“You will help me? No matter what? Even if it means sacrificing some of your men?”

“My men are expendable,” Soh said. “I will help you.”

In the end, though, Javier knew that Soh would only help himself. If that meant advancing the Carpios’ plans, he would be all right with that. But Javier had no illusions about Soh’s self-interest. If they aligned with those of the Carpios, that was fine; if not, he would make other arrangements. “Then I will tell you my entire plan,” Carpio said.

When Carpio was finished laying out what he was intending, Soh had to admit that it made sense, and it might just work. He realized, though, that there was a piece missing. “There is one thing that you have not considered,” he said to Carpio.

“What is that?”

“Cormack O’Connell is still alive. It is likely that he will hear rumors of this plan, and he could still ruin our efforts.”

“Then he must be killed.”

Soh shook his head. “He is waiting for a direct attack. He is expecting that.”

“How can we keep him from causing a problem, then?”

Soh considered the options silently for a moment. “There is a rumor that O’Connell has worked with the FBI in the past. A woman. We call her the Hunter. She is in charge of the efforts to disrupt our organization. Perhaps she can help us?”

“Why would she?”

“If she believes that she is acting to prevent your brother from escaping, she will do almost anything. We may be able to use that to occupy O’Connell and create misdirection at the same time.”

“Do you think that will work?”

Soh shrugged. “She is obsessed with keeping your brother in prison. If we can convince her that she will accomplish that, it may work.”

“Where is he?”

Cormack asked the question, though it wasn’t clear to whom it was directed. There were a dozen men in the room at the back of the fish market. Cicero Andolini offered the obvious answer. “He’s disappeared.”

“He can’t just fuckin’ disappear,” Cormack stormed. “He’s not a goddamned ghost.”

“No, he’s not,” Cicero agreed. “But he’s doing a good impression of one. We’ve got men shaking the bushes all along the waterfront, and they ain’t finding any sign of him. He’s not using any of his usual spots. I even sent one of my guys back to Fort Strong, but they must’ve cleared out of there as soon as we hit the place.”

“The place in Eastie…?”

Cicero shook his head. “Picked clean. Nothing there.”

“What about Suarez?”

“He’s gone, too. I’ve got someone looking in on the rooming house he stays at, but he hasn’t been back there.”

“What the fuck are they up to?” Cormack wondered aloud.