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“Yeah,” she said, ignoring the food. “Why should I trust a man who sees me as a tool? As leverage to be applied against someone else? Isn’t that exactly why I’m here? You need something from him and I’m what you plan to use to get it.”
Rather than be humble or contrite, he raised his chin higher. “We can be allies, Tess. Think about that.”
“What does that mean? I can help you take advantage of my father?”
“You and Harry have never been close.”
“Because of you.”
“Perhaps,” he said, quick to shrug off that truth. “You can blame me for the past, but your father did nothing to change it. He did nothing to change the status quo. Even the notion of eliminating me didn’t come from him.”
She glared. “I’m sure he thought about it.”
“Yes, he probably did. I’m not suggesting you do anything to hurt your father. The opposite actually. If Olympus is to function, we need to find a way to return to how things were. To work together… Trust is going to be extremely difficult to forge.”
In Harry’s position, she wouldn’t trust Zeus again. But she doubted trust had existed between the principals for a long time. Zeus had been the intended target of Operation Zulu, the assassination plot. If Tess was in his shoes, trust wouldn’t come easy… it would be a miracle.
“There was talk of two branches,” Hugo said. “Zeus would work from one site, Hades from another.”
With Garrick somewhere in between or splitting his time? It didn’t matter, the idea didn’t appeal.
“No,” she said, rejecting it after little thought. “You put space between the men and the one giving them orders, they will become fodder. Figures on a screen. Putting them into harm’s way should be a balanced, considered choice. Putting them out of sight makes them abstract.”
“Interesting,” Zeus muttered. There was something curious behind his stare. “You care about the men.”
“I care about human life,” she said and nodded at Hugo. “Even he said that Olympus couldn’t function with a green team. If you don’t hesitate to put the men out there, fewer and fewer of them will remain over time. You don’t want a high turnover either. A covert organization can’t run with strangers in the ranks. Eventually some will say no and may begin to ask questions.”
“Threats to Olympus are eliminated,” Zeus said.
Refusing the gig shouldn’t be enough to get someone killed. Like he’d said, Olympus sometimes had to deal in absolutes.
“It wouldn’t work for you either,” she said. “The concern you have is that the men Harry trained will be loyal to him above you. I assume you’re hoping they’ll be smart enough not to ask questions if Olympus rises again. If there’s space between them and you, you will never know if another plot is being hatched.”
“You’re not wrong,” he said again, suggesting he didn’t like to admit someone else was right. “It creates security concerns too. Minotaur was not designed to be decentralized.”
Garrick would have the real power in that scenario. Whoever he sided with, if it came to a choice, would be in an advantageous technological position. System process could be changed, people locked out, anything he wanted. It wasn’t so easy to do that with a centralized Minotaur designed to take one key, on top of security measures. To be in two places would double the chance of sabotage or revolution.
“So it was discussed and rejected,” she said. “What was the next idea? Elevating someone to Emperor God?”
Zeus laughed, but she just sneered. “If I thought Harry would go for that, I’d have done it years ago… You’re eager to be snide, to dislike me, maybe Byron and Balfour too, but…” He said the word then paused, letting the possibility of what would come next linger. “We are sitting here, offering you a way to help us help everyone. If we cannot come up with a solution, someone must die… maybe several someones.”
“I might be okay with that.”
“I’m sure you would,” he said, their eyes locked. “If you rate your chances of making that happen, take a shot.” He nodded toward her steak knife. “In the right hands, that’s enough to kill someone… Imagine how proud daddy would be.”
His reaction to even the hint that she might do Olympus work was extreme. Murdering Zeus could make things easier for those at the desert house. Trouble was, she didn’t rate her chances. Zeus was decades older than her, but nothing about him suggested feeble or incapable. If she picked up the knife and even got close to him, he’d turn the tables fast. Acknowledging that didn’t make her feel good, but it was smart. And useful. If things in London got to be too much or they kept her too long, she’d have a quick way out.
“I don’t want to kill you,” she said.
“I would hope not,” he replied. “Because I’m the only way you get out of this country… Like I said, I will allow you to have freedom while you’re here… providing you don’t abuse my kindness.”
Tess didn’t want to like him. The truth boiled down to that one simple fact. The hearsay and tall tales about Zeus and his actions flavored her feelings for him. Being emotional, reacting with that emotion, could be dangerous and wouldn’t be measured. She should enter a situation with a new person in a neutral position. But she didn’t have her mom to support her anymore. Didn’t have Daire to watch her back if things went wrong.
Her Heart’s love saved her from ending up dead the last time she’d trusted someone she shouldn’t. The same wouldn’t happen again.
“You said Harry was expecting my call.”
Picking up his cutlery again, he returned to his food. “Our call. We have things to discuss… I thought it was better to do them as a group.”
