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“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, you 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 you the time and just tell you 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.
“Who is our potential buyer?”
Ares screws his face up. “Nassar Abuladan.”
A huff of surprised laughter escapes me. “I thought he was dead!”
“Who is this guy?” Penny asks.
“A slimy British ex-pat who is usually the chosen go-between for Oman or the U.A.E.,” Eros says. “He’s… not a good guy.”
“To be clear, none of the people we sell to are good guys,” Ares adds.
“True. If we were too picky about who we sold to, we wouldn’t make many sales.”
“I’m just glad that Hades will be out of that underworld after this sale.” Penny purses her lips. “I expect that you’ll need some documents forged?”
“A set of customs papers, at the very least. And if you could forge one of the lesser-known pieces by Matisse or Renaud, it would help to ease our way. Oman especially is always looking for art to pass on to…” Ares pauses. “Whoever the fuck is dumb enough to do business directly with them, I guess.”
“So you just need a painting by one of the masters copied down to the last detail?” Penny asks drily. She purses her lips and flashes a sour expression. “You’re lucky that I really need this sale to go through.”
“It’ll benefit us all,” Ares rumbles.
“If that were true, ye wouldn’t have had to blackmail me into going along with your plan,” I retort.
He pushes back his chair and gets up, his lip curling. “Just do yer part, Hades. And make sure that yer girl does the same.”
I stand up, giving him a hard glare.
“Don’t tell me what needs to be done, Ares. I got us into the whole arms-smuggling world in the first place. Ye have me to thank for every single dollar we’ve racked up since.”
Eros looks over at Penny. He shrugs at her and remains seated, putting the cards down and folding his hands.
“This job should be quick, maybe two weeks max. So let’s just get it done and then we can fight over our petty bullshit after, if that’s what we still feel like.”
