Page 76 of Fastest Kill

"Baba." Frederica picked up her phone from the table. "You did well. This is exactly what we needed. We have been chasing our tails since Vienna."

"I should have figured it out sooner," Tore replied. "I've been uneasy since you told me what he did to you at the auction."

"I was fine."

"I know, but I've run jobs for strange clients for forty years. I've never asked why they wanted certain objects, but this one..." He swore softly in Greek before clearing his throat. "I've been sitting here going through all of his correspondence, and I can see how he needed my access. My contacts. My ability to move things across borders quietly, without questions, without a trail."

"Nobody is blaming you for what he plans to do with it," Frederica said. Her voice was measured, but Dario heard the worry underneath it.

"I'm blaming myself."

"Baba—"

"I'll get over it," Tore said briskly. "After it's over. Right now, I want to be useful and make sure he never touches you again."

"Tore," Dario said steadily.

"Yes, Dario?"

"I know what you are thinking, but you need to stay in Rhodes. Stay with Despina. Don't cross any borders. Don't acquire any additional weapons beyond what you already own, and don't do anything that ends with Interpol receiving a phone call."

"Hmmm," Tore said, like he considered all three of those parameters to be suggestions rather than instructions.

"I mean it," Dario replied. "If someone I loved was in this man's orbit, I would want to take the world apart piece by piece with my own hands. I understand the impulse, but we need you in Rhodes because that is the safest place for you and Despina. We will need the address you have, and we may need additional information we don't know yet. You can't help us if you are in a holding cell."

"That's fair," Tore said, which was not the same as agreeing.

"I promise you, nothing is going to happen to Frederica while I'm with her."

Dario didn't look at her when he said it. He kept his eyes on the phone on the table. "However much she objects to it, and you know she will, I'll be where she is, and I'll make sure Agrippa pays for touching her."

"I like you," Tore said finally, sounding quietly relieved. "Try not to break him, gioia mia."

"I'm not promising that," Frederica said. "What if he pisses me off and really deserves it?"

"That's my girl." The sound of Despina's voice came briefly through the line, asking something Dario couldn't quite make out, and Tore answered her in rapid Italian. "I have to go. She's been hovering. Call me when you have more information."

The call cut off, and the library settled back into quiet. Rodrigo was still studying the screens with single-minded focus.

Frederica picked up her phone and put it in her jeans pocket without looking at Dario.

"I don't need your protection," she stated flatly.

"I know." He picked up his cards and looked at his hand. Terrible again. "You're still going to get it because, as scary as you are, Spartana mia, your parents are far more frightening."

She opened her mouth. Closed it. Across the table, Athena watched the exchange and grinned like a cat because she loved the drama.

"You should just focus on messaging Leo," Frederica grumbled.

"Rodrigo already did it. Get the address off Tore and send it to Iz."

"I just did."

"Good," Dario said.

"Good," Frederica replied and glared back at her notebook.

Dario looked at his cards and considered whether any combination of them could salvage the situation. He concluded that it could not and folded.