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“That’s a solidwe’ll see. Best you’ll get.”
“I’ll take it then.” He leans back in his seat. “We’ll go see Reina together then and figure out how much shit we’re in.”
Chapter16
Adrienne
Reina sits on a bench alone near a canal in the Stavros Niarchos Park, a bit of green space cut up by perfectly symmetrical paths and waterways in the heart of Athens. Peter keeps me from charging forward as we stand in a small grouping of trees watching the people all around her. Nobody is suspicious, but then again, I’m exhausted and running on fumes and all I want to do is talk to my sister and figure out what the heck we are going to do now.
After my patience finally breaks, I say to him, “Are we hiding here all day? She might leave if we don’t get out there.”
Peter shakes his head. “We have to be careful. My father knows about my safehouses in the city. He might have people following us.”
I chew on my lip and let that sink in. After the ferry, Peter took us to a small apartment in an ugly section of a city that had only the bare minimum of furniture. I got a couple hours of sleep, but he woke me up early and we left, spending a few more hours moving around the city seemingly at random, sitting in cafes, and basically killing time until the meeting. He didn’t want to stay still in case someone was watching.
He’s completely paranoid now and I’m not sure if it’s a bad thing.
He has good reason to be paranoid.
Which makes this so much worse.
“Come on.” He moves forward, back onto the path, and walks over to where Reina’s anxiously smoking a cigarette.
My sister relaxes as we approach. She looks the same as she did last time—tired, strung out, but holding it together. Peter stands next to her and I take the open seat on the bench.
“You two look like shit,” she says, glaring from me to Peter. “I hear things did not go well on Crete. Tell me what happened, s’il vous plait.”
Peter fills her in. When he’s done, she scowls and rubs her face. “Merde. Merde, merde, merde. That is very bad. The Filos are actively against this then? And I wonder who else they dragged into our mess. Your family?”
“I think my father is agnostic about the deal itself. He’s more pissed that I turned my back on him and went against orders.”
“And threatened his alliances. Oui, yes, I understand.” Reina flicks her cigarette butt away. “We have no ships. No captains. No help. And now Rastus Filo wants to fuck us, and your father wants to kill you. Tell me why I shouldn’t get up and walk away? I have a nice life back in Marseille and I’d like to continue living it. I didn’t come here to end up buried in some Greek cemetery. Such ugly places.”
“This deal isn’t done. Balaska still wants it.”
“Balaska is one crime lord. I am thinking maybe more crime lords will come out against it when they hear Filo is taking the lead.”
Peter grinds his jaw, but I speak over him. “No, they won’t, not if we offer them terms.”
Both of them look at me. I feel a sudden flush in my cheeks as Reina tilts her head, studying me with a curious smile. “The mouse suddenly speaks. Have you grown bold now, little mouse?”
“Don’t call me that. I’m only saying, the crime lords have no loyalty to each other. They’ll do whatever will bring them power. If we can get a couple more cut into this deal, it can still get done.”
“And will Balaska go for that?” Reina looks to Peter.
He glares at the canal water, considering. “I don’t think he will. But Katarin might and that’s even better.”
“Bon, alors, perhaps we can do this.”
“We still don’t have a way to move the product into Greece,” I point out. “Even if we can set up mutually beneficial terms and get some of the other crime lords interested, our logistical issue stands.”
“Actually, I have a fix there too.” Reina takes a business card from her cigarette case and hands it to me. I frown at the words. It’s a name and a number, but it’s written in Greek. But the fact that she gave the card to me, and not to Peter, says something, like she’s starting to see me as an actual partner in this. “There’s a pilot my organization told me about. If we can’t bring it over by sea, perhaps we can bring it over by air.”
“That could work,” Peter says slowly, sounding surprised. “And this guy’s legit?”
“Legit, yes, very legit. But also expensive, which is why he is a last resort.” She shrugs, lights another cigarette, takes a drag. “Contact him. Set it up. We will meet again in two days.” She stands and looks around and something crosses her face. It’s a shadow, an ugly scowl. She turns to Peter, casually holding her elbow in her hand, the cigarette held up by her mouth. “Did you know that you were followed? You lazy fucking—” She spouts out a lot of French curses which I don’t understand, but I take it she’s unhappy.
Peter stiffens. He looks only at Reina, but I can tell he wants to stare around them. It takes all my willpower not to crane my neck all over like an idiot searching for a kid playing hide-and-seek.
