I cast a look at the clock, and seeing that it was two-thirty, bit off, “Shit.” Before I could call Aidan, though, I got another alert on my phone.
A flurry of static images popped up on my screen. I set them to shuffle on a loop so they played like a moving picture.
Star.
My brows rose at the sight of her in my apartment. A part of me was mad, another part wondered why she looked so fucking right in there.
As the images played, I saw her head to the only computer that wasn’t connected to the internet and watched as she attached a thumb drive to one of the USB ports.
As she copied the hard drive, she grabbed something from the desk, picked up a pen, then started writing something on it.
She dropped the paper on my desk, took a photo, tapped her screen a few times, then tossed the note into the trash.
After, she retrieved the thumb drive then got to her feet where she pressed her hand to my chair, presenting me with a shot where she stood there, her eyes closed.
That hurt me more than anything she’d just done.
Her regret was real.
Raw.
Just like mine was.
She didn’t have to do that.
She could have asked me for whatever it was she’d taken.
And as I stared at the photos, it was then that I saw the timestamp.
Thirty minutes ago.
But…
Four weeks earlier.
She’d delayed my system, fucking with it so that I received the security notification now.
Suddenly, I knew what it felt like to wait for the sky to fall down around my ears because my gut told me everything was turning full circle.
That was when my system went down. Even my phone restarted itself.
Fuck.
With time ticking away, I managed to connect a call with Aidan on my back up cell that I kept for emergencies.
The second he answered, I spat, “We have a problem.”
**this is a secure server**
Dead To Me: Anyone around?
Whistler: Affirmative.
Eagle Eyes: Affirmative.
Dead To Me: Heard a rumor today. Wondered if you’d heard it too.
Whistler: Won’t know until you tell us if it’s the same rumor.
Dead To Me: Are you always so pedantic?
Whistler: Affirmative.
Eagle Eyes: Is the rumor about the First Lady?
Dead To Me: Yes. Seems like she’s the target.
Whistler: I hadn’t heard that until now. What’s she done?
Eagle Eyes: Well, it’s conjecture. They say she pissed off Dagda. Not sure how the First Lady got involved with the ECD… the state of this fucking country, I swear.
Whistler: How did she piss him off?
Dead To Me: They say that Dagda found out she was involved in his sister’s death.
Eagle Eyes: I heard it was his brother’s.
Whistler: He had a sister.
Dead To Me: You know this for sure? Is she dead?
Whistler: Affirmative. To both questions.
Eagle Eyes: Got a friend in Ireland who’s close to the ECD. Apparently, it was the prime minister there who was the initial target because he didn’t agree with the North and South uniting.
Whistler: That’s changed?
Eagle Eyes: Seems like it. The UK’s pissed at Davidson’s stance on a unified Ireland, so it’s muddied the political waters.
Dead To Me: I heard Dagda’s in the country.
Dead To Me: I wonder if he’s going to deal with the First Lady himself?
Whistler: She might not even be the target. This could all be one big witch hunt and we’ve just been sent in to kill our own kind.
Eagle Eyes: My source says otherwise. He heard that Dagda got some information at the beginning of the year about the First Lady, but he didn’t believe it. Then he got proof. It’s taken a month for him to sneak back into the US.
Dead To Me: What interests me the most is that I haven’t been sent out for a long time but I know you have.
Eagle Eyes: So the US wants the First Lady dead?
Dead To Me: I think it’s more likely they believe the risk to her safety is low. She’s surrounded by Secret Service, don’t forget. They don’t fuck around.
Eagle Eyes: Wonder if he’s as good as they say he is.
Dead To Me: I know someone who saw him in action.
Whistler: Who?
Dead To Me: A friend of mine.
Whistler: Friend of Dagda or foe?
Dead To Me: Definitely foe. He killed her mom.
Fifty-Nine
Finn
Call it fate or luck, but my realtor had dragged me across the river to Brooklyn for a supposedly ‘once in a lifetime deal’ when Aidan rang me.
Standing in a luxury condo in Park Slope, arguing with Eric about his stretching of my principal requirement, ‘on the island,’ I almost didn’t answer, but when I let it ring, and then it disconnected, only for him to try again, I demanded, “What?”
“Finn, we’re heading to Greenwood Cemetery.”
I stepped away from Eric for some privacy. “Why?”
“Because Da’s meeting with the First Lady there.”
“So? Conor’s toys,” I amended for Eric’s benefit, “will pick up on whatever’s discussed.”
“His system’s down.”
My brow furrowed as I twisted away, ignoring the palatial surroundings of the condo Eric wanted me to buy. “Was he hacked again?”
“No. He said something about a backlog of data, but he’s not at his computers to fix it.”
“Where the hell is he?”
“He headed to New Jersey. That Lodestar bitch has gone missing. He wanted to find her.”
“I’m about five minutes away from Greenwood Cemetery. Want me to check things out?”
“Please. Traffic is crazy. ETA fifteen minutes.”
I grunted. “I’ll keep you in the loop.”
“Thanks, bro. Conor says they’re meeting at Paddy’s grave.”
A thought occurred to me. “What about her security detail?” I questioned with a frown.
“What about it?”
“The woman’s got so many men guarding her, Junior, that she probably can’t have a shit in private. The Secret Service isn’t in the business of fucking around.”
“I think that’s dramatizing things,” he grumbled.
“I don’t. And I can’t see her detail being okay with her meeting in a fucking graveyard in public.” I scowled at my shoes. “This feels like a trap.”
“Conor played it back to me. It’s her, Finn. I think Da’s going to hold what Paddy told him against her.”
“Leverage?”
“Yeah.”
“For what though?”
“For whatever he wants.”
“You’re the one who’s supposed to be his heir, bro. Any clue what that is?” When he remained silent, I turned to stare out of the condo’s bay windows and onto a park in the near distance. “What was the reason for her call?”
“She wanted to know where Michael was.”
Eoghan’s reply had Junior remarking, “She dug in deep enough to figure out that Michael isn’t where Conor’s hack says he is. That speaks of someone who cares.”
Brennan agreed, “Da held his location over her head. He wants to talk to her, and he’s willing to use whatever leverage he’s got to get her out in the open.”