Chapter 10
10
Lark was sitting in her normal position, on the corner of the couch, but this time Kostya wasn’t sitting on the arm. He was beside the fireplace at the front of the living room, with his arms crossed over his chest.
“It’s not good, or it’s good. It depends on how you want to take it,” Lark said.
“Spit it out,” Jase demanded.
Kostya cleared his throat, but it came out like a growl as he glared at Jase.
“Sorry, Lark,” Jase said. “But please don’t keep us in suspense.”
“This is what I found out from the people who took in Ephram and his siblings. Ephram was the middle child at seven years old. He had an older sister who was eight and a younger brother who was five. All three of the children were traumatized after witnessing their father and older brothers being shot, and their mother killing herself in front of them.”
“She slit her throat, right?” Mateo asked.
Lark nodded. “According to Rusty, she’s the woman who took them in. The sister was the one who was most indoctrinated into the zealot’s way of life. Constance only went to school when they threatened her with being separated from Ephram and Lloyd. The boys seemed to adore and fear Constance. Rusty would often find the boys with bruises that they swore came about because of falls. Rusty never saw Constance hit the boys, but she was sure she did.”
Lark needed to speed things up. He needed to get to Maryland.
“So did Ephram recruit either Constance or Lloyd to be part of the Kraken?” Mateo asked.
“Constance died of a drug overdose when she was fifteen. According to Rusty, Lloyd thought Ephram walked on water, and the two of them were thick as thieves. When Ephram left, as far as she could tell, there was no contact between the brothers. Lloyd joined the Army when he was eighteen. He never responded to any of Rusty’s overtures while he was enlisted. She has no idea where he is today.”
“I hear an ‘and’ coming up,” Mateo said.
“Yep, I gave all this information to Gideon. Lloyd Hicks became a Green Beret. He was coming up for a promotion when he took his retirement. Nobody knows where he went.” She nodded toward Gideon.
“Lloyd Hicks ceased to exist. And I mean, ceased to exist. The home address, email, and phone number he gave the Army when he mustered out were phony. There is no record of his social security number being used anywhere. No record of his name being used. The Army did a cursory search when he dropped off the grid, but gave up after three months. I’d say he joined big brother.”
“So, you’ve got nothing?” Nolan O’Rourke asked.
“I’ve got nothing,” Gideon admitted. “At least when it comes to Lloyd.” He turned to Jada who was sitting on the floor beside Gideon. Both of them had their laptops on their thighs. “Your turn to report.”
“I found something about Frank Sykes, the former leader that Ryker killed.”
“And wasn’t that a beautiful day,” Ryker said as he leaned back in his chair and rested his linked hands on his belly. Everybody chuckled.
“Yeah, yeah.” Jada waved her hand dismissively. “You did good. Huzzah, accolades, and compliments. Anyway, my lead on Sykes, I’m pretty sure, is solid. I found where his ex-wife filed three different restraining orders against him in three different states when they were both in their early twenties. The last one was in Pennsylvania. They had two children, a boy and a girl. In Pennsylvania, her nine-year-old boy went missing. She, local and state law enforcement, were convinced that Frank took him. Frank popped up again nine years later. Two years after that, Ivan Sykes popped up when he joined the Navy. He swore up and down that he had run away from home. Frank was never prosecuted.”
“And their relationship?” Kostya asked.
“Ivan only spent four years in the Navy, then he cut his teeth with Decker Worldwide. His dad was already working there. They were both involved with some high-profile hostage rescue ops with Decker, which taught them just what they needed to know to work on the other side when Daddy got the Kraken Elite up and running,” Jada explained.
“How come we haven’t heard about Ivan before this?” Mateo wanted to know.
“He was badly injured during the last op with Decker. He was out of the game. But when I checked out where he was supposed to be living, and the in-home care he was supposed to be receiving, there was nothing. According to the nurse’s agency, he fired them five years ago. But he’s still collecting benefits from Decker.”
“So, he’s an all-around asshole,” Braxton muttered.
“Sounds like,” Keegan agreed.
“If he’s collecting benefits from Decker, you must have some kind of line on him,” Kostya growled. “What is it?”
“Yeah, what?” Mateo demanded to know.
“He’s having his benefits deposited into the same bank he always did. It’s in Oklahoma, but surprise, surprise, it then routes to Lionel Security and Trust Bank in Annapolis.” Jada and Gideon both gave Mateo pointed glances.
“How long ago did that start happening?”
“Five years ago.”
“So long before Lainey started working there,” he pointed out.
