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Snake sat in his stateroom and flicked through the five channels on the ship’s television. He cursed under his breath. Television at sea was useless. He hated it. There was nothing to see but some stupid Italian movie and the BBC. For some reason, the Turner movie channel didn’t work in his stateroom.
He reached over and picked up his copy of The Wave, the ship’s daily event schedule, and scanned it for the movie of the day. He checked his watch. It was almost six o’clock. He itched to know if Vadim had taken care of the senator. Of course, he had no idea where the Russian was and that irritated the hell out of him.
He returned to the daily event paper and saw the movie was some stupid romantic comedy he’d never heard of, but he decided to go and watch it. He locked his room, caught the elevator, and pressed the button for deck six. This was his second trip to the ship’s movie theater in three days. He stopped off for some free popcorn and entered the darkened theater. He looked around and saw the guy with the dirty-blond hair sitting on the far side of the theater. Snake thought he was the man he’d seen outside Michaela’s stateroom earlier in the day. His heartbeat accelerated and he wondered who the guy was. As soon as other people milled into the theater, he got up and moved over into the same row as the light-haired stranger. Perhaps he’d strike up a conversation and learn a little bit about him. It angered him that a guy had been loitering around Mic and he was pretty sure this was the same dude.
Snake chomped on his popcorn and wondered why someone would loiter around Michaela’s and the countess’s staterooms. In a way, bizarre as it was, he felt protective of Michaela. Even though he planned to kill her, he wanted his prey left alone because indeed, Michaela McPherson was Snake’s quarry and he intended to hunt her very, very soon. She’d already bested him once and he’d never let that happen again. But this guy, well, everything about him felt weird.
Snake kept one eye on the man during the movie and the other on the screen. The man seemed content and watched the movie to the end. The guy practically swooned at the ending and didn’t seem to notice Snake at all. After the movie, Snake stretched in his seat and struck up a conversation with the guy.
“Did you like the movie?” he asked in his friendliest voice, which sounded strange to him. Snake was rarely cordial. In fact, Snake rarely spoke to anyone.
The guy shrugged his shoulders and said, “Yeah. It was okay. I’ve seen better movies. I did like the ending, though. I love happily-ever-after flicks,” he admitted with a wink and a sly, thin-lipped smile.
Snake studied the man carefully. He was shorter than Snake, and appeared in pretty good shape, like a guy who worked out in a gym. The man had a lazy eye, which seemed to be staring at him. “Where are you from?” he asked with a smile. “Have you been to Athens before?” Snake prodded in his attempt to make small talk. It was difficult for Snake. A monumental task.
The man’s lazy eye was fixed on Snake as he said, “Nope, I haven’t. But I like history and I’ve always wanted to go on a cruise like this.”
Snake nodded. “You’re from the US. What state do you live in?” he asked nonchalantly.
The man quickly glanced at him and said, “Yeah, I live in Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC. Where are you from?” he asked, his lazy eye still focused on Snake’s face as the normal eye stared ahead.
“Hmm, that’s a good question,” Snake said with a rare smile, so rare that it hurt his face where his skin crinkled up. “I just kinda live around. Sometimes I stay up in New York, in Manhattan, but sometimes I stay in Virginia too. I have an RV parked in one of the campgrounds near Richmond,” he said as he continued to engage the man in conversation.
The man nodded his head and said, “That’s cool.”
Snake continued to observe the guy. He was young, probably mid to late twenties. There was something weird about him in addition to the lazy eye. Snake got a bad vibe from him. “Buy you a coffee?” he asked cordially as they approached the coffee vendor.
“Buy me a coffee? The coffee’s free, man. Where you been?” the guy asked with a look between slight smile and a sneer. “But, on second thought, yeah I’ll take a caramel latte,” he agreed as he pushed his dirty-blond hair back with his hand.
Snake pointed toward a small table for two by the window. “Okay,” he said. “Grab us a table and I’ll bring the coffee over. I’d like to hear what you’re gonna do in Athens. Maybe we can share a cab or something,” he suggested.
The man nodded, “Yeah, okay. I’ll get the table.”