Grenadine Dreams

11. Responsibility

11. Responsibility

{Duffy}

Duffy made his voice as uninterested as he could when he picked up the phone.

"You've reached the private residence of Janus Bergman. If you would like to make an appointment, you can call his office at 770-465 – "

"Put me on with him, Duffy. You know who this is."

Duffy rolled his eyes. Of course he knew who was calling before he even picked up. Keeping his tone cool and indifferent, he replied, "Janus has a secretary who oversees his schedule. You should contact her. Her name is Amy by the way."

"Put me on with him." The man's voice simmered on the other line.

Duffy pressed on. "There are two secretaries named Amy actually."

"Duffy."

"You can tell the difference because Janus is screwing only one of them."

"It's Jordan. Just put me on with him!"

"The pretty one that is," Duffy mused. "He only screws the pretty secretaries."

"Forget it!"

Usually the end of a phone call from Janus's company brought relief to Duffy, but this time it was different. Out of all of Janus's board members, Duffy hated Jordan the most. He was the only one who would show up at the apartment if he had to.

Which means that we don't have much time before he eventually does.

Duffy pushed everything on his desk to the side in search of his phone. He found it hiding under an empty, upturned Big Mac box. The magus considered calling his employer, but he knew his call would be ignored – especially if Janus was still inside a department store.

So he decided to text him instead.

< Jordan rang. Get your ass home. >

After sending the text, Duffy tucked his phone back under the McDonald's debris so that he could find it again. Then he leaned back in his office chair, removed his glasses, and gently pinched the bridge of his nose.

Pinpointing the exact whereabouts of their new target had drained him considerably. The djinni-made that they had locked onto was using some kind of elevated magic to disguise his flame. He (or she) was nothing more than a flicker on Duffy's instruments.

Duffy inhaled aggressively.

Finding the djinni is not the problem. It's Janus and his damn impatience.

No matter how much Duffy tried to explain that he needed to work alone and without distractions, Janus could not help himself. All week, the collector hampered the magus with unnecessary questions and probed him incessantly about when they could leave.

Duffy had to resort to casting charms on his office doors in order to keep Janus out. But that was only a temporary solution.

Even though Duffy could hold Janus off for a while, he could do nothing to prevent his employer's restlessness. This happened every time they were on the trail of a rogue djinni.

Not to mention that so much time has passed since our last catch.

Duffy didn't expect Janus to get this bad. The magus didn't find out until recently that Janus wasn't showing up at work . . . and instead was indulging in retail . . . and spa treatments . . . and gentlemens' clubs.

At least he brought his imaginary friend with him today.

Duffy groaned and spent the next few seconds vigorously massaging his temples. This wasn't uncommon behavior for Janus, but his current company wasn't used to seeing him like this. Duffy never had problems scheduling Janus's vacations to align with his next bounty hunt. But lately there haven't been many rogue djinn coming up on the instruments. The last one appeared about six years ago. Duffy was able to pin her down, but Janus and Sabur came up short. The djinni managed to fight them off and elude them long enough to permanently break into the Known.

Janus had returned from that hunt more furious than ever. He and Sabur spent the next few weeks encased in each other's flames. Duffy provided an excuse on Janus's behalf, informing the firm that his employer was recovering from food poisoning from a wild fruit. Janus had been traveling in Myanmar, so no one questioned the legitimacy of Duffy's claim.

This time, however, was different. Janus had just returned from an extended holiday. And now he was skipping his board meetings, which naturally attracted unwanted suspicion from his people. Of course Duffy was the one who had to deal with them while Janus ignored every call and email.

Duffy's eyes opened when he heard the elevator ping at the end of the hall. He moved as fast as he could, thrusting his body out of the office chair and swinging the door open.

Janus swept in with plenty of designer shopping bags and his ifrit floating close behind. Even though Sabur was massive, he was completely invisible to non-sorcerers.

Janus pushed his sunglasses up his forehead.

"I got your text. Can you just stall them for a few more days? I need to –"

Duffy slapped the bags out of Janus's hands.

"You can forget it. Tomorrow you are going to put on a suit, go to work, fuck your secretary, come home, sleep and then do the same thing the next day."

Sabur gave a warning growl, but Janus seemed unperturbed. He said, "You told me this morning that you got a lock on our target, which means that we need to leave soon."

If Sabur wasn't hovering there like a guardian devil, Duffy would have pushed Janus down. Slapped him. Drop-kicked him. Something.

Instead, he spoke very slowly as if addressing a stubborn old man. Or a child.

"Yes, that is true, but you can't leave your company right now. You have responsibilities! They need you to sign contracts. Make acquisitions. Close deals with other massive, multi-billion dollar companies. And whatever the hell else you do there. Janus, you need to do your freaking job right now!"

Janus gave Duffy a blank look. "So . . . when did you say we can leave?"

Duffy shoved his phone against his chest.

"When your executive board says so."