Kostya swung his head around to stare at Mateo. “Are you defending her? Are you thinking that she’s not involved with the Kraken?”
“I’m not saying that at all,” Mateo said with his palms up. “I’m just saying that’s before her time, so there must have been someone working with them at the bank before she got there. It’s just one more piece of information I’m going to need to get from her.”
Kostya nodded. “Gotcha.”
Mateo opened the door to his condo after the fourth doorbell ring, the third knock, and the second pounding. He flung it open.
“Oh, it’s you. I was expecting Jase.”
“So, are you going to let me in or not?” Braxton asked.
Mateo let out a long-suffering sigh. “Come on in.”
He watched Braxton take in his duffel and one suitcase.
“Interesting. I can’t remember when I needed to go somewhere that required more than a duffel bag,” he said as he looked over at Mateo.
“Yeah, well. I’m going to be living in a furnished apartment in Baltimore for a little while. I need more than just a change of clothes to make this look legit.”
“Yeah, I heard that our guy MacLaine turned into a Lainey. Gideon showed me her picture. Not surprised to hear that you’re going to park your ass in Maryland for a bit,” Braxton said as he headed over to Mateo’s fridge and pulled out one of his IPAs. He knew exactly which drawer to open to find the bottle opener. Shit, he needed to buy a small fridge for his deck and store his beer there. Maybe then he’d have some of the shit he bought instead of it all being drunk up by his friends.
Mateo watched as Brax came back into the living room and sat his happy ass down in Mateo’s favorite chair and took a long pull from his beer. “This is good. You and Gideon always have the best beer. I hope he gets his place rebuilt soon.”
“Cut the shit and tell me why you’re here.”
“Can’t a friend just stop by and shoot the shit with his buddy?”
“Sure, except when said friend pounds on the door loud enough to wake my neighbors. You’ve got something to say, so say it.”
“I asked Gideon and Jada to send me the workup on our girl Lainey. She seems lovely. I read the part where she adopted her dog from a kill shelter when she was twenty-four hours away from being put down. The pup only has three legs.”
Mateo nodded. “Yep, read the same file. What are you getting at?”
“I’m saying that you’re not the love-them-and-leave-them type like everybody thinks. Yeah, you leave them, but you’re always careful to choose the type who knows the score. You keep up your walls and never let any woman in. You would never date a woman like this.”
“Again, what’s your point?”
“You’re getting a furnished apartment in Baltimore. Just how do you plan to get your information from MacLaine?”
“I’m going to become friends with her. That’s what I would have done if MacLaine was a MacLaine, and it’s no different if MacLaine is a Lainey.”
“Bullshit. I read up on her. Besides having a soft heart and being a looker, she has a brain. She graduated with honors from Clemson University. Don’t lie to me, these are all things that ring your bell.”
“What are you talking about? That’s not the kind of woman I date.”
“Exactly. You date women who have as much depth as a mud puddle, with an IQ to match. Lainey’s going to do it for you, and just being friends is going to be tough. I had it easy when I was in Dubai dealing with that piranha, Amanda. No matter how hot she looked, there was not one redeeming quality about her. As a matter of fact, kissing her was damn near impossible.”
“Who said I’ll end up kissing Lainey?”
Braxton lifted his left eyebrow.
How did he do that? Mateo’s brother Luis could do that too, but try as he might, Mateo never could master the art of the one eyebrow lift.
“Seriously Brax, that’s not my plan. Yeah, I asked her to dinner, but I plan on keeping this platonic.”
“And if that doesn’t work? If you aren’t getting the info we need? Right now, MacLaine Simpson is our best shot at tracking down the Kraken. What then?”
“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”
“All I’m saying?—”
“You’ve made your point. Finish your beer. I need to get a move on.” And he didn’t need to hear anymore of Brax’s warnings.
Brax got up and meandered to the kitchen. He poured the rest of the beer down the sink, rinsed out the bottle, then put it into Mateo’s recycling.
“Mateo, if things get sticky, just know you can give me a call, okay?”
Time to change the subject. “How’s your sister doing?”
Braxton lit up. “She’s doing a lot better. The latest treatment is working wonders.”
“That’s great to hear.” And it was. “When will she be up for visitors?”
Braxton grimaced. “Not quite yet. But soon. Dad and I are working on her. So, soon.”
“Let me know the day, and I’ll be there with bells on.”
“I know, and I can’t tell you how much that means to me. To all of us.” Braxton headed for the door. Then turned around. “By the way, I’ll give you that little bit of deflection, but I mean it. Call me if you need to talk. You’re going into the emotional lion’s den.”
That’s what he was afraid of.