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You’ve been warned.
— Constantine, Benjamin, and Marcia
“Where did ye find the bullet?” Eros asks, shuffling the deck.
“I found it with the note in my luggage when we arrived at the hotel. The thing is, I looked for something in my bag after we got off the plane here in Paris. So it must’ve been slipped into my bag sometime after that.”
He looks at Ares, who is still silent. He reaches out and edges the paper aside a few inches, arching a brow.
“What do ye think? Is the threat viable?”
Ares gives a half shrug. “If they could get close enough to put it in Persephone’s luggage, why wouldn’t they just take her?”
“Good question,” I say, my gaze lingering on a suspicious-looking man who leans casually against a wall opposite the café.
My alarm bells are sensitive as fuck right now and right now, they are ringing at the way the man is casually scanning our seating area. But in the next moment, the man pushes off the wall and says something to a man who approaches him. The two take off, strolling, and I let out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding.
“Maybe they couldn’t grab me,” Penny says. “Maybe the bullet was a part of their backup plan.”
“The whole thing is pretty fucked up,” Eros says, his gaze sliding around the street corner.
“Penny.” I reach over and pluck the letter from her hands, folding it and sticking it in the inside pocket of my jacket. “I’m sorry, but I think we should keep ye inside while we are in Paris. I know the weather is pleasant, but this letter makes yer family’s intentions clear.”
She clenches and unclenches her hands. She looks at me, dry eyed, but more puzzled than anything else.
“I don’t understand,” she whispers. “My parents don’t act as a unit. And they definitely don’t keep track of my movements. How do they even know I am not hiding out somewhere in small town Louisiana?”
Taking her hand, I pull it into my lap. “Constantine.”
She looks horrified. “Yes, but… it just seems so extreme.”
“It’s too much of a coincidence for yer parents to have the ability to suddenly track ye down. If they have the information, it was supplied to them by Constantine.”
“God. It’s like that part of my past just won’t be outrun, no matter how hard or how fast I move in the opposite direction.” Her mouth contorts.
Ares folds his paper and sets it down.
“The way I see it, this just adds some additional time sensitivity to our mission. Once we complete the mission, yer free to vanish from sight altogether.”
“Ares, ye are not helping anything.” Eros lets out a silent sigh. “He is right, though. Disappearing would be my first priority.”
I tilt my head. “Yes. I wonder if Constantine knows that we would think that?”
Penny stretches her hands across her stomach. “What?”
“I don’t know,” I say, leaning forward and putting my elbows on the table. “It’s just a feeling. Is there a reason that Constantine would have to scare us off of selling these warheads? I would think that he would want us to quit.”
“Ares, give us more details about the job,” Eros says.
Ares looks around and leans in, dropping his voice.
“The warheads in question are part of a remote, air-launched ballistic missile system. They are explosively formed penetrators. I’ll save ye the time and just tell ye that these missiles and warheads are capable of massive destruction. As a matter of fact, they were the property of the US Army at some point.”
“And you want to just give these things to the highest bidder?” Penny asks. Her condescension is evident.
Eros is quick to jump in. “No. There are several groups that we will not give such large weapons to. Russia. The Saudis. North Korea. Just to name a few places.”
Pushing out my tongue with my cheek, I nod.
