Chapter 19
Is someone trying to get to me through Thea? Does Corey’s reach extend as far as the hospital?
The hospital still uses an encrypted paging service that doesn’t run on Wi-Fi or cellular networks. That doesn’t mean it isn’t hackable. Sean said nothing to Thea while he was waiting for her, but he was already working on tracing the incoming pages. His own encrypted program allowed him to infiltrate the system and discover Thea’s beeper log.
Someone accessed the hospital’s system remotely. That’s not how it’s supposed to work. A doctor can receive messages when they aren’t at the hospital, but they shouldn’t receive pages sent away from the medical facility. There are a handful of people I know who have the skill to hack into a system and do that. The first who comes to mind is Lorenzo. Considering we’ve been trying to fuck him over lately, he’s at the top of my list.
The next are Anton Kutsenko and Sergei Andreyev— the bratva. They have their Ivy League educations and believe that makes them both superior to all the other families’ computer experts. Bully for them they went to UPENN where Sergei got into hacking. My baby brother went to Cornell, which has the highest ranked Computer Science program of all the Ivies right now. He’s just not a showoff. Plus, he has that degree in national security and all.
And finally, at the bottom of the barrel is Joaquin. He’s by no means an idiot or uneducated. He went to MIT, so he has the training to create the programs his family needs to fly under the radar for everything. He has plenty of experience hacking, too. His shortcoming is his impatience. He doesn’t always dig far enough, and he can be sloppy. He’s a D’s get degrees kinda guy. We know he was at the top of his class, but he’s a minimalist when it comes to effort. He sailed through his classes because he’s naturally that smart. But when something calls for hard work, he bails or does a half ass job. I’m not convinced he’d attempt to disguise the call routing as much as what Sean explained to me. But I won’t discount him by any stretch. The least likely answer is often the right one.
Even if we figure out the who, that doesn’t explain the why. Why use Thea to get to me besides knowing it’ll piss me off more than anything else? Is that the sole reason? What does scaring her or pissing me off gain them? Do they think I’ll be rash and lash out without aforethought?
The questions are on a loop in my mind as I run payroll for all our businesses. If other people didn’t depend upon me to get paid accurately and on time, I would have ditched this in a heartbeat and gone to the hospital. I would have been Thea’s guard. But I don’t have the luxury of being irresponsible like that. Not like Tres J’s or Carmine— that shitbag. He might appear like he’s repentant and matured, but he’s still a big bag of arse. Spoiled and petulant since we were all kids. He may have gone to Stanford, but he graduated from USC— University of the Spoiled Child. He’s an only, and his parents think the sun shines out of his arse.
How he convinced his wife to marry him is beyond me. He humiliated her at Salvatore’s wedding reception about fourteen years ago. He fucked Maria’s best friend in the restroom right before his uncle announced his betrothal to Serafina. He was straightening his tie and smoothing back his hair when he walked in. The girl’s dress was barely back in place. Carmine and Serafina actually love each other, so it wasn’t an arranged marriage after all. Fuck if I know what she sees in him.
Get your mind back on what matters.
Thea.
I have a list of suspects, but no evidence. Sean’s still working on it and will keep going until he cracks it. He’s the quietest of us, the slowest to anger, and the most patient. It means he’s a fucking dog with a bone when he commits to something. Speak of the devil.
I turn from the entrance to my kitchen when I hear someone unlock my door. It’s biometric, so not just anyone can come in.
“Hey. Cormac’s at the hospital and in place. I don’t know how Ally does it. From the moment I got there until the moment I left, she had maybe an hour off cumulatively. I’d be running on fumes.”
“I knew she was amazing the moment I saw her. Did you find anything?”
“They originated from a burner in Trenton.” What Sean says surprises me.
That’s two hours south of Manhattan in New Jersey. “Do we know anyone down there other than the O’Briens?”
If we were a medieval feudal system, they would be our vassals. They run Trenton because we allow it. We can’t be all the places all the time, so we have lesser mob families oversee certain cities. Trenton is one of them. We had some trouble with them a few months ago. Besides fucking the Mancinellis over, we wanted the ATF and FBI off our case after the head of the O’Brien family disappeared. By that, I mean we held him hostage at our place in Staten Island, in the dark with the very least amount of food and water to sustain him, until we took him to the station in the Bronx two weeks later. He’s sediment in the Long Island Sound.
