“Then, if we do it this way, we get a say in how it’s done. Your brothers, father, everyone here, including me, will be there to protect you. You’re not a stupid woman. You know what you’re doing, and you know what he’s capable of.
“But listen carefully, Sadie. I almost lost you once, and I won’t risk that again. If I suspect for one moment that he’ll touch you, I’ll kill him first. End of story.”
Sadie nodded, then wrapped her arms around Ham’s neck, hugging him fiercely. She could see her father and grandfather in the back row, smiling at her.
“I love you, Hamish Angus McDonald. I promise I’ll do whatever you tell me to do.”
“We need to find him first,” said Eric.
“We could do that by calling him,” said Sadie. “I still have his number programmed into my phone. If he answers, you can track him.”
“No time like the present,” said Eric. “Try to get him to stay on the line, Sadie. Don’t poke too hard, but hint that you were there in Nan Madol, all of it.” She nodded, staring at the room. Pigsty took her phone, connecting it to the system. Scrolling through the names, she reached to hit the call button, her hands shaking for some strange reason. Feeling a pair of large, warm, firm hands on her shoulders, she took in a deep breath and let it out.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Not going anywhere, baby.”
The phone rang several times before the sound of Myer’s voice filled the air.
“You fucking cunt! You fucking bitch, piece of shit lay!”
“Wow, did that make you feel better, Davis? Did calling me names make your little, bitty, tiny dick feel better?”
“I knew you’d be more trouble than you were worth. Why didn’t you tell me, Sadie? Why the fuck didn’t you tell me you were a triplet? Why didn’t you tell me who your father and grandfather were? Why the ever-loving fuck didn’t you tell me your family was RP?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Davis. Probably the same reason you didn’t tell me you were married with two little children. Probably the same reason you didn’t tell me you were a piece of shit, stealing artifacts from every country we were in. Because I didn’t think it was any of your fucking business. I never had any intentions of introducing you to my family, which in hindsight, should have been a warning for me.”
They could hear glasses crashing against floors and walls, the sound of him sweeping things from one surface or another to the floor. When he came back to the phone, he was breathing heavily.
“You’re terribly out of shape, Davis.”
“Show me your fucking face, and I’ll show you how out of shape I am. I’m going to carve your body into little pieces and send it back in a box to your family.” She swallowed, paling somewhat, but when her brothers, father, and grandfather all gave her a knowing smirk, she knew it was all okay.
“Well, that’s a lovely thought, but you’d have to know where to send the pieces. And the mail is really particular about packages these days. I mean, if you send something all bloody like that, they’re going to send it right back to you, and then where will you be? No, that just wouldn’t work. What to do? What to do?
“Oh, I know! You could meet me in person. Allow me the opportunity to kill you myself before my family ever gets near you.”
“Your family won’t touch me,” he frowned.
“Oh, Davis, this is really getting tiring. Haven’t you figured it out yet? We’re one step ahead of you the whole way. The reefs are being regrown. The idol is back where it belongs, although that was a puzzler getting that off the ocean floor. The stone circle is back where it should be, and the Russians and Chinese suddenly want nothing to do with drilling in the South Pacific. Who do you think did all that, Davis? Who?”
She waited a long time, hearing only heavy breathing on the other end of the line.
“I did, Davis. Me and my family. The people I love.” She squeezed Ham’s hand, kissing the back of his fingers as he grinned at her. “You are nothing, and whatever your idiotic plan was, it’s no longer viable.”
“You always were a cocky bitch, Sadie. You thought that PhD made you the smartest person in the room.”
“When you were in the room, that was easy, Davis.”
“Fucking cocky bitch,” he muttered. “You think I’m stupid enough to meet up with you only to have your family pounce on me? You think I’ll just say meet me in Poughkeepsie, and we’ll be buddies again, talk it out? I may not have a PhD, Sadie, but I’m not a complete moron.”
“Tell me, Davis, do you even care about your children? Do you care that your wife will have to raise them on her own, provide for them? Or maybe, if she’s very fortunate, she’ll meet a wonderful man who is willing to take her and the children, raise them as his own, and give them a life worth living.”
“Shut up! No one touches my children!”
“No one. Not even you,” she whispered. “You don’t deserve to have children, Davis.”
There was silence for a long time, then Ham tapped her shoulder, pointing to Hiro. He gave her a thumbs up, indicating they knew where he was.
