Chapter 10
HARLOW
"Are you on guard, love?"
Boner sat down beside me and stared out at the lights of the city.
I didn't flinch because he was right, I was on guard. I'd heard his footsteps approaching. Knew it was him without looking around. The fact he made no attempt to be stealthy was a hint he wasn't coming to attack me.
If he was, he'd become acquainted with the knife I had concealed.
"Just getting some air," I said, watching traffic lights change from red to green.
Somewhere in the distance a siren sounded, followed by a couple of horns and a steady thrum of traffic. The soothing sounds of the city. People going about their regular, ordinary lives. So far distant from the last few months.
The last couple of years if I'm honest. I couldn't remember the last time I thought life was ordinary.
As a kid, I used to hope mine wouldn't be ordinary. Just goes to show how naive kids are. I'd almost pay money to go back to that, if only so I could hug my sister again. Run around our apartment playing silly games. Be carefree.
Back in the days before we knew what our father was like.
If I could go back to those days, I'd probably stab him in the balls. That would have avoided a lot of heartache.
"It's hard not to fall in love with this place." Boner put an arm around me.
I leaned against him. "I couldn't imagine living anywhere else. I'm sure London is very nice, though." In my experience, cities each had their own personality, their own flavor. Each unique, but all hustle and bustle.
"When this is over, I'll take you for a visit," he said. "Show you the tower. Big Ben. Laugh at a few guards with those furry hats."
I was sure he knew what those furry hats were called, but he was humoring me.
"I'd like that," I said. "Maybe we can pop down to Stonehenge and sacrifice someone."
He chuckled. "Did you have anyone in particular in mind?"
I glanced over and smiled. "No one I currently live with."
I stared back out at the city. "Honestly, by the time we go there, anyone I'd sacrifice will be dead. A long time ago."
"That's the way," he said approvingly. "Won't be long now. On the other hand, maybe we shouldn't be in too much of a hurry."
"Oh?" I asked, sure this was leading somewhere.
"Once the last name is ticked off on your list, what are you going to do for a hobby?" he said, joking lightly.
"I've been thinking about that," I admitted. "I know there are others like him out there, but maybe it's time to hang up my vigilante cap and gown. Let someone else take it from here."
"You have someone in mind?" he asked again.
"I might," I agreed. "There's a couple of people I've been keeping my eye on. What about you? Are you going to keep hunting down predators?"
"I don't know." He leaned back, tipping his face up toward the sky. "I'm starting to think I've seen enough blood for one lifetime. Maybe the next thirteen point two-five lifetimes."
"That's very specific," I remarked.
"I'm a very specific kind of guy," he grinned.
"I'm sure Archer would have some reason for it.
Or maybe I just plucked the number out of my ass.
Either way I feel like I've paid my… I don't know, my penance, if you will.
After seeing what my mom went through, I lost my shit. I guess I finally found it again."
He looked over to me and smiled softly.
"Right," I said slowly. "I think that might be it. For a long time, I didn't think I had anything to live for but now…"
"Now you do," he finished for me.
"Yes," I said on a soft exhale. "Now I do.
You, Cass, Archer and Jules, you've given me something to hope for.
A future. I didn't think I had that before.
I thought sooner or later all of this would catch up with me and I'd end up boiled alive.
Or trapped in my own box. Or stabbed. Or… You get the idea."
"You thought this life would kill you before you killed it," he said. "Me too. But we've killed it. And we're still standing. Now we have one more big job and we can get out of this mafia lifestyle." He put on a funny voice, sounding like a mobster movie character.
"Just one more job," I agreed. "The boss fight."
"I've always liked a good boss fight," he said. "You spend all that time playing, developing your skills. Leveling up. Running through gems and coins. And then you nail that one last big bad at the end."
"Or he nails you first and you end up having to start all over," I said.
If only life was a computer game. We could keep attacking Zeus until he disappeared into a puff of pixels on the screen.
This wasn't a computer game. This was real life. There were no second chances. No save points.
Also no gems and coins to run through. Or fruit to throw around. Just as well, I guess. I didn't want to be knocked down by a gorilla carrying a big drum.
Why was his name Donkey Kong anyway? The Kong bit I got, but the donkey part? Archer would know the answer to that, but I didn't. I made a mental note to ask him later.
"If there's one thing in life I know, it's that I'm not going to allow myself to be nailed by Forrest Cross," Boner said.
"And I'm not going to let him nail you either.
I wish I knew who he was at dinner. I glanced at him a couple of times, but he was in conversation with the person next to him, making them laugh.
And Hypnos too." He almost seemed offended at the fact that Forrest dared to be funny. That was, after all, his gig.
