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“While he’s doing that… What are we saying and who’s saying it?” Ghost asked.
“Can that thing make me sound like a man?” Vi glanced around the table.
“Yeah,” Grim answered.
She followed up with, “A Chinese man?”
Grim’s brow furrowed. “Do they all have accents?”
Reaper considered the men he overheard talking in the Chen’s Ohio warehouse. “No.”
“Then let’s not risk it,” Ghost said. “We need this to come off as authentic as possible. A fake Chinese accent might throw up a red flag.”
“Let’s test it first,” Vi suggested as T-Bone returned to the conference room, placing the small voice-altering device on the table.
He pointed at it. “Put that part up to your mouth and speak directly into it.”
Vi did so and when she began to recite the preamble to the U.S. Constitution, everyone did a double take.
Not because of what she chose to say, but because she sounded like a fucking fifty-year-old man.
Reaper had to admit, it was the opposite of sexy. If they ever got into playing in the bedroom with toys regularly, that would definitely not be one of them.
Vi stopped and announced, “Damn, I think I need to keep this in my office. This could be a lot of fun!”
“What are you going to say?” Ghost asked her.
“I’ll just wing it since I can’t predict Sal’s responses.”
Reaper agreed with her decision.
T-Bone slid the laptop over to her. “Just click on the Call button when you’re ready.”
She put the device back to her mouth and a second later the room filled with the sound of a ringing phone.
Three rings in, an unhappy Sal answered. “You’re late with your update.”
“That’s because your little rat got caught in a fucking trap.”
Silence filled the conference room.
Vi didn’t bother to wait for him to respond. “You fucked up by sending that same hitman to take some of us out.”
Sal recovered his shock enough to counter, “You fucked up first by having him do hits on us. Turnabout is fair play.”
“Save it,” Vi snapped. “You know what this means, right?”
“Civility is dead.”
“Dead and buried. See you in your fucking nightmares.”
“Don’t count on it,” Sal growled.
The room went silent again.
T-Bone mouthed, “Did you disconnect?”
Vi nodded, put the device down, and slid the laptop back over to him.
