Page 14 of Home Free

In other words, killing Eudorus — or letting him die — was outside MIS’ bounds.

“Is there anything else?” Finn asked Clay. “Anything at all?”

They’d already run Eudorus’ prints through the fingerprint database, had already done a facial recognition search.

He was a ghost too.

Clay shook his head. “These people are hidden deep.”

“How were you able to track the people behind Manifest?” Finn hated talking about Manifest, hated thinking about the people who had hurt Elise, but the question had been nagging at him.

The people behind Manifest had been the most powerful men in the world. With Clay’s help, his brothers had uncovered their identities, had made them pay.

“They were public figures,” Clay said. “The organization itself was well hidden, but the people who ran it were in the public eye. Once we started unraveling the trail, there were photos and fingerprints, records for the houses where they met. Etcetera, etcetera.”

“So Achilles is out of the public eye,” Finn said. “Someone off the grid.”

Clay sucked on the straw in his soda. A gurgling sound came from the nearly empty cup. He shook it and set it aside. “Probably? Maybe?” He shook his head. “There’s no way to know for sure, but it’s a possibility.”

Ronan ran a hand over his face. “Fuck.”

In Finn’s opinion, it was the understatement of the century.

8

Elise crossed the street and stepped onto the curb. She caught sight of Aliyah, sitting at their favorite window table at Cafe Bonjour, and waved. The cafe had been her and Aliyah’s go-to lunch spot when they’d both worked at Fringe.

Aliyah’s face lit up. She waved back.

Elise entered the restaurant through its glass door. When they’d worked together at Fringe, Elise and Aliyah had almost always done takeout since they couldn’t leave the store unattended, but Cafe Bonjour was a cute place, small, with a long counter and a handful of black bistro tables arranged in the cozy Parisian-style interior.

“Oh my god!” Aliyah said, pulling Elise into a hug. “I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve seen you!”

“It has been forever,” Elise said, squeezing her best friend.

They pulled apart and Aliyah sat back down while Elise took off her jacket.

Aliyah looked at her. “You look amazing!”

Elise sat down with a sigh. She didn’t feel amazing. “Thanks. So do you.”

Aliyah always looked great. Her enthusiasm was like a lighthouse for people stranded at sea, a quality that was only enhanced by her clear brown eyes and the curly black hair that framed her face like a halo.

“I waited to order,” Aliyah said, handing her a menu. “I didn’t want to assume you’d want your usual.”

“Thanks.” Elise was kind of over the usual, and not just when it came to food.

She looked at the menu. Normally she chose the Kale Power Caesar Salad, but she was in the mood for something different. She chose the Salmon Avocado Tartine instead and she and Aliyah made small talk, catching up on the more mundane aspects of their lives while they waited for the food.

Aliyah was about halfway through her Mediterranean Omelet when she set down her fork.

“I feel like I need to apologize,” she said.

Elise shook her head, confused. “For what?”

“I just keep thinking about Will, how I practically threw him at you even when you said you weren’t interested.”

“You couldn’t have known,” Elise said. “I didn’t even know. Not for sure.”

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