I stood and tossed my hat onto the desk. “It means Cormac may be looking to start things up again, and my son’s caught in the crosshairs of the revival,” I shared, forgetting Sean was unaware Colin was my son. I’d told Izzy not to speak to anyone about that, and I’d let my emotions get the best of me.

“Who’s your son? Colin Carmichael?”

At Sean’s question, my stomach squeezed, and acid pushed up and burned my chest and throat. Was this what it was like to be a father? To be sick from worry alone?

“Yes, he’s my son. And that’s why this situation is urgent. Because two men tried to abduct him today, and all of this somehow ties to a former Alliance member sitting behind bars.”

I gave Sean, a new father himself, a chance to process what I’d said, then requested to focus back on the facts before my emotions bested me and I forgot how to be an operator.

Sean cleared his throat, then shared, “Well, uh, no one in my organization has picked up on any chatter that The Alliance is looking to restart, so that should help alleviate some of your concerns.”

“But you’re not in the States. Your network isn’t in the Americas.” The pieces finally clicked into place, forming a bigger picture. “Jamie’s here in New York starting things on his father’s behalf, and Cormac still has enough connections, even from behind bars, to arrange a meeting with the Sicilian mafia here. Jamie’s backup plan was to have Colin steal from them if the Sicilians wouldn’t make a deal.” It was the only thing that made sense.

“And whatever it is Jamie wants must be important to Jamie’s father,” Izzy said, gaze shooting to me.

I rested my hands on my hips, irritation pulsing through me, tension settling in my shoulders. “More like important to restarting The Alliance.”

“I can’t imagine what the Sicilian mafia in New York would have of any value that’d help The Alliance revive from the dead. But when we took down their organization, maybe five percent or so of their members escaped justice being served,” Sean shared, and I recognized the guilt in his tone.

“It was a massive criminal network. Five hundred or more people worked for them. Hard to take out everyone,” I reminded him. “But if it’s one of those five percent working with Cormac now, we need to figure out who.”

“Jamie wasn’t looking to sell that device he wanted to get his hands on then, right? He made a promise he’d get it for someone, and that someone is pissed Jamie couldn’t deliver, and that’s why they came after Colin,” Izzy proposed.

“But why?” Hudson asked.