“THE KEYS ARE NOT AVAILABLE to any one person,” Byron said. “All three principal agents will need to work together to retrieve it.”
No way that would be happening any time soon. Poseidon had given his key to Zeus, so the latter already had two. Even if Harry had his, they’d still need Poseidon to deal with the technical aspects of removal and re-installation.
“And that’s why you need Six, to ensure Zeus’s compliance,” she said, then frowned at them. “You can’t expect that the three principals will share space… They could kill each other.”
Maybe that was the plan. Get rid of all the principals, but make sure they brought their keys to the cull, thus ensuring the remaining members of the Six could progress with reinventing the organization.
“They could,” Byron agreed. “As I said, it’s a precarious situation. Before we can worry about personnel, we need to secure the necessary physical resources.”
“The three keys.”
“Yes,” Byron said, watching Hugo refill their glasses.
She hadn’t drunk much of her champagne. Hugo poured more into her flute anyway, taking the liquid almost to the rim.
“Not only the keys,” Hugo said. “Minotaur isn’t the only thing we need to retrieve.”
She assumed he meant JARR. Daire hadn’t known the specifics but did believe something was bothering Harry. From the way her Heart had said that and then gone on to explain JARR, she assumed one was related to the other.
“What else do you need?”
“Don’t worry about that,” Byron said, which was frustrating.
Most of what they’d covered she’d already known. JARR was the question mark. If she could take new intelligence back to Daire, he might be able to put the pieces together.
“I’m not worried, I’m curious,” she said. “It seems to be an obstacle.”
Byron’s gaze narrowed. “Do you fear Olympus?”
“Do I fear it? Why?”
“You’ve been running from it your whole life,” he said. “It would correlate that you might be afraid of the organization getting back on its feet… It could be a threat to you again.”
“It could be a threat to all of us,” she said. “I’ve met some of the agents and know more about Olympus… Knowledge is power.”
“So you’d expose the organization if it became a threat to you?”
She smiled. “I wouldn’t go that far. If the general plan was to cut me loose, you wouldn’t have been so open.” Though the plan may be to kill her. Dead couldn’t expose anything. “Am I your plan to get Hades’ compliance? You know Poseidon will comply.” Because the man had already given in to Zeus when he handed over the Trident. “Getting Zeus and Hades to play nice will be more difficult.”
“Zeus has used you against Hades since you were born,” Byron said. “It’s always worked.”
Her? No. That didn’t tally with what Tess knew of her father. Her mom? Yes. That was who Zeus used against Hades. Maybe he hadn’t figured it out. If Zeus threatened Tess and her mom at the same time, maybe the principal super-agent hadn’t deduced the truth. Harry submitted to Zeus’s will to spare the woman he loved, not her child.
Daire was their unknown. The X factor. They just didn’t know it. Harry wouldn’t prioritize her over getting Olympus up and running again. Her Heart, however, could do something crazy in the name of protecting her.
He knew things he shouldn’t, like the code to restart Olympus Beta. That could extend into extracting Minotaur. Maybe Daire knew how to do that. Harry trusted the boy he’d raised and didn’t comprehend how she’d corrupted his protégé.
“You have to know that it won’t be as simple as that,” Tess said, twisting to address Hugo. “Was that the point of the store? You thought I’d stick around to be exploited against Hades just because I had dresses to sell?”
“I wasn’t lying when I said you can have a life now. Olympus doesn’t want you dead.”
Tess was confused. “Because you couldn’t use me against Hades if I was?”
As far as they were concerned, executing her would be a waste of resources. That’s what she was, a resource. Their ticket to ensuring Hades’ compliance. They’d probably consider him more dangerous if he didn’t have anything to lose except his life.
Daire’s life was the one she was worried about. Erasing her, especially if Harry let it happen, would set Daire on a dangerous path. She’d told her father he had no responsibility to protect her, that she didn’t expect any gallantry. She was realistic about her position in Harry’s list of priorities. How Daire would react if Harry let her be sacrificed? That was the unknown.
“Because you’re useful to the organization as you are.”
A smile contorted her lips. “I’m no super-agent.”
“No. Doesn’t mean you can’t have something we need.”
Cryptic. Drawing her eyes from Byron, she took her focus to Hugo. The men didn’t give anything away.
“What do I have that Olympus needs?” she asked.
“We’re sponsors,” Byron said. “It’s not our place to get involved in the details of how the organization is run. It will be a while before we reach our destination, would you like something to eat? You can get some rest if you’d prefer, you can sleep in the rear cabin.”
“Sleep?” she asked, frowning at Hugo even though he hadn’t been the one to suggest it. “I thought we were going somewhere to eat. Why would we eat on the plane?”
