Theo stretched his legs out as far as he could in front of him, but I could feel the waves of impatience rolling off him.
Or maybe they were mine.
“I thought the next time I was in Brazil it would be for the São Paulo Grand Prix,” he mused. “Oh, or the Rio Carnival. Now that’s a good time.”
“Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t think this trip will be quite as exciting as you’re used to.”
“I’m sure we can think of a few ways to spice things up.”
I saw him grin out of the corner of my eye, could hear the teasing in his tone, but I was too focused on looking out for the house to flirt back. We were deep in the jungle, no one and nothing around for miles.
As the house finally came into view, Theo let out a whistle.“Nowthisis better than the cabin I would’ve expected all the way out here. What’d you do, find the remotest place you could and stick a house here?”
“Yes.”
I shut off the engine and popped the trunk. As I stepped out onto the dirt driveway, I took a moment to stretch.
The house itself was an architectural masterpiece, designed by one of King’s good friends to accommodate the surrounding rainforest and the balmy climate. From the inside it seemed as though it was an open-air style of living, with glass walls that welcomed nature inside. From the outside, however, the walls were reflective, keeping it private and blending into its surroundings.And that was before the concrete walls came down.
We dumped all our belongings near the entry, and then I gave Theo a quick tour. The walls and ceilings were smooth, elevated concrete, and it was mostly an open-concept space that allowed for uninterrupted viewing until you reached the metal staircase that led upstairs.
The pool on the roof captured Theo’s interest the most, and I hoped that was enough to keep him occupied over the long days ahead.
I wasn’t counting on it, though.
“I like it,” he said as he inspected one of the bedrooms with a keen eye. “I’m surprised I haven’t been here before. Have you?”
I’d been here more than a few times; I’d overseen the construction.
“You could say that,” I said before heading back into the main room. I could feel the weariness in my bones starting to take over, like all the adrenaline I’d been running on the past twenty-four hours had drained out of my body.
I just had a call to make first.
I pulled out my laptop and set it up on one of the main tables, then connected to the secure network before finally making the call. The last thing I felt like doing right now was briefing King, but if past experience had told me anything, it was that the sooner I updated him, the happier we would all be. Especially when there were explosions and bodies involved.
I glanced over at the fully stocked bar cart pushed up against one of the walls and was almost tempted to stop the call, make a drink, then come back and redial. But that would just piss King off, and I really wanted to get this over with, with as minimal conflict as possible.
“Shep, I was wondering when I was going to hear from you.”
No,Hello, how are you?Just straight to the point. That was Tyrone Kingston. But he’d always been that way when it came to Libertine business—even when we were a couple.
“The flight to Brazil is long. We just arrived.”
King would know by now exactly where we were. The second news of the bombing hit, he would’ve had Alessio checking on our trackers. But he was also smart enough to know I’d move Theo as soon as I was able. Out of the public eye. Out of harm’s way. That was why I was here, what he’d sent me for, and the fact he trusted me enough to do that without blowing up my phone spoke volumes.
“I trust everything there is in order?”
I glanced around the safe house, knowing that the floor-to-ceiling windows were replaced at the touch of a button by thick concrete walls that could keep out just about anything.
“Seems to be. I’ll be doing a full check of the systems once we’re done here. But so far, everything seems to be in working order.”
“Good. Now, fill me in. Leave nothing out.”
I gave King an in-depth rundown of everything that had happened back in Cardiff, from the game, to the explosion, to the aftermath when Theo and I had run down his wannabe assassin. There was no way around telling him about Theo’s decision to remove that particular threat from the chessboard, since King would’ve gotten word that the cleanup crew had been called in.
But there wasonepiece of information I might have left out: the texts sent to Theo on the waytoCardiff. I didn’t see any needto bring them up, not now, especially if King hadn’t received them. It was clear the person behind these threats was trying to stoke conflict in our ranks, and I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction.
Plus, it wasn’t like they meant anything. They were just Theo being Theo, trying to antagonize me.
