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It's so tiny. They smashed up my house. They could have seriously hurt my lass, and all forthat. It doesn’t seem fucking worth it.
Paddy plucks it out of Niall’s hand, grabbing his laptop and plugging it in. We all crowd around, but it’s a bunch of code.
“Get Anthony here,” Seamus grunts. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I shoot him a text with the address.
Paddy scrolls through the meaningless text until there’s a tentative knock on the door. Niall goes to answer it, returning with Anthony trailing him.
“What does it say, lad?” Seamus asks, gesturing at the laptop screen. Anthony’s eyes turn to it, flickering across the endless text with a frown.
“That’s not any computer code I’ve ever seen. I think it might be code code.”
“What’s code code?” Seamus frowns. Anthony shrugs.
“You know, like, secret code.”
Secret code? What the fuck. Anthony is shifting awkwardly, so I clap him on the shoulder.
“Thanks, Anthony. You can go back to the cottage. We’ve got lads on the house now.”
Relief washes over Anthony’s face. “Yeah, thanks, boss. They showed up about half an hour ago. Mickey O’Shea was in charge. He said he was in Doyle’s crew.”
“They’re good lads,” I assure him. “I wouldn’t trust anyone more for security.”
Anthony leaves with a nod, but Seamus doesn’t notice, still frowning at the laptop.
“Does anyone have any favors to call in with the Russians? Code is right up their alley. I’d rather use an owed favor for this, but we can make a deal if we have to.”
I toy with my phone. “I was playing with Novikov before coming here. He offered to help if needed.”
“Does he owe you a favor?”
It’s more complicated than that. Seamus only deals with the Russians when he needs something…or when they do. I sit with them for hours most nights at the tables. Conversation flows. Information is exchanged. I’m Uncle Sean’s go-to conduit when wanting to pass on information, or sound it out, without requesting a formal sit-down.
“It’s not going to cost us anything I’m not willing to pay.”
Seamus eyes me carefully. “You’re willing to pay a fucking lot that I’m not right now, Lucky.”
That may be so, but I have a way to find out what was so important that Andie’s life was put at risk.
“Do I have permission to call him or not?”
The silence stretches as Seamus’s eyes narrow. Finally, he nods slowly.
Dialing the number, I hold my phone to my ear. Novikov’s deep growl answers quickly.
“Less private now, Fitzpatrick?”
“I need a code broken.”
There’s a long pause, and when Novikov finally answers, he sounds intrigued. “What kind of code?”
“I thought it was computer code, but my programmer says it’s not. It’s on a flash drive.”
“And are we supposed to read with code once we crack it?”
That’s why I want the Russians on this. They’re fucking confident, cocky bastards.
“It belongs to a Moldovan. They decided to break into my house to retrieve it. We want to know what it says.”
