Chapter Twelve
Chapter
Twelve
Dani
One second, Dani was staring down Theo and his stupid handsome face, annoyed at herself for having misinterpreted what was going on between them as something more—again—and the next, he was pulling her by the arm out of the way of a bright-ass yellow Jeep-looking car barreling right toward them.
The knobby tires skidded to a halt, blocking them from Maurice and Louis.
“Theo and Daniela?” a thirtysomething-year-old bald man asked. He wore sunglasses, a gold watch, and a crisp yellow T-shirt with white pants.
“Yes,” Theo responded, hesitantly.
“Then hop in! We gotta go!” the man said, reaching across the passenger seat to open the door for them. “Hurry up, Andreas sent me!”
They took one look over the hood at Maurice and Louis running down the hill, screaming profanities at them.
Her mind raced, contemplating their choices: take their chances with this mystery man or stay with Maurice and Louis.
But when Maurice reached around his back and pulled out a gun, their options became clear.
“Get in!” Theo said, guiding Dani toward the vehicle.
She climbed inside with Theo right behind her shoving their bags on the floor, and they were instantly smooshed.
A two-seater.
“Sorry, it’s all I’ve got,” the man said, revving the engine and peeling out as Theo buckled the two of them in with Dani on his lap. But not before Louis caught up to them like a motherfucking Terminator.
While running beside the car, he grabbed the door handle and pulled it open. But Dani kicked her legs straight in his chest, and he let go, falling onto the ground as they took off.
Bang! Bang!
All three of them in the car ducked at the sound of gunfire, and the man swerved, knocking Theo and Dani around like a couple of pinballs.
“Μαλ?κα!” the man yelled as he carefully peeked in the rearview mirror to see where he was.
He drove like a Formula One racer, speeding down the hill until they made it back to the road.
He continued at a solid clip, weaving in and out of traffic before he finally reduced their speed once they were a respectable distance from where they’d left Maurice and Louis.
“Who are you?” Dani asked.
“I’m Andreas’s cousin, Christos. Other side of the family, though,” he clarified.
“His yayá called Andreas because she thought you might be in trouble, so he sent me since trouble is my middle name—that’s what my girlfriend tells me, at least.” He winked at them.
“Plus, now they know who he is. Better for him not to be here.”
Theo’s arms were wrapped tightly around Dani’s waist, as if he was afraid to let go. She twisted on his lap so she could turn to face him. Theo took a deep breath and then buried his face in her chest. But when he finally looked up at her, all she saw was happiness in his eyes.
God, she couldn’t stay mad at him. Not when he was looking at her like that.
“Thank you,” Theo said, turning to Christos.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“To my place outside of town. You’ll be safe.”
Safe. It almost didn’t seem possible after the days they had.
“And what about Andreas? Is he going to be okay?” Theo asked.
“Oh yeah,” Christos said, waving his hand as if it were nothing. “He figured they might try to find him, but this way, he can play dumb. And hopefully they won’t be able to trace you since you’re with me.”
Maybe Christos should have brought a more inconspicuous car, Dani thought, though she kept her opinions to herself.
Theo rested his head back for a moment and then immediately shot back up. “A phone? Do you have a phone so we can alert our families and the authorities?”
“Sure,” Christos said, pulling his phone out of the side pocket of his pants.
But when he tried unlocking it, the screen was black.
“Shit…the battery is dead. Don’t worry, we’ll find you another one.
For now, just try to get comfortable. Err…
” he murmured, glancing at the two of them in a single seat, “or at least as much as possible.”
“What kind of car is this, anyway?” Dani asked.
“This baby is a Keraboss Super K,” Christos said, proudly tapping the dashboard. “First car entirely built in Greece. You know, all the best things were born in Greece. The Olympics. Showers. Gyros. Vending machines…”
As he continued listing off various Greek inventions, Dani glanced at Theo and smiled. Yeah, all the best things certainly were born in Greece.
* * *
By the time they got to Christos’s house, it was already the afternoon, but the adrenaline hadn’t worn off.
The small home sat high on the hill above the rest of the town.
Fortunately, the place was quiet and secluded.
Unfortunately, there was no cell or internet service.
They would have to wait until they drove back to town to call home.
At least the chances of Maurice and Louis finding them were slim to none.
But Christos parked around back just in case.
Theo and Dani climbed out of the car and stepped over to the patio and looked out at the city in the distance while Christos covered the car with a tarp.
“Can you believe it?” Dani said, staring straight ahead.
“After spending the last thirteen months no more than twenty feet from Maurice and Louis at all times, no, I can’t believe it,” he responded. “Did that really happen?” he then asked turning his head to look at Dani. “Are we really free?”
“You’re free,” someone said from behind them.
Dani and Theo spun around to see who, finding a man around Theo’s age emerging from the house.
This man was gorgeous with a capital G. A Triple G of a different sort: Gorgeous Greek Guy.
He wore dark gray slacks that strained over his thick thighs paired with a loose light blue shirt with the top three buttons undone, revealing his dark chest hair and clearly fit physique.
He was a quintessential Greek Adonis: slightly wavy medium-length hair, golden-brown skin, chiseled jaw (and by the looks of it, chiseled everything else), perfect smile with pearly white teeth, and glistening brown eyes staring straight at Dani.
He was looking at her as if she were the Hera to his Zeus. The Persephone to his Hades.
“I’m Dr. Andreas Demetrious,” he said, walking up to them and taking Dani’s hand first. “You must be Daniela.”
He said her name like it was a song. Not the title, but the verse and the chorus, all wrapped into a single word.
“I…I am,” she managed to eke out.
“And I’m Theo,” Theo said, reaching his hand in front of Dani. She noticed a quick glare from him…and something else mixed in his voice.
