Page 85 of Javier

“Nope,” he returned promptly. “Not me.”

“Then what the hell are you saying?”

He hesitated before he spoke again. “Don’t you think this cruise feels different from others?”

“How so?”

“Bro…” He paused for a moment. “Who sent you out on this cruise?”

“The boss.”

“He assigned you the cruise, but who really persuaded you to take it?”

Goddess. It had been Thena who’d encouraged me to take the mission. “You know who.”

“See?” I could almost visualize him lifting a hand in the air. “That’s what I mean.”

“I’m not following,” I grumbled, but I was semi-following.

“The person who sent us in this vacation is wise, like her namesake, isn’t she?”

Athena Astor, named after the Greek goddess of wisdom. “Yeah, and?”

“She always has a good reason to do things,” he reminded me. “Don’t you agree?”

“One hundred percent.” Thena was more than a pretty face and a competent executive, a rare and extraordinary person.

“I heard she reads the stars,” King said. “Like her mother used to do.”

“What the fuck are you saying, man?”

“Hear me out,” he continued in his calm voice. “I’vethought about this a lot. Why did she select you for this cruise?”

“I’ve asked myself that question a million times.” I let out a rush of hot air. “I have no fucking clue. You?”

“She knows your passenger quite well,” King said. “She’s also taken the time to befriend each of us. What if she knows something we don’t?”

I’d wondered about that before. I paused my pacing, and shoving one hand in my pocket, leaned against the wall. “Something like what?”

“I don’t know, but think about it,” King insisted. “If she thought you’d be bad for her passenger, would she have selected you for the job?”

“No.” The woman was as protective of her sister as she was of Dagger and Tracker Team.

“I agree,” King said. “She would’ve sent someone else. Like me for example. We both know I’m the shit.”

I started to protest.

“Just yanking your chain.” His grin came through in his voice. “My point is, she’s smart. She knows what she’s doing. She chose you. So, there you have it.”

“You can’t be sure of that.”

“You’re right,” King said, “but if you’re counting cards, then you know I have a good chance of not being totally wrong.”

“She sent me tofindthe passenger,” I countered. “Not to fuck up her life.”

“Why would you fuck up your passenger’s life?”

“I’m me.” I shrugged at the cell. “I hurt people for a living.”

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