Ivan snorted a chuckle. “Of course you know the best.” To his husband, he explained, “Dutch has been in game many years. He’s at point now where he has his own hub of information. He sits there like spider in web, letting all information flow to him. I think we’ve all used him at least once.”
“Oh, it was more than that,” Ari agreed. “Kimmie’s a little newer, about as long as Kyou’s been around, but she’s good. Quite good. I’ve bought intel from her often as well.”
Carter was already nodding, a smile spreading over his face. “Yes. Yes, I can see this working. With those three feeding you information, you’ll be more than set. In fact, with Dutch doing it, you might run into information overload.”
“Quite possibly.” Kyou shrugged, not bothered by that. He’d rather have too much intel than too little. “I can set up an online storage system, let them dump their intel in there every day. That way they’re not having to type up a report just for me. I let my system do a quick scan of it, see if any keywords spark, then I can take a closer look. Saves me from having to read it all.”
Brannigan followed closely, his hand coming to rest on Kyou’s shoulder for a moment, the warmth of it spreading through his thin turtleneck. “How much time does this buy you?”
“Quite a bit, really.” Kyou had to think about it. “Maybe six hours or so a day, I’m just looking for intel. Having it delivered to me once a day will cut that down to an hour. Maybe more, if it’s a light week.”
Brannigan’s eyes went wide in his face. “Six hours a day?!”
“There’s a reason why we told him to outsource,” Carter piped up, voice dry as a martini. “Okay, are we all in agreement that this is a good plan? Any objections?”
“Not an objection, but a question.” Brannigan looked to Kyou once again for the answer. “How long will it take to set all of this up? I know you’re worried about not knowing who’s after you.”
“Yeah, I’m only getting slightly closer to the answer. I think it’ll only take me two hours or so of talking to Dutch and Kimmie, not to mention Tricksy, setting it all up, then the information will be pouring in.” Kyou rubbed his hands together, a feral smile curling his lips up. “And between the four of us, we’ll figure out who this bastard is.”
17
Brannigan
Brannigan sat with Carter in the park, watching the people walking by in a manner that hopefully looked idle. In truth, he was avidly looking for the woman they were all about to meet.
He was all for the outsourcing plan, as he didn’t want his lover dead from a stress-induced heart attack at forty. And he wanted, selfishly, to spend time with Kyou. Two of those informants had already been hired, and Kyou had done it remotely with nothing more than an hour-long interview and an automatic payment system.
This informant, apparently, was special. “Carter, I’m not sure why this woman warrants a face-to-face interview when no one else did. And why are we all meeting her?”
Carter turned his head to give him a surprised glance. “I thought Kyou explained.”
“Not everything. He tried, but we got interrupted twice. This woman, Tricksy, he said she was friends with Ivan and that she knew everyone. Ivan said she’s quite a good thief. That’s about all I know.”
“Ah.” Carter went back to searching their surroundings with a slow pan of the head. It was a lively day at the park with children running around, people walking dogs and playing frisbee in the green area nearby. Their group of adult men and one little girl didn’t even warrant a second look. “Tricksy has the added benefit of knowing us all personally. She’s met everyone but Kyou in real life—even Remi.”
Brannigan let out a low whistle. Alright, that definitely explained a few things.
“She and Remi adore each other. They call each other and talk, and there’s a lot of giggling going on in those conversations. Tricksy is something of a female mentor for my daughter. When Kyou told us about his plan, my first thought was Tricksy—not only because she’s good, but because she’s fond of us. She’s got a personal investment in making sure we’re alright. That’s hard to come by in this business.”
New pieces of information whirled and fit into an overall picture. Brannigan inclined his head slowly, accepting this. “Gotcha. So the meeting with all of us here?”
“Partially so she can meet Kyou face to face. Partially so she can take Remi shopping afterward.” Carter rolled his eyes, but there was an indulgent smile on his face. “I have been reliably informed by both women that I don’t know how to pick out the right stealth clothes for girls.”
Brannigan pondered that for a moment. “I’ve got a sister and mother. I don’t argue with them about shopping.”
“Same. A wise man just lets them do as they like. Ah-ha, there she is.”
A blonde bombshell of a woman walked up to them along the sidewalk, her gait casual in heels that could double as weapons. She looked stunning, really, and part of Brannigan did notice that, but what really caught his attention were the little signs of her being armed—a gun, two knives at least.
Remi popped up from the opposite bench where she’d been sitting with Ari and ran for her. “Tricksy!”
“There’s my girl.” Tricksy ducked down to hug her, rocking back and forth for a moment before letting go. “I swear you grew again. No wonder your stealth clothes aren’t fitting right. Carter, Ari, Ivan, Aiden, nice to see you. Heard about your trouble up here. I bet it was Ivan’s idea to blow it sky high.”
Ivan shrugged and didn’t deny this. “Was fun.”
“You crazy man.” Shaking her head, she faced Brannigan, her eyebrow arched a little in question. “Brannigan Genovese. Nice to meet you. I’m Tricksy.”
Brannigan extended a hand, taking hers in a firm shake. That handshake alone told him he didn’t want to piss this woman off. “The pleasure is mine.”
“And who’s this cutie?” Tricksy regarded Kyou with a puzzled frown.
Kyou seemed amused by the description, if his smile was anything to judge by. He did look scrumptious today in a black turtleneck, leather jacket, and form-fitting jeans that hugged him in all the right places. “I believe this is the first time we’ve met in person, Tricksy.”
It took her a second, then her eyes flew wide. “Holy shit. K?!”
“The one and only.”
Her jaw stayed dangling for a full second. “Oh man. Fucking damn. When you called for a meeting out here, I assumed you’d be attending via phone, like you normally do. What the hell, warn a girl!”
Kyou shrugged. “Sorry. I don’t want to advertise who I am until more protections are in place, and since you’re one of those protections…”
“Yeah. Okay, sure, I guess I can see why you’d keep that on the down low. Wow. What’s brought you out of the woodwork?”
Brannigan reached out and caught Kyou’s hand before bringing it to his mouth and kissing the back of it. Kyou gave him a sweet smile in return.
Not slow on the uptake, Tricksy whistled low. “Shit. A lot of things suddenly make more sense.” Then she looked around at all the men standing in a loose circle watching this play out, and she repeated with more force, “A lot more sense. This group has zero chill about anything affecting one of their own. Poor Irish Mob had no idea who they had pissed off. I feel like I need to sit down. K, you said you wanted to outsource information gathering. I assume so that you have an actual life outside of a computer chair?”