Page 19 of The Primary Pest (Iphicles Security #1)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Ajax

Ajax Freedom, you dream only of darkness, and I am the light. I will purify you. I will rid the world of you. I am coming for you.

“You awake?” Bartosz asked.

“No.” Ajax lifted his eyelids and found himself alone in the car with Bartosz. “You don’t really believe there’s a credible new threat, do you?”

Bartosz let his hands drop away from the wheel. “The problem in this business is you can never tell.”

“Have you heard from your guy? Peter?”

Head shake. “Only Zhenya. You’re safe for now, though. Go to sleep.”

“Where’s Dmytro?” Dawn was barely cracking the sky in the east. Ajax wiped his mouth, stretched, and discovered they were in a marina parking lot.

“He’s making arrangements for your things.”

“You got my things?” Ajax unbuckled his seat belt. “Awesome. Talk about service.”

“One of Zhenya’s men picked them up. You’ve been out for a couple hours now.”

Ajax nodded. There was a luxury yacht at the dock, about a hundred feet long. Not a Saudi prince’s luxury yacht but a sleek, sturdy cruiser for someone who enjoyed entertaining on the water. The Charioteer .

There was a gas station near the dock, and a coffee shop. “Since there’s a lookalike pretending to be me, is it safe to get out and stretch?”

“When Dmytro returns, if he believes it’s safe, we’ll go for breakfast. Would you like that?”

“Don’t treat me like a child. I’m perfectly capable of going out incognito, and I won’t accept being cooped up in the car.”

Bartosz grinned at him. “That’s good because your parents chartered the Iphicles yacht for you to stay cooped up in. See? Did you know Iphicles was Heracles’s maternal half brother, and his son was Hercules’s charioteer?”

“They know I can’t stay on a boat. I’ll be sick as a pig.”

“You’ll be fine.”

“No, I won’t. I’ll hurl myself overboard. The threat is probably nothing. It’s probably all imaginary. But this—”

“Don’t be stupid. We’re no closer to finding out if the threat to you is real—”

“Now just wait. I’ve allowed all of this in order to please my mother and father, but I’m a legal adult, and none of you have a job without my consent.”

“Still—”

“We’re going to breakfast.” Ajax gripped the seat so tight his knuckles whitened. “We’re going shopping. But we are not getting on a goddamn boat.”

Dmytro opened the door behind him. Ajax nearly fell out of the car.

“Hey!”

“If Zhenya says you are, you are. While we’re aboard, we’ll convince your stalker you’re in our safe house. We have a decoy. We need to set up a trap.”

“But—”

“Do you want this to be over or not?” Bartosz rounded the car to join them.

Ajax closed his eyes and counted to ten. “Of course I do, but—”

“Then Ajax Freedom will livestream using an Iphicles encrypted laptop,” Dmytro informed hin. “And Zhenya will reroute that content to the server of our choosing. He and Peter want to lure whoever’s stalking you to the safe house door. Do you understand?”

Ajax gave it some thought. “What do I get out of it?”

“You’ll be alive?” Bartosz gave his opinion. “That should be enough, even for you.”

“What about my laptop? Since I’ll be using a VPN, why can’t I have my laptop?”

“Because from what Zhenya tells us, you’re a first-rate hacker, a danger to yourself, and a menace to society at large.” Dmytro folded his arms and leaned against the fender of Muse’s car. Ajax was surprised it didn’t crumple under the weight of his disapproval.

“Uncle Zhenya said that?” Ajax was very pleased to hear it. “That’s cool.”

“ Ajax .” Dmytro sighed. “Zhenya will only let you use your powers for good. For now.”

“At least you’ll get to play with a computer.” Bartosz gave Ajax’s shoulder a pat.

“Thanks.” Ajax shot him a sarcastic smile. “But as much as I want to please my parents, I’m the one with actual skin in this game. From now on we work as a team, or I call my private lawyers and you’re all fired.”

Dmytro narrowed his eyes. “Why would you do that.”

“Because I’m sick of being told what to do. I’m a legal adult. I can totally bounce if I don’t want to be here, and there’s nothing you or my parents can do about it.”

“All right.” Dmytro spoke through clenched teeth. “As long as you know being difficult could harm your situation. Do you promise to—

“Stop talking to me like a child.” Ajax made up his mind to be more proactive.

Maybe it was thinking about Anton, wondering what would make him proud, like Dmytro said.

Maybe it was just… ennui. “I’m a grown-ass man, and I’m done letting people tell me what to do.

Better tell everyone. I’m putting my own best interest first.”