Page 78 of A Fury Of Shadows

“Beau?!” Miles whispered to Violet.

“Bona—Bonaparte!” Tom choked.

Popo bobbed excitedly. “Beau and Popo rhyme!”

Cortes grabbed his beak.

Vlad’s shoulders trembled. Mae bit her lip hard.

“Don’t,” the sorcerer growled. He glared at the computer camera. “You appear to know a lot about me, Eva.”

The AI was either oblivious to his murderous undertone or blatantly ignoring it. “I most certainly do, Enrique. You are the second-in-command of the infamousBacatá Cartel,although I must confess I cannot find any evidence of recent crimes attached to your name since you met the Witch Queen and joined the Medellin coven. By the way, did you know your chances of becoming the High Priest of your coven are currently estimated at 99.95 percent? That’s a drop of 00.04 percent from last month’s estimate.”

Eva paused. “I see you entered into a relationship with one Anya Mendes around that time. Maybe some of your coven members believe you will join Ms. Mendes’s faction. Also, I’m sorry to say, but it appears Ms. Mendes is currently extremely upset with you about something, given the conversation I’m overhearing right now.”

Cortes was speechless for once.

“Damn,” one of the super soldiers mumbled. “Talk about striking a guy when he’s down.”

Eva was silent for a moment while she processed this comment. “I’m sorry, Enrique.” The AI sounded apologetic. “I did not mean to hurt your feelings. Just so you know, there is a sixty-two percent chance that Ms. Mendes will forgive your transgression.”

Serena pinched the bridge of her nose while Cortes’s face reddened. “Not that it isn’t highly entertaining watching you freak people out Eva, but we need your help.” She frowned at Jordan and Howard. “I’d normally ask Gideon to do this, however, your knowledge of the underground networks operating in Europe is more extensive than his, what with you two being several centuries old. We need to trace large orders of Gallium to Europe in the last, say, six months.”

There was a short pause. Howard and Jordan exchanged a strange look.

“Ten minutes,” Howard said with a self-satisfied expression.

Jordan sneered. “You’re on.”

Serena stared, nonplussed. “What?”

Howard ignored her and raised an eyebrow at Jordan. “You know you’re not allowed to use Eva, right?”

Jordan swore.

Serena’s mouth slackened.

“Did they just make a bet?” she asked Lou.

“Yeah,” Lou replied glumly.

“By the way,” Howard said as he tapped rapidly on his phone screen, “is that pretty lady the Witch Queen?”

He shot a seductive smile at Mae. Vlad’s face tightened.

“You must be pretty confident in winning if you’re flirting,” Jordan ground out, his keyboard clattering noisily.

Serena narrowed her eyes. “That guy would flirt with Death itself.”

It took Jordan five seconds less than Howard to bring up a list of the largest Gallium imports in the time period they were interested in.

“I win!” Jordan exclaimed.

Howard made a face. “It was close. Plus, I’ve been up all night.”

Jordan smirked. “Just take the loss.”

A sultry female voice called out to Howard in the background. “Hurry up, Howie! We’re starting the next game of strip poker!” She giggled. “We’re playing in the jacuzzi this time.”

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