People still make jokes about cement shoes and swimming with the fishes in the Hudson or the East River. We know the bratva uses the Flushing River. We prefer the Sound since it’s wider and goes out to the ocean. Bodies might decompose faster in freshwater than saltwater, but they never go into the Sound as anything but ash or acid disintegrated sludge.
Sean shakes his head. “The O’Briens are the only ones who’ve mattered. But it’s possible someone’s getting froggy and thinks they can make a move on us. Maybe make us think it’s the O’Briens.”
“How connected are they to Boston?”
“We’re all Irish. What do you think?”
Boston’s like Mecca for Irish Americans. The O’Briens arrived in Boston around the same time as the O’Rourkes arrived in New York. They stretched themselves too thin when they tried to seize control from us here. They wound up with the O’Malleys taking Boston from them, and us kicking them all the way down to Trenton. They were lucky to survive because the O’Malleys weren’t going to let them.
“Yeah, but they’re watered down Irish. Their idea of showing Irish pride is ordering Irish car bombs for everyone on Paddy’s Day.”
St. Patty’s to most Americans or even St. Paddy’s to a few. Many Irish stick with just Paddy’s Day. It’s what we grew up saying. And as for Irish car bombs— yes, please remind all of us of the Troubles. Some fucker gave Mair a hard time at McGinty’s one night after she’d had a few to drink, and her accent came out. The douche kept offering to buy her car bombs, not knowing she’s married to Dillan. She lost a family member in an IRA bombing.
She finally lost her shite when he tried to touch her arse and called her a bitch for not taking the drink. She kneed him and was ready to break a bottle across his face if Shane hadn’t intervened. Dillan heard the ruckus in the back, came out to see what was happening, and went completely ballistic. He grabbed the guy by the front of his shirt and practically lifted him off his feet while he shook him. The guy was still holding his crotch from Mair kneeing him. Dillan made him apologize to Mair, who laughed in his face and dumped the car bomb over his head.
He’s banned from everywhere a syndicate family owns. We hate each other, and we’ve done some fucked-up shite to the women in one another’s families at this point— even the saintly Kutsenkos. But an outsider comes near our women? We make sure everyone knows, and they get banned from bars, restaurants, and most jobs. That’s how far our reach is.
Sean snorts at my last comment. “Watered down they may be, they still like to claim they’re more Irish than the rest of us. Having a common last name doesn’t make them more Irish. It makes them a dime a dozen.”
“Find out what Gareth is up to now that his dad’s dead.” Gareth is a fucking Welsh name.
“And if it isn’t him?” I knew he’d say that.
“It most likely isn’t, but he could do with a healthy scare to keep him in his place. Are you still hacking the others?” The others— the other three families.
“Yeah. Still nothing coming from their usual channels. I’m certain they still don’t know I found them. Not even Sergei and Anton.” He rolls his eyes.
If Sean weren’t basically a spook for his mob family, the CIA and NSA would beg him to spy for them.
“I need to deal with Corey. Rowan and Riley aren’t an issue anymore now that Joey and his brothers are back. I want to fuck with Corey a bit and make him think I’ll get him more pull with Ewan now that he’s taken over from Rowan. Let’s see how far the apple rolled from that tree. I’ll make Corey think it’s the price I’m willing to pay to get him to leave Thea alone.”
“He has no idea he’s about to die, and his club is ours, does he?”
“Nope.”
Here in NYC, there’s the Iron Order Motorcycle Club. Clean and dirty cops belong to it. Well, if they belong to it, they’re not so clean. Tarnished and dirty cops belong, and they love a good rivalry. They’d eat this shite up about a gang from Boston being down here. All I would have to do is wind them up and let them go. That’d take care of the men who rode down with Corey.
I’d cause a fucking riot. I lost my shite over what Tony said about Thea. I’m not going down that road with a bunch of NYC cops going after club members from up north. That’s not what this is about. This is about Corey going after Thea. I’ll make sure he lives long enough for him to remain useful until I terminate our arrangement.
