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Juliette whirled around, ready to do battle. “This is a private room.”
“And yet here I am. Since this mission went to shit, I decided to make myself part of the conversation.”
Juliette’s shoulders stiffened. “Ah. So you’re Eric.”
“Pleasure to meet you.” Eric smiled and held out a hand. It was like watching a wolf trying to pretend it was a puppy.
Juliette raised one eyebrow. “You forget where you are, Fleet Admiral. Leave.”
“I know perfectly well where I am, Grand Master.” Eric stressed her title. “Alicia Rutherford has information I need. And I’m not leaving here without it…or her.”
Juliette crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes. “She shot my husband. That means she’s mine.”
For the briefest of moments, Eric’s eyes softened. “I was sorry to hear about Franco.”
“What happens to my husband is none of your concern. You have no right to be here. Because I want to maintain a…working…relationship with you, I will allow you to take your people and leave.”
“Who the hell is this dude?” Langston murmured to his brothers, who both shrugged.
“Too many damn characters in this play,” Oscar replied. “At least she’s getting rid of the Europeans for us.”
Eric walked over to Oscar, calling him by name. “You must be Oscar.” Then he looked at the other brothers, correctly identifying them as well. “Langston. Walt.”
“You’re starting to piss me off, Eric,” Juliette said darkly.
Eric ignored the Grand Master, turning to Sylvia. “And you are the poet. Sylvia. I’ve read your work. It’s very good. I like the way you marry drawings to your poetry. Like your views on romance, love, sex. Very…inspirational.”
Sylvia looked shocked. “Thank you.” Then she turned her gaze to Hugo. “This is your fleet admiral? The leader of the Masters’ Admiralty?”
Merde. She’d drawn his leader’s attention to him.
“Dr. Marchand,” Eric said. “Where’s Lancelot?”
Hugo didn’t have a fucking clue. He hadn’t seen Lancelot in hours. He wished that fact didn’t terrify him so much. “He went after Alicia.”
“Well, given how badly you two fucked this up so far, Alicia probably caught him and is turning him into a skinsuit. Would have been smarter to send goddamned Laurel and Hardy to collect the woman.”
Oscar laughed, prompting Sylvia to shoot her brother a dirty look. “Don’t be a dick.”
Eric looked at Sylvia. “You, I like.”
Voices outside distracted them.
Hugo managed his first real deep breath since Lancelot had left the safe house the second he recognized his voice.
“I don’t give a shit what the fleet admiral said. He’s going to want—”
Eric pulled the door open. “Get in here.” He reached out and yanked Lancelot into the room. “Who are you? Doesn’t matter. You get in here, too.” Sebastian, standing behind Lancelot, looked ready to take on the guards at the door if they didn’t let him into the room where Juliette was.
Lancelot held out a set of car keys to one of the guards. “Dark gray Buick. Rental. Parking garage, level three. Boot.”
“What’s in the car?” one of the guards asked, accepting the keys.
“A fun surprise,” Lancelot said.
Eric nodded at the guards. “I love surprises. You two guard the car. No one goes near it.”
The Spartan Guard were commissioned with keeping the fleet admiral safe no matter what, so neither of them looked pleased about being ordered to leave their post. Hugo could only imagine how difficult that task was with Eric in command. The Viking wasn’t the sort of man to welcome bodyguards. A fact that was confirmed when he muttered “annoying fuckers” as the Spartan Guard headed to the parking garage.
