Page 80 of Redemption

“Was Russia Volgograd?” I grab another pin to narrow our focus.

“Aye,” he admits. “We were going after Demid’s assets.”

Lorcan picks up different colored pins and sticks them in the cities where bombs were delivered.

Carys frowns and peers over the table. “These are places where Van de Berg Ammunitions has branches.”

“Except Cork,” I say. We already deduced as much about the other locations.

“Even Cork.” Thomas gestures to his brother Connor. “What’d you tell me the other day?”

“Met Charles in Cork for lunch last week. He reckons the new build is on track.” Connor clicks something on his phone and passes it to Lorcan.

I peer at the phone around Lorcan’s shoulder and the banner across the top of Van de Berg Ammunitions webpage declares their expansion. The grand opening of their office building on the outskirts of Cork is in four days.

“Four days?” Carys stares at her phone and at probably the same image I’m seeing. “How did I miss this?”

Her father hasn’t been returning her calls, so there’s that. We’ve also tried very hard to separate ourselves from him. One stint in jail for Carys at her father’s hands is more than enough. Most of the illegal activities she was accused of were deals Charles and Eric did, and yet she was poised to take the fall.

“Finn.” Lorcan eyes me after passing Connor his phone. “Whaddya say we check in with Francois?”

Would they have told him not to speak to us? Roughly three hours to get there, and if Thomas will give us some extra men, we might learn something about the PLA’s bigger plan.

Thomas folds his arms over his chest. “You got them the McCaffrey men.”

He doesn’t put the pieces together for me or Lorcan, but the implication is clear. If the PLA is planning to bomb or attack the grand opening of Van de Berg Ammunitions’ building in Cork, we gave them the tools to do it. Beyond frustrating.

“I’d say we plan for some kind of strike on the building the day of the grand opening.” I run a hand along the top of my head. “Are they setting off the other bombs on the same day? They could. Or maybe they want us to think they will.”

“Divide our resources.” Lorcan stares at the map.

“We have to tell the CIA.” Kim is on the other side of him. “We’ve got locations and a rough time frame. We need to report this.”

Thomas’s jaw clenches. Like me, he’d rather deal with the PLA without intervention. Kim is right, though. We can’t be everywhere. We might be able to cover Cork, but we haven’t got a hope in hell of doing anything in Chicago, Switzerland, Shanghai, Volgograd, Mexico City, and Cape Verde. As much as I hate to admit it, their reach is bigger and better than ours. I’d have needed months to foil every threat.

Looks like we’ve got four days.

“Kimi, you meet with your handler and give them what we’ve got. Thomas, can you spare us a few men? Lorcan and I will pay Francois a less friendly visit.”

“Should I warn my dad? Some of his employees?” Carys’s phone is cradled in her hand.

“Not yet,” Lorcan says. “Don’t want anyone spooked from Van de Berg Ammunitions. If we’ve sussed out the PLA plan, we need them to move ahead.”

“So, is going to see Francois wise?” She cocks her head at me and raises an eyebrow.

“Smash-and-grab.” I shrug. “We’ll kidnap Francois and mine him for information.”

“Can we trust what he tells us?” Kim’s hands are shoved into the pockets of her light jacket.

“Only one way to know for sure,” I say. “The PLA is going to expect us to do something.”

“Quick, decisive moves.” Lorcan makes eye contact with each of us. “We’ve got four days. No time to question if we’re right. We have to act like we are—like we can’t be bested.”

“Buckle up, buttercup. We’re headed to Cork.” I rub my hands together. We’re taking the fight to them.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Carys

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