Hunting Medusa: The Medusa Trilogy, Book 1 (30 page)

“How many of your relatives live there?”

He lifted one shoulder. “At least ten or twelve have home bases nearby.”

Yikes.
That would be a problem. “Okay, so we don’t stay in Baltimore.” She waited.

“But Stavros could still be in Maine.”

There it was. The one thing he kept going back to.

“And if he is, he’s going to be dangerous.”

She studied him. Tension lined his face, worry darkened his green eyes, his mouth flattened, and his inky hair was mussed from his hands dragging through it all day long while they’d worked this plan out. “If he is, we’ll deal with him.” She still would like to delay that particular leg of their journey just a little longer. Until PMS struck. Then Stavros wouldn’t be an issue ever again.

Kallan held her gaze. “He’s not going to be as easy to deal with as you think. He might not even be alone.”

She put her foot back on the floor and pushed out of her chair. “We can deal with him, Harvester. Hell, look at us. The two of us shouldn’t be here together. Our families have been enemies for centuries, and you came to me to kill me.” She strode to the bed and faced him down. “We can do this.”

He smiled unexpectedly and set the laptop onto the nightstand. “Come here,
agaph
.” He held out one hand.

Andi put her hand in his and let him draw her onto his lap, where she settled comfortably.

His chest rose with a long inhalation, then—when he released it—his breath riffled through her hair. “You know he’ll have to go through me to get to you.”

“I know. But I know we can beat him. Just don’t ask me how yet. I haven’t worked out the details.” She nestled nearer.

“I love you.” He tipped her chin up so he could kiss her. Lightly. “Let me hold you for a while.”

She relaxed against him, feeling warmth coursing through her that had nothing to do with desire, though that was there too. It always was—an undercurrent no matter what other thing they were doing or discussing. But this felt right. Just being with him this way.

She only hoped they had longer than the next two days to enjoy it.

Kallan tried to breathe evenly, to imagine the tension that pulled his shoulders tight flowing out with each breath, but it wasn’t working. It hadn’t worked twenty-four hours ago when they were still in Edinburgh. Not even that morning when Andrea had whispered some naughty ideas in his ear while they were flying over the Atlantic, though she had made him smile, which—he was sure—had been her real intention.

Stavros was still silent, which made Kallan very nervous. He’d wait till they were out of Maryland tomorrow before he called around to see if anybody had heard from his cousin.

Andrea’s aunt still hadn’t responded either, which made Andrea tense too, even though she tried to hide it. Right now, she was pacing his bedroom in Baltimore and shooting irritated glances at his open laptop every few minutes. While she was waiting, she’d done a quick load of laundry, found something for supper for them, and repacked their things into the backpacks and the suitcase.

He was stowing weapons into another case—swords and daggers, polishing and honing as he went to keep his mind semi-occupied. They’d decided earlier not to ship the guns, however. Andrea had looked a little disappointed, but agreed it wasn’t their best option—guns were too noisy.

And if they changed their minds, they could pick something up along the way.

When his cell rang, they both jumped. He set down the dagger he’d been sharpening and crossed the room to grab the phone off the dresser. Not Stavros.
Damn.
“Uncle Ari. How are you?”

“Have you heard from Stavros?”

Kallan shut his eyes. “Not in a few days.” That was bad, if Stavros hadn’t even checked in with Ari. On the other hand, perhaps it meant Stavros had holed up somewhere with a large supply of alcohol and wasn’t waiting in Maine to ambush them.

“No one has heard from him. I’m worried.”

The concern in the old man’s voice was genuine, and Kallan felt a little guilty. “I left him a message a couple days ago, but he hasn’t got back to me. Maybe he’s busy hunting.” He saw Andrea’s eyebrows go up.

“I thought so, too, for the first day or two.” Ari sighed. “I am afraid he’s drinking.”

Kallan frowned. That would be far too easy.

“I’ve called a handful of the cousins, but no one has seen him since Maine.”

His stomach tightened into a fistful of knots. Even if he wasn’t lying in wait somewhere and had started drinking, he was probably still in Maine, or nearby. Close enough that he could check in periodically to see if his quarry had returned.

“Would you let me know if you hear from him?”

He forced his attention back to his uncle. “Absolutely. I’ll tell him to call you right away.” He shook his head at Andrea when she gave him a questioning look.

“Thank you, Kallan. I knew I could count on you. How is your own hunt going?”

“It’s not right now. I’m trying to track down a new lead, get back on the trail.” His mouth was dry, and the guilt he’d felt earlier returned. In his entire life, he’d never lied to his family. Until Andrea. But he’d rather lie to the family patriarch now than lose her.

“Perhaps you should take a vacation. You’ve been on the road a long time. It might be you need a break. A pretty woman.”

His heart stopped beating for a second before starting again, in double-time. Could Ari know? “A vacation?”

“Somewhere warm, maybe. You could visit your cousin Porfirio in Athens. Or meet up with Vasily in England. I think he was heading into Scotland.”

Dear Goddess, they
did
know. “That sounds good. I haven’t been to Greece in a while.” He gestured to Andrea and shoved the dagger he’d been sharpening into the suitcase.

Eyes wide, she zipped it up and took it off the bed, then bent to pick up her backpack and sweater.

He put one finger to his lips and she nodded her understanding. He grabbed the other backpack and headed for the bedroom door.

Andrea followed him silently.

“Well, I should go. My waitress is coming with a dinner plate in her hand that looks like my meal,” he lied, the guilt completely gone now.

“All right. When you get back into D.C., you should stop by to see me, Kallan. It has been too long.”

“Sure. See you soon.” He shut the phone off and stuffed it into his pocket. “Hurry. They know we were in Scotland.”

