Authors note: This story is mostly about Cyprus but, due to high demand, I have decided to include some bonus chapters from Eve's perspective. If you are new to this series, Eve was the main character of the first "Silent Heroes" book, which can be found on my profile. Hope you enjoy. :)
Eve
A phone was ringing somewhere nearby, pulling me slowly towards consciousness. A starch-white pillow rested lop-sided across the top half of my face. Pale afternoon sunlight seeped under the cracks and glared into my eyes. I groaned and rolled over, the fog slowly lifting from my brain.
Why did I do this to myself? The wild nights of chasing criminals through the streets were always heart-poundingly exciting. But, when I was inevitably woken up later in the day—either by the sun, outside noise or that stupid, cursed phone—I always felt like someone had beaten my head in with a hammer.
I shoved a rat's nest of bed sheets, pillows and curls out of my face, fumbling blindly for the receiver.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?"
"What? I-I'm sorry, hello? Is this Miss. Evelyn O'Connor?"
"Is someone dying? Somebody had better be dying."
"Umm... well I'm sorry if I interrupted something. It's one O'clock in the afternoon, I didn't expect-"
"Exactly! I was up all night chasing drug dealers on the Mexican border! Would you like it if I called you at one O'clock in the morning?"
"Umm... well... ah... ma'am, I apologize for the inconvenience. But then I think it's safe to assume you are Evelyn O'Connor?"
"I prefer Eve. And did you miss the part where you woke me up?"
"Ahh... well..."
"How did you get this number, anyway?"
"Now that-"
"This is my private line. And did I mention you woke me up?"
"Miss. O'Connor, I'm terribly sorry, but I'm calling on behalf of my superior officer and he he's very interested in recruiting you and the other Silent Heroes for-"
I suppressed another groan. "Oh geez, you're with the military aren't you?"
The guy was still yammering. "... could really use some people with your unique skills and training..."
"Are you even listening to me right now?"
"... of course you would be well compensated for your time and we would be willing to—I'm sorry, did you say something?"
"Look sir... I mean Private.. I mean, whatever you are..."
"I'm a Corporal, Miss. O'Connor."
"All right then, Corporal, we don't get involved in the military. We told you guys that I don't know how many times."
"Yes, I understand your policy for remaining neutral Miss. O'Connor, but if you could just hear me out-"
"I'm sorry, I'm really not interested," I said, and hung up before the guy could protest any further. I allowed my body to go limp and tossed the pillow back over my face, but no sooner had I closed my eyes than the phone rang again.
"Uuuuugh!" I reached grudgingly for the receiver. I would have loved nothing more than to ignore it, but there was always the chance it could be an emergency. Terrorist attack. Hostage situation. Crazy guy with a gun. All of which I had experience in the past several months.
"Hello?"
"Hi there!" said a brisk female voice. "Do I have the pleasure of speaking with Miss. Evelyn O'Connor?"
Okay, seriously, why did everyone insist on calling me Evelyn? There was only one person who could get away with that, and it wasn't random strangers calling me on the phone and disturbing my sleep.
The woman continued speaking without waiting for my response.
"Miss. O'Connor, may I just say what an honor it is to speak with you today. Now, I know you are a very busy young lady, so I won't take up too much of your time. I wanted to ask you a few questions. I'm assuming you're aware of the incident this morning?"
"Incident?"
"Yes, I was hoping to get your perspective on it. Do you have any comments? To your knowledge, has anything like this every happened before. Did you have anything to do with the girls escape this afternoon?"
"What?" This woman was making absolutely no sense, but her line of questioning was irritatingly familiar. "Wait a second, are you a reporter?"
"Even a short quote from you, a sound-bite, something I can add to my report would be-"
I hung up without so much as a second thought and I was seriously considering unplugging the darn thing from the wall—emergencies be damned—when the phone started ringing again.
I yanked the receiver back to my ear. "what?"
"Omigosh! Omigosh! Omigosh! Is this Evelyn O'Connor?"
"Yes. And who the heck are you?"
An ecstatic squeal came through the pone and assaulted my ears. "Omigosh! Omigosh! Omigosh! I'm like your biggest fan! I just think you are so awesome! You're the most awesome person who was ever awesome! I can't believe I'm even talking to you right now! This is so crazy, insanely amazing! Omigosh! Omigosh! Ohmigosh!"
I resisted the urge to hang up again. Reporters were one thing, but I didn't have it in me to be to be rude to an overly-excited fan. So, I allowed her to gush for a while before making my excuses and ending the conversation. I considered it something of a minor miracle that I actually managed to collapse onto the bed and close my eyes for a few brief seconds before another distraction appeared, this time in the form of my door bursting wide open.
"Goooood morning, Eve!"
I made a face and threw the blankets over my head, like a child thinking I could vanish from existence simply by physically hiding myself from the world.
Reza, fellow Silent Hero and sort-of boyfriend, laughed at my silliness. "Deanna says meeting in ten minutes. You'd better get up."
I grumbled something that sounded sort of like, "ajabajafu."
"Wow, that's an awesome story."
A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. Someone was awfully cheerful after less than four hours of sleep. Then again, Reza was almost always in a good mood. It was one of the things I liked about him.
Usually .
"C'mon, Eve. Up and at 'em."
"I don't wanna. Tell Deanna I'm sick or something."
"All right, have it your way."
The room went quiet, but I was not naïve enough to think that Reza had left. He had developed an arsenal of methods for getting me out of bed after a late night of saving the world. The only question was which one he would be using.
I heard the swish of the bathroom door and then water splashing into the sink.
"Rez, you'd better not be doing what I think you're doing."
There was no response. I sensed a brief flash of movement and, before I could react, icy cold fingers darted beneath the covers, under the hem of my shirt and encircled my waist.
"Ahhhh! Rez, no!" I squealed, attempting to twist my body away. "That's not fair!"
"Hey, no one ever accused me of fighting fair." He grabbed my arms, causing goosebumps to spring up all over my skin.
"Ahhhh! Okay, I'm awake. I'm awake!"
"Too late now!" He was quickly back at my waist. His hands were warming up. Unfortunately, the traitorous scum also knew where I was ticklish. I kicked and squirmed, laughing and throwing out unintelligible threats between gulps of air.
"I'm sorry? What was that?" Reza said. "I couldn't hear you."
"Shift into... cat form.. and... throw you...off a...cliff!" I gasped. "Cut you...into...little pieces...and...feed you...to the...fish!"
"That's not very nice, Eve,"
I finally managed to wrench myself free, only to land with a thud on the plush, carpeted floor. I was up in a flash, an evil grin spreading across my face.
"Rez, you are so dead!"