Chapter Ten
“Yeah!You see that? Everybody see what my man Brady did there? He just performed a fucking miracle on the field! Nobody else coulda thrown that pass. Greatest of all time,baby!”
The drunk guy at the bar was cheering loud enough to be heard over both the din of the packed restaurant and the cheering of the crowd on the bar’s big-screen TVs, which was of course tuned to the late-season Patriots game. The guy’s absolute glee was enough to make the three men seated in the back booth roll their eyes and tradegrins.
“Glad somebody’s happy,” Sean Cook remarked, staring down at the page of notes he’d made over the past two hours of sipping beer and talkingRussians.
“You’re not happy to be here, Cooksy?” Cort demanded, tilting his beer bottle to his lips. “That hurts, man.” He set the bottle down and clapped an offended hand to hischest.
“Yeah, yeah,” Sean sighed. “Just once, Cortland, I wish you’d call and offer to buy me a beer that didn’t come with a side order of me doing semi-legal investigations for you. That’s what got you canned in the first place,remember?”
Cort grimaced. “I promise you, after all this bullshit is over and Cam is safe, Seaver and I are going to take you out fortwelvebeers. And we’ll even cart your drunk ass home to your wife,” hevowed.
“Hell yes. Twelve imported beers,” Bas agreed. “And the biggest steak in Boston.” In truth, he’d offer to pay Sean a fucking fortune for the help he was giving them, if he thought the guy would takeit.
“Also, just for the record,” Cort added with a smirk. “I was never officially canned. Iquit.”
Bas rolled his eyes at the man sitting next to him. “A technicality, as I heardit.”
“No shit. You quit like two minutes before you would’ve been canned. And I’m taking you up on the twelve beers and the steak.” Sean hesitated, then added, “But, ah…Stacey movedout.”
“Are you kidding?” Cort turned serious. “You’re separated? You guys weresolid!”
“I thought so too. But it’s been a long time coming, I guess. Too much stress at the job and then coaching the kids’ sports teams in my off time, never made time to spend with her, never took an interest in her work. The whole nine.” Sean waved a hand through the air. “Pretty sure we’ve all heard this songbefore.”
Cort nodded, brow furrowed. “Yeah. A career in law enforcement takes its toll on a marriage. But I’m stillsorry.”
“‘Preciate that,” Sean said with a sad smile. “Between that shitstorm at home, and Agent Porter breathing down my neck at work, it hasn’t been a fun few months. But the new year is almost here, right?” He raised his beer bottle in an ironic toast and took a deep drink. “Onward andupward.”
Bas and Cort exchanged a look, and Bas made a mental note that when this thing with Alexei was over, he was going to find Sean Cook a very high-paying job at Seaver Tech. Maybe he’d make him Cort’s boss, just to mess with Cort. The idea had him fighting a grin. He’d have to ask Drew how they could accomplish that, next timethey…
His brain stoppedshort.
Next time they, what?Hung out?Yeah,right.
With a sigh, Bas sipped at his own beer. Given the way he’d completely lost his cool at Drew’s house earlier in the day, he couldn’t imagine they’d be having another pleasant video game night anytime soon, and the thought of that - of losing something so essential he’d always taken it for granted - made him panic. He’d spent the afternoon trying to make his mind focus on the conversation, to take solace in logic, planning, action, but it wasn’tworking.
“So, the Paterkin guy mentioned something called the Collier Project?” Sean tapped his pencil against his paper. “What do we know aboutthat?”
“Not a damn thing. My assistant checked our archives, and there’s nothing by that name,” Bas told him. “Besides which, Margaret’s been at Seaver since my dad founded the place, so if it were a big thing, she’d remember. It’s possible that Collier was a contractor we worked with, or a contact person for a company. We’ll need to dig deeper. Margaret offered to get started this weekend, but I didn’t want to worry her. I told her it could wait untilMonday.”
Sean frowned. “There’s nobody else at the company who could research it foryou?”
“Maybe? I have a few people I trust completely, but it’d be like looking for a needle in a haystack for anyone who hasn’t been at the company since the early days. And there are several long-term employees who might recognize the name, but if Paterkin is actually Alexei or works for Alexei, and the Collier project is probably one of the jobs my dad did for SILA, I really don’t want to call attention toit.”
“Right.” Sean tapped his paper again, then looked up at Bas and grimaced. “Then I think you need to tell Margaret to work thisweekend.”
Bas lifted his eyebrows in surprise, the knot of tension he’d been carrying in his stomach all afternoon tightening afraction.
“Do it. Buy her a yacht, if it makes you feel better,” Sean said grimly. “But this doesn’t lookgood.”
Cort sighed. “You think Paterkin - or Alexei - will threaten to go to the press with info on Seaver Tech’s dealings withSILA?”
Bas stared at Cort. “What? You never mentioned that as apossibility.”
“I was hoping Cooksy would have a different read onit.”
“Actually, I do. It sounds to me like he was initially trying to recruit Sebastian, much the way he did with hisfather.”
