Chapter Forty
Having frozen in mid-step when the black, angular hunk of plastic had begun emitting the man's voice, it took the pair of still-conscious people in Giselle's office a moment to formulate a response. And, true to form, it was Nadia who came up with something to say the fastest; she was not, after all, in the habit of letting herself be talked down to.
"Depends on what you want to chat about. Why don't we start with your name, so we know what to call you? Other than something rude, I mean."
The voice seemed amused by her response, at least in the way an adult might find a child's attitude entertaining. "You're a feisty one, aren't you? Which must mean that I'm speaking with Miss Lawson. Tyrone's told me all about you and what he didn't tell me, I've already found out."
Planting a hand on her hip, Nadia felt herself bristling. "And what have you learned, exactly?"
She could almost picture the man opening up some kind of file on her and reading from it. "Well, let me see. Five foot seven, green eyes that could stop a charging bull at twenty paces, black hair that's usually up in a ponytail, with a pleasing neck and waistline. Not a bad figure, either, if I may say so. It's a shame that we can't be friends, you might just be able to make some of my present associates jealous."
She felt her skin crawling at the notion. "Then I'm glad we'll never be friends."
"Never say never, Miss Lawson."
"Never," she re-iterated, as clearly and finally as possible. "I just don't get along with sleazy, arrogant creeps like you who expect everyone around them to just bend over backwards for them."
The man laughed quietly. "That certainly explains why I struck out so quickly. Shame. But let's face it, you're a small fry here and I'm not interested in speaking with you just now. Be a good girl and go sit in the corner while the adults talk, hmm?"
Orion visibly flinched as Nadia let that last remark process. "Say that again."
The man's tone became a deliberately challenging one; he was definitely enjoying this a little too much. "I said shoo, fly, don't bother me."
Oh, that does it. Marching up to the phone, she leaned in close to the device. Pursing her lips, she sucked in a deep breath and loosed the shrillest whistle she could possibly manage. Hearing the voice on the other end cursing audibly as his ear was assailed by the noise, then the satisfying thud of him dropping the phone, Nadia moved around and sat in Giselle's chair; she was smiling rather smugly and was evidently pleased with herself. It had not been the most adult of responses, admittedly, but she would take her satisfaction where she could get it. She took a little extra heart from seeing Orion covering his mouth to hide his own amusement at what she had done. It wasn't often she could get the man to crack a smile, after all.
Taking a moment to compose himself, the man on the other end was soon back and as smooth as silk once more. "I suppose I should congratulate you on your originality, Miss Lawson. Perhaps I will be able to return the favour in future. In any case; the cameras I have hidden in that office caught your friend's little display a few minutes ago. He is the one I want to speak with and I know he's there. Could you get him to speak a little, perhaps? You could double dog dare him, since you're so keen on the games of children?"
Seeing Nadia beginning to bristle again, Orion cleared his throat. "I am here."
"Ah, excellent; finally someone I can speak reasonably with. Now, I have some questions for you, if you would be kind enough to answer them? It might just buy your playmate a safe way out of the building."
The crimson-eyed man stepped closer to the phone, looking thoughtful. Glancing at Nadia, who was still looking displeased at having been dismissed, he smiled quietly to himself as the beginnings of an idea planted themselves in his thoughts. Pulling up a seat, the very same one that Burgess had used earlier, though of course he didn't know that, he sat across from her. "Perhaps I will answer some of them, though I doubt very much that it will buy either of us any favours."
The man on the other end seemed to enjoy this response. "It's a rare pleasure, you know, talking with someone who is at least in my ballpark intellectually. You know how this works; I'll ask you questions, you'll try to get some answers of your own out of me while you do and we'll see where we end up. I think I'm going to en-"
The man was cut off as Orion, duplicating Nadia's stunt, whistled shrilly into the phone's speaker, opting for a two finger whistle instead of simply pursing his lips; needless to say, Nadia was as immensely pleased as the unnamed man was immensely agitated by this display of solidarity and her giggling nearly drowned out the fellow's second bout of rampant profanity. This time, however, he did not take a moment to compose himself before returning to the conversation.
"All right, you little insect, you're going to tell me what I want to know, or I'll have the team of armed men upstairs get a move on and put an end to you that much sooner. I've seen what you do with your eyes; I know you're a Veil-dweller. Who do you work for? The Rainmaker? Those pathetic, bloodsucking wretches that hide their faces from the sun? Speak up, don't be shy!"
Orion blinked once or twice, but kept his pause down to the briefest of moments. "I work best alone, frankly. I have had several... associates in the past, but we rarely co-operate well. Typically, only one of us can ever be in charge at any one time."
The man's voice curled itself into a sneering, scornful thing. "That sounds awfully small-time to me; it's a shame, too, you're not half bad if you can keep Tyrone guessing. Still, he is only human."
"I have not had the chance to meet the man personally, but I have had second-hand reports of his talents. He is quite the physically imposing specimen, from what I hear."
"He is that," the voice replied, just a little too genially. "But, see, I'm still not quite buying that you don't work with someone more actively. With your particular talent it would be easy enough to hide your affiliations; I imagine that you think it will be equally simple to disguise your escape from this building. Let me assure you, it won't be. I've gone to some lengths to be sure of it. So do co-operate a little more, there's bound to be something you can say that will surprise me."
Orion smiled quietly. "Perhaps there is. As it stands, however, you seem to be the one who is giving me the information I am lacking."
