Page 82 of Líadan's Code

I don’t have a bag in my hand, but I’m willing to bet he doesn’t think anything bad can happen to him here. Funny. That’s exactly what Líadan thought too, and look what happened.

“I didn’t order any food,” he whines. Skyler still goes through the trouble of unlocking and opening the door, and then I’m there, shoving him back inside.

“Hello, asshole,” I smirk, closing the door with my foot. “You’ve been hunting my people, and I think you need a reminder of how bad a life choice that is.”

Punching him in the face, I watch as he goes down like a sack of potatoes. Pulling him further into the apartment, I grimace at how disgusting it is. There are dishes overflowing in the sink, and trash on every surface possible. His computer equipment is the only thing that appears to have a little force field of cleanliness.

“You’re a goddamn pig,” I grunt, tossing his body onto the sofa. “You know you’re choosing the wrong side in this war, right? The Banshee is going to find you and enjoy making you scream. Finding where she lives for Cormac was a stupid decision.”

“What? I found where Líadan lives, I didn’t?—”

I watch as he sits up from the sprawled out position he was across the couch, horror clearly on his face. He wasn’t at the club in New York, and I have a feeling everyone has been very tight lipped about what happened there.

There’s pros and cons to that realization, because Skyler is realizing who he’s been fucking over.

“Boo hoo. You didn’t realize the new mafia queen is also what goes bump in the night,” I croon, gazing down at him. “You tried to kill her, how do you think that’s going to endear her to you? Did you find her yet?”

“No…no. She must be using cash for everything. I can’t get a digital footprint on her face or through credit. Her corporation names aren’t pulling up either. That’s how I found the townhome, because it was deeply embedded in so much paperwork,” he says. “It was trying too hard.”

Hmm. Noted. So, Skyler didn’t set up the corporations, nor did he help with any of the paperwork. Seán must not have trusted him or anyone else enough. I wonder if he hired someone to do it all and then killed him. It’s a lot of work to put in to keep his daughter safe, especially one he continually fucked over.

“What have you managed to weasel out of the internet?” I growl.

“I’ve been eavesdropping on some of the family’s conversations,” he admits. I kick myself because I didn’t think to do that myself while I was looking for her and chasing down leads.

“Some of them have been discussing that they’re waiting for a call from Líadan to meet. They all sound scared shitless about it, but it makes sense now that I know who she really is.”

“I don’t think it’s being advertised, so let’s not flap your gums,” I suggest. “Why are you working for Cormac, and what can you tell me about his plans?”

“I always wanted to leave Chicago and do something else, but when Uncle Seán found out how good I am with computers, he hired me to hack for him,” he explains. “He always scared the shit out of me. I always worried he was going to fit me in concrete shoes and drop me in the Chicago River.”

“That’s a wild imagination you have there,” I mutter. “It’s probably not too far from the truth since he said he killed the last person who money laundered for him.”

“He was stealing from Uncle Seán, the stupid bastard,” Skyler confirms. “Look, what do you want?”

Pushing away some candy wrappers, he leans forward earnestly. The kid is a pig.

“I want all the information that you’ve compiled and then for you to get the fuck out of town,” I tell him. “I have the number to someone that will help you disappear and get you a good job, away from here.”

Greg lives in South Carolina, and is a good friend of Lenny’s. They’ll help him stay on the straight and narrow. More importantly, they’ll keep him out of trouble.

“Yeah? What’s in it for you?” Skyler asks suspiciously, making me roll my eyes.

“It’ll get you out of my hair so I can find Líadan,” I sigh.

“Yeah, I don’t understand why you aren’t with her,” he mutters. “Trouble in paradise?”

“Do you really care?” I ask in kind.

“No,” he admits. “So if I do this, we’re square?”

“You’re an opportunistic asshole, but you probably aren’t terrible enough to be dangled in front of my girl,” I tell him. I don’t care if they both left me, I’m still claiming and fucking their asses the second I see them again.

“Definitely not,” he says, nodding vigorously. I’m just glad he’s not pissing his pants. It already smells as it is.

“Show me what you got, and I’ll give you the number to fuck off,” I grunt, waiting as he pulls the laptop closer to himself to show me.

“As I said, she and Brendan aren’t in any spaces that have many cameras, they may be in a shitty neighborhood,” he says. “Uncle Seán is being buried in four days, and I heard that a lot of the people who flew in are grounded and can’t fly home, so they decided to attend and pay their respects.”

---