“I said we were going somewhere special.”
The sneaky little… Her fingers curled into a fist. Smacking him in the face might be fun though the satisfaction would be short-lived.
“Where are we going?”
“To meet someone special,” he said. “Someone who’s eager to meet you.”
One was a special meet. Yet, Hugo thought there was someone more special out there. Replaying what Byron said about them being sponsors, her attention whipped around fast.
“Oh, you…”
Exhaling, her head fell back. The fuckers had been leading her around by the nose and she’d let them. All the talk, all the hints, the softening up. She was a frog enjoying the hot tub.
“He won’t hurt you.”
“No,” she said, her attention sinking to meet the former president’s again. “Because apparently I’m useful. Have you been working with him all along? No way Harry knows that.”
Hugo’s assertion that her father knew where they were going had to be a lie. Maybe Harry knew they were getting on a plane, but he couldn’t know that One and Three planned to take her to the enemy.
“Harry is doing his job,” Byron said. “As he always does, he’s doing it well. It’s our responsibility to ensure he has everything he needs to carry out his work. He needs Minotaur.”
“Yeah,” she said. “But I don’t think he’d be willing to throw in with Zeus to get it. They can’t trust each other. There’s no way you can piece this back together with the same three men at the top.” Translated: Zeus and Hades couldn’t work together. “Hades was doing his job, what you asked him to do… But he’s your sacrifice, isn’t he? You wanted rid of Zeus because he had a God complex.” Hugo had revealed that earlier on the flight. “But you’re too scared to eliminate him. You have to win him back. The only way to do that will be to get rid of Harry.”
A searing heat of rage built in her, it tensed her muscles and burned in her sinuses. These men planned to execute her father. He was back there, where they’d just come from, training men for Olympus purposes. As soon as those agents were up to speed, Zeus would demand he be taken off the board.
“If it was that simple, I wouldn’t deny it being a possibility.”
“It’s a possibility, everything’s a possibility,” Tess said, sick with such anger that she grabbed up her champagne to gulp it down, hoping to quench the fire that threatened to make her do something irrational and dangerous. “You bastards.”
“Harry’s men trust Harry,” Byron asserted. “They do what he tells them to do. They love him.”
Which took her thoughts to Daire. Goddamnit. Zeus would want his loyalty. He was probably the most useful Olympus agent. No, there was no “probably” about it. Daire was definitely the most useful Olympus agent. He had a lot of Harry’s knowledge. Tess wasn’t sure that the other principals or the Six knew how Harry had coached his apprentice in things he shouldn’t.
Zeus needed Daire to take Harry’s place or he’d lose control. But Zeus’s plan was flawed in the face of the truth. The seeds being sewn were sealing her love’s grave fate. Daire didn’t value himself as an individual and was protective of others. Her Heart put his colleagues ahead of himself on missions.
Those facts were true, but not the reasons for her certain heartache. No, it was much simpler than that. Daire loved Harry. For all their conflicts, the two men loved each other. And just as father would for son, the son would go to war for his father. Daire still wanted his father’s approval; loyalty meant everything to him.
When he’d believed Harry had broken their trust, revenge spurred him into action. Daire had forgiven his father after learning he’d tried to come back for his son. Tess hadn’t thought a lot about it at the time, but after seeing them together and learning more about Daire, she understood why.
Harry, in a lot of ways, was Daire’s only family, which mirrored Tess’s relationship with her mother. Daire forgave Harry to please him, but also because, like her, he’d had no other place to go.
As Byron said, Harry’s men loved him. They wouldn’t take to Zeus’s leadership without complaint. They could go along with it if they feared for their lives; Zeus could rule with fear. Though that fear only went so far. Agents of Olympus had to be willing to give their lives for the cause. Still, maybe they could adjust to different leadership in the name of survival.
Daire wouldn’t have that much regard for his own life.
Learning that her father’s future was uncertain filled her with renewed grief. There was so much they hadn’t done. So much they hadn’t said. She didn’t even know if he valued her or not. Daire said Harry didn’t know how to talk about his feelings; that didn’t mean they were non-existent.
When would it happen? Would Zeus give the order and one of the men carry it out? Was there a mole? An assassin lying in wait? One of the guys Garrick recruited before they got there who might jump up just to carry out their covert mission only to then recruit the others for Zeus? Maybe all of them were allied with Zeus. They’d been setup in Vegas, ready to go for God only knew how long.
“Would you like to get some rest?” Byron asked.
“I’d like to know more about how you plan to take my father off the board.”
Byron shook his head. “I don’t know how the situation will resolve itself. I can assure you that no one plans to hurt you or your father. Murdering Harry would martyr him and lead to an uncontrollable revolt. If his men banded together against us… It could cause Olympus a great deal of problems… If we erase your father, there will be no Olympus.”