"Please," the voice scoffed dismissively. "I haven't told you anything a Veil-dweller wouldn't already know; did you really think I would make an amateur mistake like getting mad and spouting out all of my secrets?"
"No," Orion conceded, though he maintained a quiet smile. "I suppose I did not. Still, it seems we are not getting very far with this particular conversation. You are convinced that I work for someone and am not telling you to protect my accomplices; I am convinced that you are a blustering, self-obsessed man who has some manner of insecurity that requires him to constantly talk down to everyone else just to remind himself of his delusions of grandeur."
The laughter from the other side of the phone sounded more than a little forced, just as the playful remark that followed it did. "Oh, that was good. Now say it five times fast."
Orion elected not to rise to this particular bait; the man was more than content to continue on without any feedback from his audience. "No? Well, that's fine, too. Let me tell you something, whoever you are. I have no delusions of grandeur; only grandeur itself. I have spent a great deal of time building my empire into what it is today. And what it is, simply put, is the largest, most powerful, most expansive series of corporations and connections on the face of the planet. I influence governments, hold entire cartels of crime lords in the palm of my hand. If this world has any one master, then I am the closest to deserving that title."
The crimson-eyed man felt another quiet smile sliding onto his features. "That was quite a speech. Now say it five times fast."
There was a long, audible pause as the man on the other end fell silent. When he returned to the conversation, there was no ranting, no grand tones, not even his usual arrogant humour. There was only a soft, quietly fuming tone
that suggested this conversation was not quite going the way he had wanted. "I grow weary of the disrespect the pair of you have shown me. I will give you one, final chance to understand who it is you have angered before I leave you. Take notice of the glass case set into the corner of Miss Fitch's office, if you please."
Nadia, already facing the correct direction, shone her flashlight at the corner in question; the light illuminated its contents, though she wasn't quite sure what to make of them. They seemed like part of a decorative costume to her; leather straps dangling from a pair of large, feathery sheathes for one's arms. The feathers were a white-grey and somewhat ragged, while the leather looked worn and used. In any case, they seemed terribly old. "All right, it's noticed; what about your oversized chicken wings? Is there another case around here with the suit?"
Orion seemed more fascinated by them than she was which gave her a moment's pause. The man she had directed the jibe at did not seem to notice this, however. "There is no suit to accompany these. Those wings were crafted long ago by one of the greatest mortal craftsman to ever have lived, along with a second pair for his fool of a son. That is how far my influence reaches; something from one of your mortal myths made real and put on display for all to see."
Nadia was nonplussed by the man's explanation; she enjoyed myths and history as much as the next person, but this one wasn't ringing any bells. And anyway, the idea of putting things on display simply was a bit beyond her. Orion, however, covered his mouth with his hand and then, when he could no longer hold it in, began outwardly laughing, earning him a curious look from the other side of the desk and a stony silence from their unseen host, broken only by a curt question.
"What is so funny, insect?"
"I... I apologize," Orion managed to gasp out, taking a few deep breaths to steady himself. "I just had not realized how much of a blowhard you really were. Did you enjoy your private jokes so much that you had to make so many?"
The ice in the man's voice grew from a few cubes to something more threatening to passing ships. "I don't think I follow you."
Orion smiled, for it was his turn to be smug. He was sure of his conclusions, now. "I imagine not. You thought you were clever, too clever for anyone to see your subtle humour and understand it for what it was. But I know you for what you are. This corporation, Icarus Development Incorporated, named after the boy who dared to fly too close to the sun, but in mockery instead of homage. The pair of wings you had placed in this very office, made by Daedalus, the father of that same child, as a further insulting trophy. The name of the corporation you head that owns this one, Mytikas Multinational, named after the highest peak of Mount Olympus. Oh, yes, the clues were there for all to see. And when I began to take notice of them, I understood that, whoever had placed them there had done so purposefully. You wanted these clues to stare the world in the face because you believed that no one would piece them together as anything more than a series of similarly thematic names. Tell me; did you derive so much satisfaction from holding your secret out beneath the collective nose of others? Are you truly so childish that you would prance about taunting the world that you knew something it did not?"
The man seemed startled and, with no forthcoming response apparent, it was Orion's turn to continue without interruption. "But the thing that convinced me most of your identity, that confirmed all of those suspicions, was the arrogance you have displayed during our conversation tonight. You honestly believe that none is higher in stature than yourself, that all things are beneath you, that all involved with you live and grow because of your involvement. Like the sun itself, if it were given the form to walk amongst us. How fortunate you are, then, that your identity suits your demeanour so very well. Or am I incorrect in my assumptions, Apollo Helios?"
Nadia felt her eyes widening, but kept herself quiet for the moment; so, too, did their host, for the longest time. After a full minute had passed, he seemed to gather himself, though it was clear in his voice that he was not unaffected by the unveiling of these revelations. "Who are you, really?"
Chuckling quietly, Orion leaned over the heavy, wooden desk until he was speaking directly into the phone and dropped his voice to little more than a whisper. "That would be telling."
Before the man could say anything else, Orion's fingers deftly removed the jack from the phone, hopefully silencing their conversation permanently. Turning back to Nadia, who was presently trying to wrap her head around the idea of having been speaking with an ancient Greek sun deity, he smiled with a solemn satisfaction. "We had best prepare ourselves, Miss Lawson. Unless I am very much mistaken, I have just made our host rather upset."
In Icarus' Shadow Page 58