Page 38 of The Primary Pest
“Ajax Freedom.” Dmytro said it with a tinge of disgust. “Tell me about the billionaire brat pack and all that entitled behavior because that’s… not really you, is it?”
“How would you know?” Ajax scoffed. “I’ve had access to the best of everything all my life. People fall all over themselves to please me. Ofcourse I’m an entitled jerk.”
“I… don’t see it.” Dmytro studied him carefully. “Anymore.”
Ajax gave a chuckle. “Just wait, baby. Because I’m sure a meltdown is coming, and when it does, you won’t know what hit you.”
“It did,” Dmytro pointed out. “It has.”
“When? Packing? Leaving? That fast-food thing?Pfeh.” He waved his hand dismissively. “I was just warming up with the fast-food thing.”
“What Irememberis you gave your scarf to someone who needed it more.”
“Well… that.” He let his hair fall over his eyes. “I have a million scarves.”
Dmytro glanced out the window. “You refused to leave Muse until she got help, and the danger there might have been very real.”
“We had no proof of that. It’s my parents who believe I’m in danger. Those notes—”
“Would be terrifying to any parent.” Dmytro was a parent. He’d kill anyone who threatened his daughters, and no one would ever find the body.
“Any parent who’s never been on the web. Believe me. Threats like those are a dime a dozen. You could post a smiley face and get threats like those. It’s probably a Russian bot.”
“Zhenya believes the threat. And I assure you, he’s not in the habit of wasting the clients’ money.”
“If you say so.” Ajax settled back into his seat. “How come you don’t drive?”
Dmytro lifted his hand to feel for the thick scar on the back of his head. “I got a head injury on the job. Right afterward, I had some seizures, so now I’m under observation. I’ll get to drive again when enough time has passed without one.”
Ajax tightened his lips. “I hate that anybody might be injured because of me.”
“That’s the job, Ajax.” He’d said the words softly—uttered Ajax’s given name with too much familiarity. Now he wanted to catch hold of it and pull it back because it said too much about him. Ajax had heard the difference. His expression said he liked it.
“I didn’t mean for things to go so far,” Ajax finally confessed. “I knew what I said on those videos and podcasts crossed a big fat line, but it seemed like the more I put a target onmyback, the more people engaged with each other. I mean, even if it was against me, I thought I was making people think. Negotiate. Communicate. Come together.”
Dmytro sighed. “I can truly see how you’d believe that, but you were naive.”
“Okay, maybe. But now everyone ‘thinks’ I’m a jerk.” He used air quotes.
“I don’t think you’re a jerk,” Dmytro offered. “You simply chose the worst possible way to achieve what you believe in.”
“I’m not sorry.”
“Yes, you are.” Dmytro turned away and pulled out his phone. A thick silence descended again.
“Everything okay back there?” Bartosz eyed them both in the rearview mirror.
Ajax wrapped his arms around himself. “I don’t suppose you remembered to ship all my things ahead.”
“Ha, ha.” When Bartosz braked for a red light, he turned. “If you need medication, I’ll make certain you have it wherever we’re going.”
“Where’s that?”
Bartosz said, “That’s need-to-know.”
“Ineed to know.” He stared from one man to the other. “Honestly? Do you seriously think I’m leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for someone who wants to purify me ‘for the good of the world’?”
“No, we don’t think that.”
