“Exactly what it sounds like,” Star quipped. “He was in the class before me at sniper school. I followed his career trajectory, even after I was recruited by the CIA. Saw him crash and burn his position there with that dishonorable discharge.”
“Which I still don’t regret.”
“Why would you? Not like it hurt your career if you were enlisted overseas.”
“Oh, yeah, that was a real promotion,” he mocked before he muttered, “I should have just stayed out of things.”
Then, a thought occurred to me. “Wait a goddamn minute.You knew of him?”
Star frowned. “Yeah.”
“Then why did you hack into his apartment on his freakin’ wedding day—”
“Jesus, yeah. Why the fuck did you do that?”
Her shoulder hitched up in a half-shrug. “Because I could.”
Seeing as that was the most ‘Star’ answer in the universe, I just rolled my eyes, but Eoghan snapped, “You had that fucking woman waiting on my sofa with no clothes on, and Inessa and I—” He froze. Blinked. Rubbed his chin. “Huh.”
“Huh?” I questioned, unsurprised by his anger because I’d been pissed as fuck that day too.
A smile danced on his lips. “Nothing.”
Star and I shared a look—clearly she’d been waiting for the explosion to hit too. “I mean, it wasn’t just about being smug. I needed to rile ‘aCooooig’ too. Get his feathers bristling.”
I had to laugh. “It worked.” Glad that had lightened the mood some, I got the subject back on track. “Anyway, Eoghan, Kuznetsov’s actually Star’s grandfather.”
“How’d that happen?”
“When a mommy and a daddy decide they really love one another—”
“Kid,” Eoghan grouched, his exasperation explosive. “I know howthathappened. I meant which parent is related to him?”
“Her mom.”
“Okay, interesting. She worked for the CIA too, no?”
Star cleared her throat. “She was a plant and she worked as a double agent.”
“Taking her age into account… for the KGB?”
“No, for the United Brotherhood,” I answered him.
“Finn mentioned them.” My brothers were worse than the gossiping witches in the Old Wives’ Club—widows of dead mobsters that congregated for coffee. “I thought they were a bank too.” His brows lifted. “They infiltrated the CIA?”
I thought about my recent experiences with that agency. “You bet they did.”
“This is massive—”
“Tell me about it. Anyway, that’s not why I called. Kuznetsov’s doing us a deal. We help him; he helps bring down the Sparrows.Legitimately.”
“How would he do that?”
“Interpol.”
Eoghan’s eyes widened. “Jesus, when he says legitimately, he means it.”
I nodded. “According to him, he’d start a specialized department there because the leaders are ‘people’ he can trust.” I included the air quotes because the whole thing was ridiculous but, bizarrely, believable.