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“What’s wrong,” Seong asked as Bat unplugged the phone and Tiger moved the knife and board away from him.
“Thomas just emailed you,” Bat said, holding the phone towards him. “Peacock is on the island.”
“He’s WHAT,” Seong shouted, jumping onto the counter so his knees sat where the board had been to snatch the phone. His breathing came out in short bursts as he stared at the email. The subject line read “Answer your phone. Peacock is here.”
People were moving around him but he couldn’t focus on them as he hit redial on Thomas’s last call.
Thomas answered on the first ring.
“What the fuck do you mean Peacock is there,” he said into the phone. “Are you okay?”
“No, I’m not fucking okay,” Thomas shouted at him, something that made Seong sit back on his heels. “He knows my name! He knows my handle! He knows Danny plays baseball! He knows I know you! Why didn’t you answer your phone? Why didn’t you call me back?”
Seong’s breath shook as he heard Thomas’s voice crack. “I tried,” he said softly. “Thomas, I- I’ll fix this. Just tell me what he said.”
“Why is Snake kneeling on my—” Felinus started as he and Issac walked into the apartment, but was quickly shushed by Bat rushing over.
Seong pressed a hand over his ear as Thomas cracked like a broken dam, spouting about his run-in with Peacock. Pride filled Seong when Thomas told him about fending off the attack on his phone and for calling Peacock’s bluff about hurting Danny in a public place. He knew Thomas was stronger and smarter than anyone else could ever see. He had seen the steel hiding within him when he had lashed out against Andy trying to blame him. He had seen the man hidden behind the uncertainty born of being told he was worthless for so long. “I’m proud of you, Thomas,” he said when he finished. “You did everything you could have and better than most people could have managed. Where are you now?”
Thomas took a breath that sounded like he was trying not to drown. “Back in the hotel. There was a couple near us who realized something was wrong when Kevin shouted at Peacock. They gave us a lift. They were filming the festival. They wanted us to go to the police but-” He sucked air through his teeth and Seong almost laughed.
“Police are tricky,” Seong agreed with the unspoken part, “particularly when there’s a strong underground.” He grimaced, wondering what relationship Peacock had with the locals for them to allow him to operate on the island. When had the bastard left the US at all? Why did he leave? “Did he say anything else?”
Thomas was quiet for a moment. “He wants us,” he said finally. “He wants us both working for him. He kept talking about it like we belonged to him.”
Seong’s stomach knotted, wanting to throw up as his hand tightened. “Yeah… He does that.” He swallowed. “Stay in the room and do not leave it. No matter what anyone says or does, do not leave that room or open the door for anyone, not even room service. Understand?”
“What is his plan, Seong,” Thomas asked. There was fear in his voice. “He- he can’t possibly be so egotistical to think that we’d do what he wants, right? He can’t- Finnegan wasn’t even-”
“Finnegan was convinced that he could gaslight O’Hare and Issac into hiding his own crimes,” Seong reminded him. “Peacock is a classic narcissist. If he wants something, then everyone else must want the same thing because he’s so great he can’t be wrong.” He drew in a breath, feeling it quiver, and lowered his voice so it wouldn’t shake. “But he can’t do anything unless you leave that room. All Peacock has is his charms and his threats. You are immune to both of those things because he’s nothing compared to the Three Rings. His charms are empty promises of a gilded cage and his threats are child’s play. You are nothing like the sort of people he usually targets. You aren’t alone and you aren’t naive. Whatever he does, whatever he tries to do using his skills, I can block and undo. I will protect you, your family, and your friends against Peacock. I can put everything back together. But do not give him another chance to physically take you. Men like him do not handle being denied well and his ego won’t accept it. You stay put! You don’t leave that room.” He paused, listening to Thomas’s unsteady breathing. “Say it, Thomas.”
“We’ll stay put,” Thomas echoed, his voice quiet. “No one leaves, no one comes in.”
“Good boy,” Seong praised, desperately wishing he could hold Thomas to him. He glanced towards Felinus to see him speaking on his own phone in rapid Italian. “We’re coming to get you. I need you to be brave a while longer and I will be there as soon as I can. I’m going to bring you home safe. Tell the others that we’ll handle passing on information to everyone who needs to know. You four should stay off the internet as much as possible. Even a secure connection isn’t that secure.”
“Okay,” Thomas agreed, still quiet.
“I’ll keep you updated,” he promised. “Keep your phone close and charged.”
“Right,” Thomas whispered, then took a breath. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Soon,” Seong repeated and waited until the line went dead before lowering the phone from his ear.
Tiger was watching him silently, his amber eyes seeming to pierce through him like his name stake. “I know it is a stupid question,” he said in his slow, quiet way. “But I don’t know how else to phrase it. Are you okay?”
A laugh bubbled from Seong’s lips, looking at the younger man. “You speak five languages,” he reminded him, getting down from the counter.
“Seven,” Tiger corrected, “but none of the ones you understand are any good. Are you okay?”
Seong’s legs didn’t want to support his weight. Tiger grabbed his arm, holding him up like it was nothing. “I need to get him back,” he said, his hands shaking. “This is my fau-”
“No,” he interrupted, lifting Seong off the ground so they were eye level. Out of the corner of Seong’s eye he saw heads turn towards him but no one moved. “It’s not your fault. He is a monster. And what do we do with monsters here?”
Seong swallowed, remembering what he had told the nineteen year old Felinus and Bat had brought back after finding him abandoned and wounded. “We make them afraid of us,” he breathed, tightening his grip on his phone, “and we kill them.”
“And we kill them,” Tiger growled, blood lust in his eyes as he set Seong back down.
Taking a slow breath in, Seong felt his legs support him. “I need to do some work to make sure Peacock hasn’t fucked with Thomas and his friends. I’m going with you to get them.”
