“He’s a good business partner. Had ta rebuild after Emmet betrayed me an’ mine. Though from what I know about ye now, I have ta ask. How many lies did th’ CIA sow in th’ Reborn IRA? What did ye promise Emmet if he broke reciprocity wi’ his ownbrothers?”
Sean didn’t immediatelyanswer.
Nothing he could say would satisfy the banked rage in Cillian’s blue eyes. The CIA had assigned Sean to the Belfast mission, posing as a member of the Irish mob out of America, to try to pin down the Reborn IRA’s Splice supplier at the time. What Sean didn’t know then, but knew now, was that Vitae Neurotherapeutics had been selling Splice on the black market, and the CIA Deputy Director Carter Bennett had a vested interest in keeping the agency’s nose out of his personalbottomline.
Bennett owned multiple shell companies that all had a stake in North Star International, Declan’s private military company that had provided security for Vitae Neurotherapeutics. He’d owned enough stock to retire as a multimillionaire at the time Sean was sent to Belfast. The MDF believed money was the driving force behind Bennett’s initial betrayal to the CIA. His betrayal for financial gain had morphed into a partnership with criminal organizations to blunt American intelligence investigations running down black market Splice suppliers andSplicelabs.
The MDF had independently identified Bennett as the double agent in the CIA who quashed the internal investigation and report on the infiltration by a shape-shifting metahuman who had nearly killed Kyle and Alexei in Geneva some years ago. Bennett knew of Kyle and Alexei’s changed status because he’d overseen their Strike Force contracts with the CIA, and he knew about Sean. As the CIA deputy director, Bennett was in a unique position to play both sides against each other for his ownpersonalgain.
“Thought you were already doing the CIA’s dirty work? You tried to kill me on Bennett’s order, remember?” Seanfinallysaid.
Cillian backhanded him so hard that Sean’s ears rang with a tinny sound that made it difficult to focus on what Cillian wassaying.
“Aye, but ‘twasafterye were already embedded. I was nae goin’ ta be a fuckin’ asset fer yer masters an’ Emmet was already turnin’ away from th’ cause ta line his own pockets. Ye expect me ta believe ye had nothin’ ta dowi’that?”
Rather than swallow a mouthful of blood, Sean let it spill out of his mouth and trickle down his jaw. Something solid and sharp rolled over his tongue—a piece of broken tooth. He spititout.
Getting solid confirmation Bennett was definitely a double agent sat heavily in Sean’s stomach, not just because of the betrayal. If Cillian had no compunctions to talk so openly about conspiring with a traitor, then it didn’t bode well for his and Alexei’s currentsituation.
“My orders involved you, not Emmet. If he turned on you, I had nothing to do with it,” Seanraspedout.
“Well, since that bastard is nae here, ye can pay fer both yer sins ta th’ cause.” Cillian leaned down, getting so close his features blurred out. His breath blew across Sean’s throbbing face when he spoke. “I had ye watched fermonthsback then ta learn yer habits. Ye were supposed ta die in Belfast. Thought ye had, an’ then Tomas comes back from a meetin’ wi’ th’ damn Dutchman sayin’ ye was alive an’ well an’ workin’ fer one o’ th’ richest men on th’ planet. Almost had me fooled before Declan told me th’truth.”
Something cold and sharp pressed against Sean’s neck. He froze, trying to keep calm as Cillian casually ran the edge of a knife across histhroat.
“I’d offer ye a job workin’ fer us, if ye really were Riley. Could’ve used someone wi’ a power like yers. But I know yer kind. Fuckin’ two-faced bastards, that’s all ye are. Family dinnae mean shit ta th’ likeso’ye.”
“What doyouwant?”
Cillian pulled back, flipping the ceramic knife between his fingers. Sean knew that blade. It was one of the pair Alexei always had on his person. Sean swallowed against the nausea from an increasingly strong headache that wouldn’t go away until he could phase free of the Faraday cage. He just needed to break through the static in his brain, which was easier saidthandone.
Of all the known powers that Splice produced, phasing was the only one a Faraday cage couldn’t completely contain. Sean’s power was inherently damaging to all things electronic, and a Faraday cage, at its core, was a piece of technology designed to apply constant neurological containment by disrupting the nervous system. Unlike a neuro-jammer gun, it didn’t leave a person unconscious and incapable of using their powers afterward for hours before the brain and body reset itself. Once a Faraday cage was removed, most metahumans could use their powers again withinminutes.
Sean just needed some uninterrupted time to concentrate to get thembothfree.
He didn’t think Cillian would be thatgenerous.
“Because o’ ye an’ Emmet, I cannae ever go back ta Ireland. Home is too fuckin’ hot ta show me face. Ye were all about family when ye were wi’ us back then, but ‘twas all fuckin’ lies.SoI’m—”
“Talk too much,” Alexei interrupted, his words slurring a little. “No one want to hear shit words come out of shitmouth.”
Cillian straightened up and turned so he could glare at Alexei. Sean wanted to yell at Alexei for drawing Cillian’s attention away, but judging by the lazy smirk on Alexei’s face, that was his intention allalong.
“Alexei—”
Cillian moved without warning, slamming his fist into Sean’s stomach so hard Sean vomited up all the blood he’d already swallowed. It splattered onto the floor between his feet as he hunched over Cillian’s fist, trying to remember how to breathe around his diaphragm contracting tightly from the punch. His lungs unlocked slowly, and Sean coughed, a dull, deep pain spreading through hismiddle.
Cillian unclenched his fist and shoved Sean upright again. Sean tried to get his breathing under control as every muscle in his torso protestedmoving.
“We knew where ye lived because o’ Stanislav. We knew who ye livedwi’. Today is yer lucky day, Sean. Ye dinnae get ta go first.” Cillian grabbed his chin and jerked his head up so he was staring right at Alexei. “Ye get tawatch.”
“No,” Sean whispered, tasting bile on his tongue, sour,likefear.
Cillian’s smile was a sick, cold thing Sean knew he’d always remember. Cillian pressed the blade of the ceramic knife against his cheek, the tip digging into the soft skin beneath hisrighteye.
“Ye look away, I take one o’ his eyes. Ye make a sound, an’ ye will nae like what I’ll do.Clear?”
Sean nodded his head a fraction of an inch, the knife point drawing blood from the motion. He knew what Cillian was capable of; had seen the results of his methods in the people he’d brutalized during the time Sean had been inBelfast.
