Boner waved at him to chill out.
"I heard you had some difficulty with that place," Eros said. "I told you not to buy it."
We all stared at Boner, who grinned at us and replied with, "I know you did, but I couldn't resist. Beaches and bikinis. Not to mention good food and cocktails."
"The simple pleasures in life," Eros said. "Fine, I'll deal with her myself. I trust you remember our agreement."
"Of course I do," the laptop replied. "Is there anything I can help you with from a distance?"
We all listened with interest.
"No, I'll get everything under control," Eros said. "I'll be in contact." The call ended.
"How did you know he had a resort in the Caribbean?" Jules asked Boner.
"I found out a few things about our old friend Granger Fairfield before we took care of him," Boner said easily. "Including the fact he bought a resort from the previous owners who were losing money hand over fist. Call it an educated guess."
"And we know Eros is planning to go after Harlow," Cass said, looking furious.
"Do any of you recognize his voice?" Jules asked.
"That's not his voice," I said. When they all turned to stare at me I said, "He's using a voice changer as well. His voice has the same lack of inflection as ours. When he said the simple pleasures in life, he didn't sound wistful, like people usually do."
"Fuck," Cass whispered. "I should have heard that."
"It doesn't matter." I shook my head. "The fact is, that could be anyone on the other end of that phone. Young, old. We don't know."
"We do know Hypnos and Zeus know, but they aren’t a part of this. Not immediately." Boner pointed out. "Whatever this prick is doing, he's working alone. Or… Not with them anyway."
"We also know Fairfield and Eros aren't as powerful as Hypnos and Zeus," Archer said. "Even without hearing his actual voice, the words suggest he’s subservient in some way. If they think he’s not competent, he has something to lose. Otherwise, he'd ask for help."
"Makes sense," I agreed. "That would also suggest he's planning to act quickly. He doesn't want to wait for Fairfield to return from his beach holiday."
That filled me with both dread and anticipation. He'd be coming after me, but it also gave me an opportunity to take care of him. If we were careful, we could do it without Hypnos and Zeus finding out.
Potentially, that could make it easier for us to deal with them. Those were eggs I wouldn't count until they were hatched. Or at least perfectly scrambled.
"Is there any way to find out where he's calling from?" Jules asked. "If we could get to him before he got to us." He looked around the table. "What? This is an us thing, like it or not."
"Of course it is," I assured him. "We all understand the situation. Just because Eros only mentioned me by name doesn't mean you aren't included in this. Cass and Jules in particular."
Cass pulled the laptop back over in front of himself. "Probably not," he admitted. "I put measures in to stop him from finding us. It'll do the same in reverse. It works well, until it doesn't."
He worked for a couple of minutes, then sighed, looking regretful. "It's worked exactly the way it's supposed to."
"That leaves us no closer than we were," I said, toying with the end of my hair. "All we know is he's coming after us and he's leaving out the big guns. Assuming that's what Hypnos and Zeus are."
I agreed with Archer's assessment. It made way too much sense not to. Even amongst men like this, there was a hierarchy. Considering how powerful Fairfield was, I hated to think what the top of the proverbial totem pole was like.
"It's nothing we can't handle, love," Boner said. "I'd say they'll live to regret getting on the wrong side of us, but they won't. Not for very long. Which brings me back to that box of yours."
He seemed to have taken a shine to it.
"You want to test it out?" Jules asked, as if Boner was offering to step inside and be locked up.
"Not personally," Boner said, lacing his fingers together and placing his hands on the table in front of him. "I'd like to see it in action. Sue me."
"We'll get the chance," Archer said. "We're all good at what we do. We have practice. We want to kill them more than they want to kill us."