“You’re sure Dillan’s going to be cool with all of this?”
It’s a reasonable question. Usually everything goes to hell in a handbasket when any of us get a bug up our arse and strike out on their own.
“Dillan’s already given me the go ahead to do what I feel is necessary to protect Thea. He knows I’d stop if he ordered me to, but he knows better than to give that order.”
“She is your woman, after all.” Sean grins at me.
“I dare you to say that in front of Thea or Mair.”
He pretends to shiver. “I’ll pass. Where are you going to be if I find something new?”
“Corey is gauche as fuck. He got a hotel room at the Waldorf. I’m certain he’ll have company, but I’ll make sure the hookers are gone before he and I chat. By the end, I’ll have him thinking Ewan’s a chump he can walk all over. The kid’s got brass balls, so that won’t play out well for Corey’s members still up in Boston. In the meantime, get Seamus over to Rosedale.”
I own a bar out there called Connacht. It’s named for one of the ancient kingdoms and one of the four provinces of Ireland. It’s where our family hales from. Where the O’Rourkes once dominated. I can almost guarantee Corey’s men will go to Queens to drink there since it’s no secret it’s mine. McGinty’s is too popular for them to pull off anything. Rosedale is an affluent area where they’ll stick out like a sore thumb if they go in their jeans and leather vests.
They’ll do that on purpose because they can afford the overpriced drinks and would blend in if not for their clothes, tats, manners, and attitude. But it’ll make them easier for Seamus and our guys to spot. As the owner’s cousin, it’ll make sense for him to be there since his red hair, freckles, and green eyes will make him stand out just as much as the bikers, but for a different reason.
“Anything you want Shane to do? Cormac’s at the hospital for the night, right?”
“Yeah. See if Shane can relieve Cormac in the morning if I can’t go. I’ll call Dillan on the way to the Waldorf and see if he wants to deal with Gareth and the O’Briens.”
“Sounds good. Be careful. Corey is fucking batshit crazy if he went after Ally when he knows you’re together. That makes him unpredictable.”
“I know.” We turn toward the door. “Actually, can you have Shane look into Ted? Thea said some guy shoulder checked him at the hospital today. She didn’t see them pass anything to each other, and she said Ted checked his pockets. Short of someone else I trust checking them, I won’t believe they’re empty.”
“Sure thing, Doubting Thomas.”
My little brother goads me, but he won’t disagree. I know he wants nothing to happen to Thea, so he’s not being flippant about her safety. He’s just doing what little brothers do: being annoying.
We have people working all over the city for us. That includes the highest end restaurants, bars, night clubs, and strip clubs— many owned by our rivals —along with hotels, sports clubs, coffee shops, and cigar and vape shops. Anywhere people with money go to spend it.
It makes it easy for us to get access to places we shouldn’t like a hotel’s reservation software. It only takes a name for the woman at the front desk to give me a key card to Corey’s room. I knock on the door and wait. I hear giggles. Gross. I knock again. Still nothing. Good. He’s unlikely to be in a position— literally —to fight back. I let myself in and want to gag. The stench of sex fills the air. It’s never pleasant when it’s someone else’s.
“Corey, we need to talk.”
One of three women spins around and recognizes me. She works at one of our casinos. Hmmm. I didn’t know she was moonlighting. Her eyes nearly pop out of her head. She runs to grab her clothes.
“We need to go. Now.” She’s whispering to the other women, but it comes out as a hiss.
“Let’s chat on Monday, Stephanie.”
She looks like she might be sick. I haven’t taken my eyes off Corey since I recognized Stephanie, and she recognized me. I lean against the wall with my arms crossed, and my right ankle crossed over my left shin. I look smug and bored. I can tell because there’s a mirror straight across from me. The women are still pulling on their clothes as they run from the room. The moment the door closes, and I see we’re alone, I pull a gun from my shoulder holster. I make sure Corey can see I have the other one. I lift a robe off an armchair with my pistol and fling it at him.
“Cover your wee willy before I laugh and can’t stop.”