On the night she and Hugo met, he’d talked about the Olympus operatives, about how they were recruited young. He’d said Olympus didn’t have time or the resources to waste starting over on an entirely green team.
“You don’t have to worry about us,” Hugo said. “We’re on Hades’ side. Even Zeus understands his importance.”
Though there was no telling what a God would do when his ego was bruised. Finding out that the people around him and those above him in the hierarchy all wanted him dead? That was a pretty big bruise. Tess hadn’t met Zeus yet, but it was obvious he wouldn’t be the magnanimous type.
Byron cleared his throat. “He’s right. Ares is the one you have to worry about.”
Ares. Daire. Tess was worried about him. Though his safety wasn’t what these men were alluding to.
“Why should I be worried about him?” she asked.
Byron and Hugo couldn’t know about her intimate relationship with Daire. They did know that he’d been the one to track her down.
“Because he’s the only one capable of persuading the men Hades isn’t necessary.”
They’d tried offering him Hades’ mantle before and Daire refused it. He’d been the one first approached about taking over from Zeus after eliminating him. Her Heart had been smart enough to know that the order to execute Zeus would be quickly followed by a similar order to murder Harry.
“He wouldn’t do that,” she said, shaking her head. “He wouldn’t.”
Looking into his glass, Byron shrugged. “He’s valuable and has power over the men under him. Almost as much as Harry … Maybe more… Everyone has endured a lot this past year.”
Everyone except those with their riches and jets and connections.
“If Zeus wants to recruit Ares, why am I the one sitting here?” she asked.
Byron shared a laugh with Hugo, giving the impression they were laughing at her. “The only way we’d ever be able to get Ares across the Atlantic without his permission would be to…”
“Drug him?” Hugo suggested. “Bribe him?”
“With what?” Byron asked. “He doesn’t care about money.” And Daire had the means to get green if he did want it, as he’d told her that day. “He’d have to be unconscious.”
“There wouldn’t be much he could do about it after you were in the air, I suppose,” she said, disliking the idea they’d take away her Heart’s will as they’d removed hers.
Hugo scoffed. “Except snap the necks of everyone present and land wherever the hell he wanted.”
Daire could fly a plane? No big surprise. He could do everything to perfection. That skill wasn’t in her repertoire… not that she could snap necks either. All that would stand between Daire and his freedom were the two men at the table, a security agent, stewardess and apparently pilots, none of whom she’d seen. That was about as frustrating as it was hot. If he was there, she’d be fine. They wouldn’t have to go anywhere near Zeus. Daire wouldn’t let it happen. Unless it involved some larger plan on his part.
So Daire was safe. For now. That was some consolation.
Interesting that the Six, or those left of the patrons, understood their vulnerability. “You’re afraid of Zeus,” she said. “You’re afraid of Ares… Don’t you ever wonder about the monster your predecessors created?”
“The machine works,” Byron said. “If every part understands its place.”
“You’re doing it again,” she said. “Talking as though all of this wasn’t your doing. You wanted Zeus off the board. You took the plan to Hades. He never would’ve acted on it alone. Every part understood its place right up until Six broke ranks… Are you afraid of him too?”
It was difficult to imagine someone more powerful than a former president… other than the current president. Byron had already confirmed he wasn’t involved.
“The situation with Lowell is not about fear.”
“No, you need a link to Zeus,” she said because they’d already explained that part. “You know he’ll betray you again. That you won’t ever be able to plan anything within your group that you don’t want Zeus to know… You won’t even be able to take him out later because…” That was when she got it. “Because if you kill Lowell, Zeus will view that as a declaration of war. He’ll know Six was killed because he was loyal to someone other than you. Zeus will obviously think you plan to remove him as well.”
And Zeus was Olympus, at least that was what he believed.
“You understand our position,” Byron said. “It wasn’t supposed to go this way.”
No, they’d wanted Zeus off the board, Daire in his place, and then eventually Hades, and maybe Poseidon erased too.
She shook her head. “This is a mess of your own making. I won’t let you forget that or put it on anyone else.” Tess pushed the champagne away and laid both hands on the table. “I think I’ll rest now.”
Hugo had to move to let her out. Byron showed her to the rear cabin, then retreated forward again, closing the door behind him.
Tess wasn’t tired, she just had to be away from the men who’d taken her from safety. Daire was her safety and when he found out where she was, where she’d been taken… Swiping a tear from her cheek, she was more afraid for him than herself.
Either Zeus would put a bullet in her the moment they met, or he planned to use her. It wouldn’t work with Harry. But Daire… he wasn’t going to like this development at all.