Chapter 7
7
Finn bit into the crispy piece of battered fish and was immediately transported back to childhood. Their parents had taken them to Sully’s when they’d been kids, making an all-day production of the trip to Castle Island, which wasn’t an island anymore, but a peninsula.
They’d all piled into the car, fighting over the window seats, arguing until their dad had threatened to turn around and their mom had turned on the radio to get them singing instead of fighting.
They’d spent the day at the beach with a picnic lunch from home, but they’d ended every day at Sullivan’s, a little seafood and burger joint with outdoor seating.
Now that he thought about it, he wondered if their trips to Castle Island had been the subconscious catalyst for the beach days that had become legendary in his brothers’ household.
“You know,” Ronan was sitting next to Finn, but his words were aimed at Clay, biting into a cheeseburger across the table, “if you need a raise you could just ask. It’s fucking freezing out here.”
Finn had to concede that it was a bit early in the year for Sully’s. A cold wind blew in from the water, and the other tables on the patio were empty except for one, which was occupied by a handful of teenage boys laughing and staring at their phones.
Finn hadn’t wanted to come, hadn’t wanted to leave his work on Eudorus for even a day. He’d only agreed because Clay said he’d found something out about Ukraine, and Ronan had insisted it would be good for Finn to get a change of scenery while Declan held things down at the mountain house.
“You should thank me,” Clay said. “It’s good to get out, get some fresh air.”
Ronan stared at the hacker, whose skin was so white it was nearly translucent. If he’d been capable of looking dangerous, he might have been mistaken for a vampire.
“Right…” Ronan said. “That’s why you asked to meet out here — because you were worried about our health.”
They’d been working with Clay for years and it was well known that he liked to work them for free food in spite of the exorbitant fees MIS paid to keep him on retainer.
“You said you had something,” Finn reminded him. “About Ukraine.”
It never ceased to amaze him how his brothers tiptoed around Clay, but they’d all assured him that Clay’s skills were one in a million. If the man wanted to eat a cheeseburger outdoors in thirty-five-degree weather, Ronan would oblige, even if it meant gritting his teeth through the meal.
Finn, however, had less invested in keeping Clay happy in the long term.
Clay wiped his mouth. “You know how we tried to get information about what had been going on in the village where Fedir and Iryna Kolisnyk lived?”
“Yeah?” Finn said, urging him on.
“And remember how I couldn’t find anything?”
Ronan sighed. “Just tell us what you found.”
Annoyance crossed Clay’s face. He liked to divulge his findings at his own pace. “Turns out Fedir Kolisnyk was head of his village council.”
Finn immediately remembered all the times Fedir left the house to attend evening meetings. He invited Finn along when he went about his other business, but he’d never invited Finn to one of the meetings.
“What does that mean exactly?” Ronan asked.
“The village council is the group that decides the direction of the village — whether to allow someone to open a business that might be disruptive, for example,” Clay said.
“Or whether to allow an outside party to mine in the area,” Finn said.
They knew Omni had been involved with mining projects all over the world — including Ukraine — from the information Elise had found on Will Pearson’s laptop.
Clay pointed at him. “Exactly.”
Ronan nodded. “That tracks. Someone affiliated with Omni asked for permits to mine in the surrounding area, either because they suspected they’d found something important or because they’d already done some recon without permission.”
“I’m guessing the town council, led by Fedir, said no,” Finn said.
“We need to pull all the permits issued since Fedir and Iryna’s deaths,” Ronan said.
“Already done,” Clay said, popping two fries in his mouth. “Not that it’ll do us any good.”
“What do you mean?” Finn asked.
“It’s messy,” Clay said.
Finn looked at Ronan, relying on his brother to translate.
“Shell companies, probably,” Ronan said. “That’s usually how organizations like this one — whoever they are — stay hidden.”
“But we can trace it back right?” Finn asked.
“We can try,” Clay said.
“It’s not as easy as it sounds,” Ronan explained. “Some are better at hiding than others.”
“Which kind is this?” Finn asked.
Clay shrugged. “Time will tell.”
Finn tried to suppress his frustration. Even when they got a lead it wasn’t a lead. Whoever had pulled the strings on Fedir and Iryna’s murder was a ghost, one with a lot of power.
They were at the end of their rope with Eudorus, who’d still given them nothing despite the fact that Ronan had become concerned enough to start checking his vitals. When the man bothered to open his eyes, they were still lit with defiance, which meant Achilles either had something very damaging on Eudorus, or even worse, Eudorus was a true believer.
Either way, it didn’t bode well for their attempts at getting him to crack. Finn had overheard Ronan and Declan talking about what to do if Eudorus’ condition worsened. MIS’ business was extermination for hire, but they were selective when choosing their clients.
If MIS was going to hit someone, that person had to be guilty beyond measure, guilty of hurting innocents and getting away with it. Eudorus was undoubtedly tied to Achilles. He’d been present when the amber sample was picked up from Doctor Osman, the paleontologist who’d analyzed it, and Finn and his brothers had taken him prisoner when he’d invaded the house looking for it.
But Finn hadn’t been able to identify him from the murder itself. He’d seen Isaac Fleming, had known Fleming had been present, but the men accompanying him had been dressed in black tactical gear. They’d all looked the same from a distance, and Finn had been focused on keeping Petro quiet and hidden
In other words, killing Eudorus — or letting him die — was outside MIS’ bounds.
“Is there anything else?” Finn asked Clay. “Anything at all?”
They’d already run Eudorus’ prints through the fingerprint database, had already done a facial recognition search.
He was a ghost too.
Clay shook his head. “These people are hidden deep.”
“How were you able to track the people behind Manifest?” Finn hated talking about Manifest, hated thinking about the people who had hurt Elise, but the question had been nagging at him.
The people behind Manifest had been the most powerful men in the world. With Clay’s help, his brothers had uncovered their identities, had made them pay.
“They were public figures,” Clay said. “The organization itself was well hidden, but the people who ran it were in the public eye. Once we started unraveling the trail, there were photos and fingerprints, records for the houses where they met. Etcetera, etcetera.”
“So Achilles is out of the public eye,” Finn said. “Someone off the grid.”
Clay sucked on the straw in his soda. A gurgling sound came from the nearly empty cup. He shook it and set it aside. “Probably? Maybe?” He shook his head. “There’s no way to know for sure, but it’s a possibility.”
Ronan ran a hand over his face. “Fuck.”
In Finn’s opinion, it was the understatement of the century.