“What do you want, Finn? I helped your guys take care of Rowan and Riley.”
“Yes. That was restitution for what you’ve already done to Thea. We still need to talk about staying away from her family and her. We didn’t get to that last time. You were a little too distraught.”
After I saw Corey at his home, I made another house call on the way to the airfield to make sure he understood I wasn’t giving him a suggestion, but a command. He was practically shiting himself when I burst into his clubhouse and started shooting at shite on the walls and behind the bar. Then I started shooting at people until he ran out of the office. I turned my gun on him while my guys blocked him from leaving. I thought he was going to have a stroke from the way the vein in his neck stood out. That was before I discovered what happened to Thea at that place.
“You’d like to live. That means you must continue to be useful to me. If you’re not, then there’s no reason for you to breathe. You sure as shite don’t matter in Boston now that Rowan and Riley are dead. Ewan couldn’t care less about you. If you want to remain relevant, I’d do as I say if I were you. Irrelevant shite gets forgotten when it’s gone.”
“Ewan knows the deal still stands even if his dad is dead.”
“Have you met Ewan? No, it doesn’t. He wouldn’t give two fucks what his dad or his granddad did before him. He thinks he’s going to breathe new air into his family. He thinks he’s going to modernize them. And do you know who he’s going to emulate? My family.”
Rowan got some girl knocked up at sixteen, so his son is already twenty-seven, even though Rowan was only a decade or so older than me. We’re all closer in age to Ewan than Rowan, but we can all remember Rowan as a whiny arse little bitch teenager.
I keep my gun pointed at Corey as I walk to the chair across from him. Blessedly, he has the robe on. I look relaxed and comfortable, but he knows better than to believe I am.
“Here’s how it’s going to go, Corey. You’re going to ride your arse back up to Boston. You’re going to see Ewan and tell him you heard we have another shipment coming through Belize with more kilos than the last one we sent through Boston. You’re going to tell him you can get him an in with the Cardinals and the Dawgs since your members are so similar. You’re going to tell him you’re the only one who can make that connection. You’re going to tell him it was the Viscusos who took out his dad because Rowan wasn’t paying attention to anything but revenge for me taking back what was mine.”
Ewan won’t believe a damn word of this and will know Corey is lying. It’s not that Corey is a shite liar. He’s actually pathologically good. Ewan’s an old soul. He’s way smarter— therefore, potentially a greater threat —than his dad and uncle combined. He and I are cordial, and he’ll realize I did him a favor by bumping off his dad. He’s been considering patricide for years. I took care of it for him.
After I let Corey set himself up, I’ll confirm Ewan’s suspicions that Corey is full of shite and that I’m the one who took care of Rowan. That’s two favors he owes me for the drugs and diming out Corey. I’ll make it a hat trick by letting Ewan fool his men into thinking he was the one who got that shipment off us. He needs something big like that early on to establish he’s the new alpha.
“I’ll do that for a price, Finn. Get Althea’s father to accept my help.”
I grin. “You are stupid, but you aren’t that stupid. You went after my girlfriend. The only reason you’re alive is because you’re useful. But you are out of your mind if you think I’m letting you strong-arm Althea’s family. You’re lucky I didn’t put a bullet through your empty head just for saying her name. The only price being paid is the one I’m collecting. Your life is worth what I told you to do. If you don’t, then it’s worthless.”
It”s been worthless since the moment he got Thea involved in his club bullshit. He just didn’t know it back then.
“You’re getting on your bike tomorrow, and you’re going home.”
I feel my phone vibrate. I dig into my pants pocket and pull it out. A quick glance tells me what I suspected. I tap on a photo and turn it toward him.
“Alone.”
I tack that on once I know he’s registered the image. Seamus and our guys took care of Corey’s posse. It means he’ll be rolling back into Bean Town without an entourage. I’m risking him not making it home if the right people see he’s unprotected. But I really couldn’t care less one way or another. We’ll find another way to make Ewan our bitch as payback for his father trying to fuck us over.
I shake the phone before thrusting it in his face.
“Breathe in the Gallaghers’ direction, and you’ll wind up just like them.”