“You’re all a bunch of fuckers,” Nancy stated, folding her arms.
Maybe Nash didn’t have to imagine that hard.
There was no hiding Eva’s amusement. “It’s not like you to verbalise your feelings, Nance. Tell us what you really think.”
Her best friend waggled her finger at Eva. “No, you all don’t get to be all feckin’ smarmy pants. We’ve all been sent into hiding and if we get caught my feckless husband here informs me it’ll likely be treason and we’ll be locked away for life. No fair trial, no reasonable discussion, just fuckin’ get in the cell and throw away the key. That’s terrifying. I know you lot are used to this sort of thing and for you it’s another bloody Tuesday—”
“It’s Friday, my love,” Paul pronounced gently.
After a glare that made it clear she didn’t care for her husband’s correction, Nancy turned to face the screen once more. “But for me this is all brown trouser time. You’ve bloodied the nose of the biggest and best-funded clandestine bunch of spy cunts the world has ever seen. These bastards have their people in every legit secret service organisation there is. Now every agency believes we’re the bad guys! They think we’ve collectively been exploding shit and murdering. They think we’re worse than Pol Pot, Hitler, Jeffrey Dahmer and Fred Durst combined. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat and from what I’ve heard, you lot have got bugger all way of fixing this. Tell me I’m wrong, I fucken’ dare ye.” She huffed and before anyone had the chance to respond, she went on. “Love the hair, Eva, by the way, love. You’re gorgeous as a raven goddess and a blonde bombshell so I have to hate you for that, it’s the law.”
“I don’t think it’s as bad as all that,” Nash stated.
“Don’t you?”
He paused, raised a finger, then dropped it. “Okay, it is as bad as all that, but we don’t have much of a choice. We fight or we lose. We either take down Tartarus and expose them for the murderous deceptive bastards they are, or we get murdered ourselves or locked up for life. There’s no option to sit this one out.” Nash leaned forward to emphasise his point. “If the Chinese secret service can find me in the middle of Nepal there’s no hiding anywhere. We can sit here and lament our lot in life or we can go on the offensive and take these bastards down once and for all. I for one am ready to destroy their whole castle of lies, even if I have to tear it apart with my own bare hands.”
“And you’re the pacifist of the group,” Harry declared, delight etched across her face. “I may be able to assist. I’ve been doing some research on the Tartarus board.”
Nash had the names memorised: Gabriel Toussaint, Yvon Kerr, Tetsuo Saito, Nathaniel Varco, Hector Kutscher, Nitin Gadkari and his former friend, then enemy and now, who knew what, Jack Pinchot. The members of the board had been confirmed by Pinchot when they’d last spoken, in less than amicable circumstances.
“Research?” Eva asked. “We have the names, but I don’t know if there’s much we can do in our current circumstances. What do you suggest, we knock on their doors and ask would they like to inform on their organisation, don’t mind the treason?”
Harry’s brow puckered. “No, I don’t think that’ll work.”
“I was being sarcastic, in case that wasn’t obvious,” Eva replied in a friendly tone.
“No, I got that.” Harry’s face turned deadly earnest. “But I wasn’t. See, the reason I don’t think knocking on the doors of the board members will garner much is because they’re all dead.”
Harry’s statement was met with stunned silence.
“Harry,” Bishop gulped, “I think you’re going to have expand on that one just a smidge.”
The board of Tartarus were the driving force of the organisation. Of the seven members, Pinchot had been the most powerful—until the mysterious head of the organisation had stepped from the shadows and tried to eliminate Pinchot for overstepping his authority. The identity of the head of Tartarus was something Nash was still coming to terms with. He wasn’t the only one.
Harry went on. “Almost every one of the Tartarus board has died in the space of forty-eight hours.”
“Assassinated?” Eva asked.
“No, of course not.” Harry shook her head, her expression dire. “That would be ludicrous. No. They all died of natural causes.”
“In the space of a couple of days?” Nash asked.
“Absolutely. Two tragic car crashes on separate continents. One heart attack while at the opera. Three household accidents.”
“Accidents?” Nancy asked with the scepticism they all felt.
“I don’t know what sort of kinky shit you’re into, but in my experience one rarely falls from one’s balcony and impales themselves on a fence for fun. Another slipped in the shower, while the last tripped down their stairs.”
“Right,” Eva exclaimed. “So we’re meant to believe that all these people died on the same day coincidentally?”
Harry raised an eyebrow. “What we believe is inconsequential. What the local law enforcement believe is absolutely consequential.”
“And they believe there’s nothing suspicious here?”
“Apparently. As far as they’re concerned these are just one-off, isolated incidents with reasonable explanations.” She leaned back. “Of course, we know different.”
“It’s a purge,” Bishop observed.
Paul uncrossed his arms. “They’re getting rid of the true believers, those who thought Tartarus was a force for good. Maybe they didn’t like the pivot to murder for hire, or maybe they did, and their protests went against the grain once the new leader stepped up.” Nash noted Paul hadn’t referred to the new leader as his father. “Maybe they don’t like whatever the grand scheme is? Who knows?”
Absentmindedly, Eva scratched the back of her head. “Maybe they should have chosen a better side to begin with?”
Nash frowned. “Wait. Almost every one.”
Harry asked, “Come again, Nash?”
“You said almost every one of the Tartarus board have died. You’ve given us six deaths here. I’m no mathematician, but I believe you’re one short. Who’s left?”
“I’ll give you one guess.”
Nash thumped his fist on the desk. “Motherfucker.”
“Possibly, you’ll have to ask him.”
Nancy shook her head in confusion. “What am I missing?”
“Jack Pinchot,” Bishop replied, “the one who was leading the board for a while. He’s not listed as one of the dead.”