I'd almost forgotten Boner sat with the rest of the guests. "I don't suppose you heard anything he said?" I asked.
He thought for a moment then shook his head.
"No, but I wasn't really listening. I'll take a wild guess he wasn't saying anything sketchy.
Like, 'Hey, did you know the owner of this place is trying to kill me?
' Or, 'Hey, that asshole over there, he calls himself Hypnos, he's about to attack these awesome people.
But don't worry, he's going end up nice and dead. '"
I snorted softly. From what I'd seen of him, he was much more subtle than that. I frowned and thought back.
"We're guessing Yvette knew who he was. But what about Gina? She was working with Solomon Danforth. She might have been working with Forrest as well."
"Unless you have a Ouija board. We can only guess," Boner said. "I have to say, I don't think so. Solomon Danforth seemed determined to keep what he was doing from being noticed by Hypnos and Zeus. He wouldn't have wanted Gina reporting back to them.
I didn't suppose it mattered now. Like he said, Gina was dead. She couldn't tell us anything, nor could she report back to Zeus if she was working with him.
"Hypnos said he wanted to replace Zeus," I said slowly, thinking back to that conversation. "It's possible Yvette wasn't working with him at all. If she was, Hypnos might have killed her himself."
"I have to give it to these blokes. They have egos," Boner said, not sounding at all impressed. "I wouldn't have trusted them to know what I did behind closed doors. If we hadn't stabbed them, they would have done it to each other. In the back."
I screwed my eyes shut. "Is it possible everything I've done was for nothing? I could have sat back and let them all implode?"
"You wouldn't have sat back," he reminded me.
"You couldn't have known what would have happened.
Hypnos might have been bullshitting you.
Who was he anyway? Just a businessman? He didn't have anywhere near the power and influence Forrest does.
If he went after him, Forrest would have destroyed him and not even blinked. "
"Delusions of grandeur," I said. I supposed that was understandable, given the things they got away with. They must have assumed they'd continue to get away with things and be powerful.
"And now they're all rotting in hell," Boner said cheerfully. "Which proves one very important thing."
"What's that?" I asked.
"It proves you're more powerful than all of them put together," he said, squeezing my shoulders.
"I don't feel very powerful," I admitted. "I'm just a person doing what had to be done."
"You're a woman who did what most people wouldn't do," Boner said.
"You would have," I reminded him.
"I would have gotten to them eventually," he agreed, "but you got there first. They weren't even on my radar before I met you. Mine were more…small-time assholes. But you? You were taking down the bosses right from the start. At this point you're in the seventh game of this particular franchise."
"Can I unplug it and forget it exists?" I asked wearily.
If this was a computer game, it was time to pick up a book. Or go and run around in the sunshine for a while. Not skulking around in the shadows, waiting to drive my knife into someone's throat.
"Would you really if you could?" he asked. "If you could get up right now, walk away, and never think about Zeus again, would you do it?" Leave it to him to challenge me like that, especially when we both knew the answer.
"Of course not," I said. "Even if I could forget him, he wouldn't forget me. I could move to Australia and open a restaurant in Dusk Bay and he'd still find me."
"I don't know, I think Zeus would be scared of Dusk Bay," Boner said. "From what I've heard about that place, you don't turn your back on anyone."
"I've heard that too," I said. "Archer mentioned having friends there."
"Yeah, he did," he said. "The things he told me would put hair on anyone's chest. I could take you there instead of London."
I laughed softly. "Of course you'd tell me a place was scary and then offer to take me there."
"Harlow St. James, Dusk Bay is nothing you can't handle," he assured me. "Archer's friend there? He'd adore you. On the other hand…" He frowned. "Archer said he has a thing for redheads. So maybe I won't take you there after all."
"Jealous?" I jabbed an elbow into his side.
"Not in the slightest," he said. "I know, there's no way you're going to walk off into the sunset with Ice Miller. Or anyone else for that matter."
"You're right," I said. "I have everything I need right here."
"You're missing one significant thing," he said.
"Zeus's heart in a jar along with the rest of your collection.
" He smiled like he was very much looking forward to carving it out himself and handing it to me, possibly on a silver platter.
I could almost picture him on bended knee, the platter on the palm of his hand.
I winced. "I'm not sure how Cass and Jules would think about having their father's heart in a jar." That might be a step too far.
Boner huffed. "I'll figure something out then. Maybe a photo of it you can keep on your phone. Unless they'd prefer his left big toe in a jar?"
"That might also be too much," I said. "But that's a problem for tomorrow."
"Right, let's just enjoy the night up here," he said.
Tomorrow we'd make plans and get this thing done.
Enjoy your last night of breathing, Zeus. I'm going to put an end to that.