Page 13 of Home Free

Finn, however, had less invested in keeping Clay happy in the long term.

Clay wiped his mouth. “You know how we tried to get information about what had been going on in the village where Fedir and Iryna Kolisnyk lived?”

“Yeah?” Finn said, urging him on.

“And remember how I couldn’t find anything?”

Ronan sighed. “Just tell us what you found.”

Annoyance crossed Clay’s face. He liked to divulge his findings at his own pace. “Turns out Fedir Kolisnyk was head of his village council.”

Finn immediately remembered all the times Fedir left the house to attend evening meetings. He invited Finn along when he went about his other business, but he’d never invited Finn to one of the meetings.

“What does that mean exactly?” Ronan asked.

“The village council is the group that decides the direction of the village — whether to allow someone to open a business that might be disruptive, for example,” Clay said.

“Or whether to allow an outside party to mine in the area,” Finn said.

They knew Omni had been involved with mining projects all over the world — including Ukraine — from the information Elise had found on Will Pearson’s laptop.

Clay pointed at him. “Exactly.”

Ronan nodded. “That tracks. Someone affiliated with Omni asked for permits to mine in the surrounding area, either because they suspected they’d found something important or because they’d already done some recon without permission.”

“I’m guessing the town council, led by Fedir, said no,” Finn said.

“We need to pull all the permits issued since Fedir and Iryna’s deaths,” Ronan said.

“Already done,” Clay said, popping two fries in his mouth. “Not that it’ll do us any good.”

“What do you mean?” Finn asked.

“It’s messy,” Clay said.

Finn looked at Ronan, relying on his brother to translate.

“Shell companies, probably,” Ronan said. “That’s usually how organizations like this one — whoever they are — stay hidden.”

“But we can trace it back right?” Finn asked.

“We can try,” Clay said.

“It’s not as easy as it sounds,” Ronan explained. “Some are better at hiding than others.”

“Which kind is this?” Finn asked.

Clay shrugged. “Time will tell.”

Finn tried to suppress his frustration. Even when they got a lead it wasn’t a lead. Whoever had pulled the strings on Fedir and Iryna’s murder was a ghost, one with a lot of power.

They were at the end of their rope with Eudorus, who’d still given them nothing despite the fact that Ronan had become concerned enough to start checking his vitals. When the man bothered to open his eyes, they were still lit with defiance, which meant Achilles either had something very damaging on Eudorus, or even worse, Eudorus was a true believer.

Either way, it didn’t bode well for their attempts at getting him to crack. Finn had overheard Ronan and Declan talking about what to do if Eudorus’ condition worsened. MIS’ business was extermination for hire, but they were selective when choosing their clients.

If MIS was going to hit someone, that person had to be guilty beyond measure, guilty of hurting innocents and getting away with it. Eudorus was undoubtedly tied to Achilles. He’d been present when the amber sample was picked up from Doctor Osman, the paleontologist who’d analyzed it, and Finn and his brothers had taken him prisoner when he’d invaded the house looking for it.

But Finn hadn’t been able to identify him from the murder itself. He’d seen Isaac Fleming, had known Fleming had been present, but the men accompanying him had been dressed in black tactical gear. They’d all looked the same from a distance, and Finn had been focused on keeping Petro quiet and hidden

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