36. Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Six
Carys
K im left to meet her handler somewhere secret. She didn’t know when she’d be back. Lorcan and Finn, along with five of Thomas’s men are leaving for Cork in a few minutes.
I pick up a few of the photographs littered around the guest bedroom assigned to us. Idyllic scenes of pastoral life in Ireland. The exact opposite of Thomas’s reality. Almost enough to make me laugh.
“You stay on the Byrne property until I’m back.” Finn shoves guns and ammunition into his pockets and any space to conceal it.
I give him a wry smile. “Where else would I go? Kim is gone. Jay is recovering. All I can do is wait.”
“Yeah, well. Our best guess is an attack on Van de Berg Ammunitions in four days. The grudge she’s got is personal. If we can secure Francois, we might get concrete details. A better way to disrupt her plans.”
I still Finn’s hands, and he meets my gaze. “We’re going to figure it out.”
“You’re calmer than I expected.” He smirks. “You got that much faith in me?”
“Yes.” I tuck a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “But if we can’t lock in on their plan, we call in the bomb threats and have the places evacuated.”
“Last resort.” He cups my cheek. “I only get my deal if we disrupt them or prevent their campaigns from succeeding.”
“The people we love are safe, and we have each other to lean on while we put their plan together. We’ll do it. Our team is better.”
He gives me a quick peck and fingers a single bullet left on the dresser. “I don’t worry about shit. No point. But I listen to my gut, and the last couple of days I can’t get that Shakespeare quote out of my head. You know the one I’m talking about?”
“Nothing can be wrong…” The end eludes me, but it’s a favorite from his not-quite English degree.
“If she is well.” He links our fingers together and draws me into his chest. “I’ve been wondering whether I should’ve sent you to Boston too.”
“Finn,” I chastise. “We’ve talked about this. I’m safest with you.”
“Here’s the thing.” He gazes down. “I realize that’s bullshit, but I want it to be true. You’d never send Lucas to Boston if you truly believed having him here was the best place for him.”
“It’s not the same.” I flounder for a better explanation because Finn isn’t wrong. I wanted every moment I could get with him, especially knowing he’ll be back in jail for another three years after this. Stupid? Maybe. So far, I haven’t regretted my choice.
His lips brush my forehead. “Sure, it’s not.” He chuckles.
There’s a knock on the bedroom door, and Lorcan calls Finn’s name.
After another quick squeeze, he frames my face and kisses me deeply. “I love you.” His voice is gruff, and a thrill dances along my spine at the words. He gives them to me, but not often, and every time I hear them, I marvel that they’re true.
As long as we’ve got each other and Lucas, we can handle anything.
Jay’s sleep is deep and even. He woke up, so I video called Sofia so she could see he is fine-ish with her own two eyes. Tears slid along her cheeks while she talked to him, but there is relief in her voice.
I check the time. They should be nearing Cork. Fingers crossed Francois is there and they can take him without any major problems. Finn said the farm wasn’t well guarded. Hopefully, that hasn’t changed.
My phone buzzes in my hand. Dad is displayed on the caller ID, so I send the call to voicemail. The call has no sooner clicked to voicemail than my phone rings again. I send it to voicemail again. He couldn’t be bothered to take my calls when I needed him.
The third time it rings, I answer with an impatient bark. “What do you want?”
“Carys?” My father’s voice is remote and far away. “I need you. I’m in trouble. I need you.”
“Dad?” Even if he’s been absent and self-absorbed as a father, my spike of panic is real. He’s my dad. When he left us twisting in the wind over a place for Lucas to go, I told Finn I’d never do the same to him. If he’s in trouble, I’ll help him. “Where are you?”
“I’m in Ireland. Kilkenny. I need to see you.”
John and Connor said he’d been in Ireland. He’s still in the country? Why hasn’t he been answering my calls? There’s something weird about his voice too. It’s him—definitely him—but his speech isn’t smooth like normal. “Where are you?”
“The Fox’s Burrow on Thornback Road. Leave now. I’ll be waiting.”
With a click, he’s gone. I drop my phone on the bed and rub my face. Considering everything going on, I believe my father is in trouble. Is he dragging me into more danger with him?
