to Hudson. “I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
“I’ll be fine.” He met her eyes, so fixed to his, and it seemed he’d sort of made a pact with her.
Keep her safe.
Or maybe it was just with himself, but whatever. “And so will you. I promise.”
Ziggy’s jaw tightened. “Fine. Okay. It’s probably better this way. I can text him, pretending to be you…”
“Hello, am I the only one with a functioning brain here? Why didn’t we think of this sooner? Sheesh.”
Ziggy gave him a smile. “Your country thanks you, Hudson.”
“Yeah, well, my country better be paying for this hotel room, because it’sexpeeeensive.”
She laughed.
He turned to Iris. “Get your stuff. We’re going to a Greek island. And we’re not coming back until the world is at peace.”
“That’s a never, then?” Iris said, heading toward the stairs.
That might work for him.
He turned to Ziggy. “You call me if there’s trouble, okay?”
She nodded. “But you be careful. These Marshalls…they have a way of getting in over their heads. And bringing the people around them in with them.”
“I got this, Coach.”
Ziggy picked up her backpack. “Okay. Hopefully your greatest tragedy will be a sunburn.”
* * *
It probably didn’t bode wellthat the guards had taken both Vikka and Judah out of the infirmary in the morning for work.
And left Shae locked in the infirmary.
She’d met Judah’s eyes as he left. He gave her a small shake of his head, his mouth a tight line. But something of confidence, almost peace, radiated from him.
You are not alone. You are still safe.She heard those words in her head, held on to them.
And maybe he was right, because with rain and snow spitting from the sky, she didn’t mind staying huddled under her blanket, like Judah had suggested.
That, and she’d spent the better part of the day honing the end of the spoon into a sharp point.
The sea outside her window had turned dark, angry, frothy as it came into the harbor and thundered against the ship. The sky was a deep red as the sun set, the overhead clouds nearly black, the horizon bleeding out over the waves.
Still, despite the words, a knot grew in her gut all day.