Was he annoyed that she didn’t introduce him?
“It is nice to meet you,” Andreas said. “I’m sorry for the theatrics earlier. But my yayá was concerned, so we couldn’t afford to be leisurely. Seems her instincts were right, Dr. Galanis.”
“You know who I am?” Theo asked.
“You’re not part of this field and unaware when a fellow explorer goes missing, especially in your own country.
After you left, my yayá called back and said she thought you looked familiar.
Possibly the Greek American archaeologist who’d disappeared months ago, so I sent her your picture from an online newspaper article and she confirmed it had been you. ”
Theo nodded his head, taking it all in, but was speechless.
“So, you’re an archaeologist, too, right?” Dani jumped in to give time for Theo to process. “That’s what your grandmother said.”
“Yes. She’s very proud of me and loves to tell anyone who will listen about me,” Andreas said, putting his hands in his pockets and flashing her what might have been the sexiest smile she’d ever seen.
Oh, this guy was good. Too good. The exact kind of guy Dani would normally chase back home. And the exact kind who would be in and out of her life in less than a month.
Dani glanced at Theo, who was doing a terrible job at pretending not to be bothered. But you didn’t spend hours reading beside someone and not pick up on their mannerisms. Such as the way he firmly pressed his lips together. Or how he suddenly snapped to attention.
“And you work at the Acropolis Museum?” Theo asked.
“Yes. When I’m not out in the field.”
“Theo works in a museum, too,” Dani offered unsolicited.
“The US National Hellenic Museum, right?” Andreas asked, and Theo nodded. “I’ve been once. It was cute.”
Cute? Oh boy.
Theo chuckled, but there was no humor behind it. “You didn’t want to join the family olive oil business?” he asked with a bit of snark.
Andreas snickered. “For now, I’m happy here, but maybe someday when I’m ready to settle down with a wife and children,” he said, turning his attention back to Dani.
His eyes homed in on hers, and Dani swallowed hard. “I take it you aren’t married then?”
He flashed that killer grin again and bashfully hung his head. But Dani could already tell, this man was not timid. “No, I’m not married. Painfully single, as my yayá would say.”
She could almost feel Theo’s glare burning a hole through Andreas.
“Look, if you know who I am, then you’ll know that my family thinks I’m dead,” Theo said, quickly changing the subject. “Can you help us get home?”
“They’ll be looking for you. I think it’s most prudent for you to stay put for now,” Andreas said.
“For how long?” Theo said. Dani could hear the panic in his voice. With still no communication with the outside world, it must have felt like getting abducted all over again.
“He wasn’t just missing. He’s been held hostage for months,” Dani said before Andreas could respond.
“By whom?”
“Pierre Vautour,” Theo said without any further explanation.
Andreas’s eyes widened slightly, though he fought to maintain his composure. Guess being in this business also meant knowing all the bad players, too.
“I need to warn my yayá,” he said, holding his phone up in the air for a signal even though it was practically useless.
“If Pierre Vautour is behind your disappearance, then it’s definitely not safe for you out there.
We need to be careful. He’s probably got spies at the embassy, and most certainly with the police. ”
That tracked.
“I know for a fact he has people working for him within the police on Crete,” Theo explained.
“Then we need a plan to get you out of here before we do anything. No one can know you’re here,” Andreas said.
“What about our families?” Theo asked. “Please, they need to know I’m alive.”
“I have a friend at the embassy. Let me talk to her first,” Andreas said.
She could feel Theo tense. “It’s one more day,” she said. “Besides, Pierre might be anticipating we’ll contact them. Maybe it’s better if we lie low until we figure out our next steps.”
“She’s right,” Andreas jumped in. “How about this? It’s probably safer for me to leave than you, at least until we know the coast is clear, so why don’t you clean up while I run back into town and make some calls?
Christos will make us dinner, and we can all sleep here this evening.
And then in the morning, we will figure out next steps. ”
“How do we know we can trust you?” Theo asked with accusation dripping from his voice. “How do we know you aren’t working for him, too?”
Andreas narrowed his eyes at him and pulled his hands out of his pockets, squaring up to Theo. “The only reason you’re here is because my yayá had a sixth sense about you. You’ve put my family in danger, so maybe you shouldn’t be the one going off about trust.”
Theo started to bristle. Oh no. But Dani put her hands up in between them. “Okay, okay, emotions are high. Let’s not get carried away,” she said.
Theo’s nostrils flared as he took a few deep breaths, and then he turned and walked away. Dani and Andreas watched Theo pacing about thirty feet away with his hands on his head, before she turned back to Andreas.
“He’s not usually like this,” she said.
“You mean, a churlish oaf?” he said, crossing his arms.
Andreas’s words stung a bit. Churlish and oaf were two words she’d never use to describe Theo.
“You don’t understand,” she tried to explain. “Those men? They beat him. Threatened him. They convinced his whole family that he was dead. And the one time he managed to escape, the police brought him right back to them. I’m sure you can see why he might not be the most trusting.”
Andreas’s face softened, and he relaxed his arms. “I didn’t know. I hope you realize, however, that I’m only trying to help. I promised my yayá I would help you. She said she feels like she knows him.”
“I do realize that. There’s earnestness in your eyes, especially when you mention your yayá.” It reminded her of Theo.
He smiled sweetly, took a step forward, and reached for her hand. Oh God, what is he doing? “I can see the sincerity in your eyes as well.” Her heart pounded, and he gave her hand a squeeze. “I’ll be back shortly. Maybe we can talk more then.”
He let go and then walked away. What just happened? The heat kicked up a few more degrees, and she started fanning herself again.
And when she turned around, she found Theo staring right at her.