Chapter 27
Ronan
Colton is unsure. I don’t understand why.
Is the problem me? Or him? It doesn’t matter.
He’ll see that everything I’ve told him is true.
He’s mine, and I’m not letting him go. I never pictured myself with kids, even though Mom has hinted at it for all of us.
Ollie is special. He doesn’t cry or fuss unless provoked.
He gets upset when Colton is upset. I don’t plan on letting that happen often.
“Let’s get back to work so we can end this.” Colton kisses me before releasing his arms from around me. We walk hand in hand back into the office.
“You’re back. Update on the situation.” Dad begins as we take our seats.
“Finn and Taylor have acquired three of the inner circle left in Oklahoma. They will be transported to the compound. Conor is still working on tracking those here in Philly. After their flight landed, they disappeared. Ronan, we need you to get into the CCTV and see what you can find.”
I nod and turn to my computer. Since I’ve hacked the airport’s security before and left a backdoor, I’m in the system in minutes.
“It still amazes me that you can gain access that fast to government sites,” Colton says.
“I’ll show you. You’ll need to learn.”
“I will? For what? After all this is over, we go back to the real world, right?” He asks me, but then glances at the others in the room.
“We go back to the Murphy world. It’s our reality, and yours now too. I’ll explain later.”
I turn my attention back to the screen. The arrival gate fills with people exiting the plane. Colton leans toward me to see.
“That’s them. Father, Mother, Moses, Ezra, and Jeremiah.” I hear something off when he says Jeremiah.
“Who is Jeremiah?” I ask.
“He’s the fucking asshole that Moses uses to give corrective discipline in front of the congregation.”
Mom comes over to see for herself. I decide to cast my screen to the wall unit.
“What kind of corrective discipline and on whom?” she asks. I know that tone. Fear is not something I live with. But when Mom takes on that tone, fear-evoking is the only way to describe it.
“Anyone who does not meet Moses’ expectation. It would be anything from a paddling to a whipping. I once saw him spank a two-year-old with a wooden paddle for being too loud during a sermon.”
I watch his face closely. “He touched you.” The realization hits me in my chest. As he nods in agreement, I’m ready to explode.
Jeremiah won’t have a quick death. “What about Ollie?” If he says yes, I will keep this piece of shit alive for a fucking year, carve chunks of his flesh off until there is nothing left.
“No, I made sure that Ollie never disrupted anything.”
“What did he do to you?” I ask. I need to know because it will be the first pain that I give him.
“I asked a question. I don’t even remember what the question was. I wasn’t quite seventeen the first time. He made me stand in front of the pulpit.” Colton swallows hard before continuing. “I had to drop my pants and underwear. The first hits were with his bare hand, then with his belt.”
There is a buzzing in my ears. Not only did this motherfucker touch him, but he humiliated him. I’m focused on the frozen image of the man who touched what is mine, imagining everything I will do to him, when a hand falls on my shoulder. I look up to see Mom staring down at me.
“Focus on finding them. Then, on what happens at the compound. Follow the steps.”
I start the recording again and speed it up. Once they exit baggage claim, they head straight to a blacked-out SUV, just like the ones our security uses. The driver never comes into view.
“Tags are stolen. They’re registered to a 2000 Honda owned by an eighty-year-old man.” Colton informs us.
“Good work, Colton.” Mom smiles at him.
I follow the SUV out of the airport and switch to traffic cams. The vehicle is easy to track while it’s traveling on the interstate. But once it exits onto a service road, I lose it. I quickly search for any private security cameras, but I don’t find any.
“So either someone from the group came in early, or they have contacts here,” Dad says.
“We didn’t find any travel for anyone else, and Taylor reported that they accounted for most of the members.” Mom adds.
There has to be some connection somewhere; I just need to find it.
“Colton, go back through the cards and bank accounts to see if you can find any travel that we may have missed.” Mom instructs him. He doesn’t move for a minute. The furrow between his brow is deep with concentration.
“What is it?” I ask.
“How did they know I was here? I used cash only. If I had to show ID, it was fake. I was the only hacker in the group. It’s one of the reasons they paid for my education.
So they don’t have the resources to find me.
They could have paid an outside person, but I don’t see them bringing in an outsider. ”
He’s right to question it. No one should have been able to pinpoint his location this soon. Even his car was different. So how did they find him? Who was in the SUV that was helping them?
“We have a leak,” Dad says.
“Dear God, this is my fault.” Mom leans heavily on the back of Colton’s chair.
“I wasn’t discreet in letting people know about Ollie.
Colton, I’m so sorry.” Mom’s face shows pain, and her eyes are brimming with tears.
Something I’ve never seen my mom do is cry.
“I was just so happy that I shared the news with anyone that would listen.”
Dad comes toward us, but Colton quickly stands. He hugs Mom against his chest.
“Please don’t blame yourself, Mamó,” Colton says, the Irish term for grandma that Mom has been teaching Ollie.
More tears flow down Mom’s cheeks. “You acted like a true grandparent, someone who is proud of their grandchild. I don’t blame you for any of this.
If anything, I’m thankful that you care as much as you do for him.
” He rubs his hand up and down her back in a soothing motion.
“When we find who it is, they’re mine to deal with.” Dad’s eyes are on Mom. The one thing in this world that will get you killed is hurting Mom. In Dad’s eyes, she is the center of all creation. Understanding of the feeling is clear to me now that I have Colton.
Mom squeezes Colton before going over to Dad. He wraps his arms around her and kisses her forehead. “Ná bí buartha, a stór. íocfaidh siad as seo.”
Dad and Uncle Duncan were born in Ireland but came to the US in their teens. When they’re angry, the barely noticeable accent comes out. They also revert to speaking Irish.
“I need to learn Irish. I’m pretty sure that was a threat, but it sounded romantic as hell.” Colton says almost to himself. What does he mean that my Dad sounds romantic?
“He said she doesn’t have to worry, he will make them pay,” I growl. If he thinks hearing threats in Irish is romantic, I’ll never speak fucking English again.