The shirt he was holding slipped to the floor as his thoughts turned inward to that day. The little café in Rio with the red exterior was one of his favorites. He had never expected to run into her there. He'd only just acquired the scrolls and was looking for an inconspicuous place to get a closer look at them. As far as he had known she was still in America tormenting his poor boys. For a woman half his size, she cast a very long shadow when she blocked the late afternoon sun, sneering down at him as though he was a peasant.
"Hola, ex-husband. What brings you to Rio, not that I really care." If she had worn any more jewelry, she would have fallen over. Wealth on display just screamed a lack of manners that Daniel found distasteful. "Hola, pesadilla de mi existencia." He smiled at her grimace. He knew his Spanish wasn't the best, so he never knew if it was his bad syntax, or the content of his words that made her so angry. It really didn't matter as long as it continued to needle her.
"I thought you were still in LA trying to forget that I existed." He allowed the papers he was reading to roll up on their own, ready to grab them and run at any second if need be. He didn't trust her or that grifter she was married to. Sleaze was something that money couldn't hide and Michael was as double dealing as they came.
"Si, I was. But I can't waste all of my time with those brats you saddled me with. I need time to myself too." She flipped her black hair back across her shoulder. "I'm sure Thane can handle them while I'm gone." She practically purred the words. His stomach clenched to think what Thane could put his boys through while Lydia wasn't there to at least attempt to reign him in. Even if it was only because she knew what Daniel would do if anything unfixable were to happen to them. If he could have taken them with him, he would have. But they were too young then to go running all over the world with him. He couldn't have done the things he needed to for all of their futures if he'd been trying to protect them at the same time. Leaving them with Lydia had seemed like the only choice he had at the time.
He ignored her jab. "Well, don't let me keep you from your shopping. You look like you're a couple of grams short of your usual kilo of gold." He eyed her critically to drive his point home. Her eyes narrowed with murderous intent. Instead she surprised him by laughing out loud. The grating sound somehow echoed off the cobblestones and garnered sidelong looks from the other patrons.
"Ah, I have missed you mi amor." She made a show of drying nonexistent tears, "but you're right. I really should be going. Go back to your dusty papers and books. They always meant more to you than I did anyway." There was a flicker of the woman he'd married for just a second deep in her eyes, but she was strangled by the herridan in front of him. "I would leave Rio if I were you Daniel. The Latin countries are not safe for you." She turned to go, turned back and blew him a kiss. Then flounced away into the throngs of shoppers, headed for the avenue. Somehow the blown kiss scared him more than her words ever could have.
He decided to take her advice. He rolled up all of the papers on the table and returned them to their leather case. He threw some money on the table and tried to disappear into the crowd in the opposite direction Lydia had gone. He knew better than to go back to the hotel. He'd been made and he wasn't stupid. Why she had felt the need to warn him just with her presence he didn't know but he was going to take the chance and run.
A flash of metal caught his eye as the crowd thinned. A mercenary in street clothes stood about a hundred feet up the road, leaning against a sign post. It was his ridiculous watch that caught the sunlight. Too over the top for the rest of the outfit. Daniel stopped at the news stand and glanced the other direction. Two more were coming up from behind him. They weren't making any attempts to hide from him. So sure that he had no clue they were there. He hoped they were as dumb as they looked. Michael was never one to waste money on things he considered expendable and all mercenaries were expendable.
He crossed the street with the flow of foot traffic and made for the nearest taxi. He was going to have to get as far away as he could as fast as he could. As he neared the line of cars against the curb, he had to duck as a huge right hand came right at him. The fourth merc connected with the door of the taxi and crashed right through the window. Daniel darted around him and pushed deeper into the crowd. He should've known Michael would expect him to head for a quick get away.
He look up, over the heads of the tourists that were stalling traffic around the scene the taxi driver was making over his broken window to see Lydia standing across the street. The smug look on her face was more than he could take. She expected him to die here today. The other three mercs were coming up fast so he did the only thing he could think of. He headed across the street. Right at Lydia. He had her by the wrist before she could register that he hadn't run. He drug her down the street to an open doorway. The dim interior of the bookstore offered some cover as he continued to make his way through the store. There had to be a back door and Lydia was his insurance.
He found the exit just as the merc with the watch hit the front door. They were out the back door and into a back alley that turned quickly into a side street. He was almost to the open street when Lydia pulled back on him with all of her strength. "STOP!" She commanded him.
"You are not going to drag me all over Rio." She took a deep breath and yanked her wrist away from him.
He opened his mouth to answer her when Michael appeared from the open street. He was corned as the mercs came out the back of the bookstore. He sighed. This was not how he wanted to go out. He reached in his pocket and pulled his switchblade out. Grabbing Lydia around the waist as he did, snapping the blade up against her throat, he backed up to the side of the building, leaving Michael and the walking walls to face each other. "Tell them to back off Michael".
He pressed the blade a little bit tighter against her throat. Lydia yelped as a thin red line trickled from the blade. The blood ran down to become a smudge under her gold necklace as she tried to struggle. "You know I have no qualms about killing my ex-wife."
Michael waved his hand and the three stooges took a few steps back. He moved around to stand in front of Daniel. Keeping just out of reach, "Don't be ridiculous Daniel." His heavy accent was so effected it was comical. "You're not going to kill her. Who would protect your sons from me?" He grinned as though they were old friends. "We can work this out. Just give me what you have in the case and I don't care where you go or what you do with mi esposa."
He spat out the last two words like they burnt him. Good. Maybe he could use that to his advantage. "You're right Michael. I'm not going to kill her. But you are going to let me go." He pushed a half step away from the wall. "You can't translate the scrolls anyway. You need me for that." He nodded his head toward the mercs. "You probably should have told them that by the way. If the other one had connected with my head the scrolls would be useless to you."
He heard a low growl come from Michael and the men backed up. Just as he thought. They didn't know how valuable Daniel's brain was to this whole thing.
Lydia squirmed, reminding him of what he was doing. "Stop squirming Lydia," He inched a little farther away from Michael, "You know, there was a time when you didn't mind my arm around you."
Lydia went silent as Michael let out another growl. This time the sound was guttural and animal. His eyes seemed to shine with inhuman light. He lunged for Daniel. In the same instant, Daniel released Lydia, throwing her into Michael full force. They collided and went down hard.
Daniel never looked back. He took off at a dead run, slipping in and out of the crowd as fast as he could. By the time they emerged from the alley, he was long gone.
***
* New episodes every Monday. Subscribe to the newsletter to get updates.
Comments