He didn’t have to say anything else. The color had fled her face when he glanced back over his shoulder at her. They walked quickly down the stairs to his basement garage and stuffed their bags into the trunk of his car. She didn’t speak, just climbed into the passenger seat and buckled her seatbelt.

He started the car and hit the garage door opener at the same time, then pulled out swiftly and closed the garage behind them. “We’ll have to rent a car somewhere. They know this is mine,” he said after he’d driven a meandering route through the city for half an hour to make sure they weren’t being followed, and finally hit an on-ramp to the highway.

“Philly. At the airport. There’s long-term parking and car rental.”

He shot her a tight smile. And the tag from their last flight was still on the suitcase, so they wouldn’t stick out in the airport in case anyone was watching—as long as no one looked at the tag. “That’s right. Very good idea.” And Philadelphia wasn’t too far away. “We can drive into New York and rent a different car there,” he said after a moment. “Then if anyone does pick us up after Philly, we can lose them.” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “Open the back of that.”

She shot him a questioning glance in the light from the dashboard, but pried the battery cover off the back of his phone. “What am I looking for?”

“A tracking device.”

Her eyes went round, and then she bit her lower lip, turning to the phone in her hand. She pulled out the battery pack, then poked and prodded at the rest of the phone’s guts. “I don’t see anything that looks like it doesn’t belong,” she said at last.

He frowned. “Can you pry off the rest of the cover?”

She didn’t reply, instead turning her attention back to the plastic back of the phone and tugged until he heard it crack. She glanced at him apologetically.

“It doesn’t matter. Just do it.”

She broke the piece off. And there, stuck on the inside of the case was a small round disk with a tiny blinking light.

“Throw it out.”

“You want me to litter?” Horror rounded her eyes.

“Andrea.” Ordinarily, he wouldn’t even think about it, but under the circumstances he didn’t give a damn about the littering.

She shook her head and rolled the window down, just enough to let the small piece of plastic go flying into the night. The window slid back up.

“I’m sure he knew we were home too.” Whoever had tracked him to Scotland would be able to track him back. He hoped they didn’t realize who Andrea was.

His breath froze painfully in the middle of his chest. “The car.” If his family had put a tracking device in his phone some time ago, they could easily have put one on the car any time while he was away from home.

She shut her eyes for a second, understanding him perfectly. “Definitely to Philly then,” she murmured.

He nodded, pressing his foot harder on the gas pedal. The reading on the speedometer shot up to eighty-five.

“Don’t get a speeding ticket. We just need to get there.”

She was right. He knew that, but he just wanted out of the car. Safe from whoever was tracking them. Safe from his family.

The drive to the airport was quiet, punctuated only by occasional murmurs regarding exits in the proper direction. And in between, he wondered if the family patriarch kept such close tabs on all of the family, or just some. When they got to Philadelphia, he happily climbed out of the car in the long-term parking lot and gathered their things. Andrea took her backpack from him and shouldered it, her dark eyes somber. They remained silent on the shuttle to the airport, then blended in with the rest of the travelers as they made their way to the automobile rental counters.

Kallan whipped out another I.D. to take care of the car rental, forcing a smile for the woman behind the counter while the transaction ran through their computer system. “Thanks.” He took the keys and paperwork from her and shepherded Andrea toward the shuttle for the rental car lot.

He relaxed only a tiny bit on the shuttle ride to the rental car, keeping an eye on everyone around them. Andrea’s face was pale and lined with worry.

“Long flight, dear?”

He glanced over to see an old woman leaning toward Andrea.

She smiled at the woman. “It was, I’m afraid.”

The woman studied her face and the backpack now in her lap. “Are you heading for one of the parks in the middle of the state, or to the Poconos?”

Andrea shook her head. “We’re going to hike part of the Appalachian Trail.”

He smiled his approval when she shot him a glance from the corner of her eye.

“Oh, we did that years ago, didn’t we, dear?” The woman nudged her tired-looking husband with her elbow.

The man sighed and turned toward his wife. “Yes. A long time ago.”

“It was lovely. You’ll have a terrific time. But I hope you’re going to get plenty of rest before you start hiking.”

Andrea nodded.

“And be careful.”

Kallan blinked, as did Andrea.

“You never know what sort of things you’ll run into out there,” the woman said more quietly, leaning nearer. “Human animals as well as the four-legged variety.”

Andrea swallowed, and he saw goosebumps rise on her arms. “Thank you,” she managed.

The woman nodded and sat back in her seat, turning her attention back to her husband.

Kallan scanned the occupants of the small bus more closely, trying to ignore the way his pulse hammered in his ears at the woman’s odd warning.

Andrea touched his hand lightly, and he looked at her. She lifted her chin slightly in the direction of a man sitting in the back of the bus, hunched down in his seat and wearing a baseball cap that shadowed his face on the already-shadowed shuttle. Kallan opened all his senses, but he didn’t get anything. He shook his head once, but Andrea frowned, still watching the man who, strangely, had no bags.

Kallan wondered if any of his cousins had the ability to cloak their presence. That would be very, very bad.

Andrea shouldered her backpack when the bus slowed down, then picked up the other pack, and Kallan grabbed the suitcase handle. He stood as the shuttle stopped, keeping an eye on the man in the back. He guided her off the bus, noticing that the man got to his feet slowly.

Their car was first in the row, thank the Goddess, he noted as he stepped onto the asphalt. “Just get in,” he breathed. He hit the button on the keyring to unlock the doors.

She clambered into the backseat rather than try to get out of her pack. He tossed the suitcase in after her, then slid into the driver’s seat and locked the doors before starting the car.