Since Jay is sleeping, I leave his room to find Thomas. I could call Finn, but he’s too far away chasing his own lead. I locate Thomas in the spacious, modern kitchen making himself a coffee.
He holds up his cup in offer.
I shake my head.
“You’re looking a little pale. You worried about Finn?”
A slight smile quirks up my lips at the notion. “No. My father called and asked to meet me at the Fox’s Burrow on Thornback Road outside Kilkenny. Can I take a few of your men with me?”
Thomas raises his eyebrows and sips his drink. “You can take more than a few, I reckon. Finn’d skin me alive if anything happened to ya.” His expression turns pensive. “Unusual for your father to call you?”
“He hasn’t been answering my calls for days. He says he’s in trouble. But he has a history of dragging me into waist-deep shit when I was only at my ankles before.”
“Maybe you should wait for Finn?”
“He said I should leave now. If he really needs help, he’s my father.” For better or worse, I can’t abandon him when he needs me.
“Leave now,” Thomas muses. “Strange that. How would he know where you are?”
A great question. The dots connect and form a different picture. A trap? “Maybe I’ll need more than a few men. It was his voice on the phone. If he’s in actual danger, I have to help him. If he died and I did nothing after he called me pleading…” I ease my fingers along my brow. Finn would tell me not to leave. “I’d never forgive myself.”
Thomas drains his cup and sets it in the sink. “Come with me. I’m not sending you to Kilkenny without a plan of action and a substantial number of men. I know which side my bread is buttered.”
The drive to Kilkenny is longer than I expected, and the whole time I stare out the window, clutching my phone in my hand. I half expect my father to call me to say he’s left Kilkenny, and there’s no need to come. Wishful thinking.
Three of Thomas’s men are in my bulletproof car. Following us is another bulletproof car with four other men inside. Thomas suggested I text or call Finn to give him the details of the plan we cobbled together to meet my father. If I did that, he would have told me not to go, then raved at Thomas about my safety. Wouldn’t have mattered how careful he was or how many security people he gave me, nothing would ever be enough.
These mixed-up emotions are another reason I didn’t go to Boston. We would have spent too much energy worrying about each other. Out of sight, out of mind doesn’t work for us. Everything is worse when Finn and I aren’t together.
Having me ride to my father’s rescue would grate on Finn. He thinks my father is a waste of air, and while there are days I agree with him, he’s my parent. Not all my memories of him are bad. We had good times—particularly before my brother died. After that, my mom and dad as I knew them, closed up, and closed in. How much can I blame them for protecting their hearts? How traumatized would I be by the loss of Lucas? Would I ever recover? My miscarriages wrecked me. I can’t imagine losing Lucas who is a child with his own personality, a child I’ve held in my arms through feedings, teething, and sleepless nights. All his potential—gone in a flash. The loss must cling to a person like tar.
“Thomas texted,” the guy in the passenger seat says and glances over his shoulder. “He got confirmation the Fox’s Burrow isn’t in business anymore. You still want to go?”
I bite my cheek and consider my options. Seven guards. Bulletproof car. We went over various ambush scenarios with everyone. They’re armed to the teeth.
If the building is abandoned, he could be a hostage. He could be hurt or injured.
Or he may not realize it’s no longer a functioning bar. To some extent, that’s like him. Pick an out-of-the-way spot that just so happens to be closed.
He could be dead.
Something about the voice on the phone didn’t ring true to me, but I can’t put my finger on the difference. Stilted—a smidge—not enough for most people to notice.
He needs me, and if I rail against him for not being there when I need him, I can’t let him down now. He might be a shitty father, but he’s still family.
“We’re going.” I give a decisive nod.
The men check their guns and their ammo, but that’s the only indication I get about their level of comfort with my decision.
We approach an intersection in the middle of nowhere, and up ahead is a pub, the windows boarded-up with plywood, a single car sitting in the parking lot facing the road.
Relief sprouts in my stomach. He’s here alone. My clueless father has picked a place that’s no longer in business.
But when we get close enough for me to peer at the driver, I realize it’s not my father, but by then it’s too late. Other vehicles are streaming out of the rear parking lot, charging toward us. Gunfire bursts from the other cars, pinging off ours. My driver wheels us around and speeds along the road we’ve come from.
Leaving isn’t the plan we cooked up with Thomas. “This wasn’t one of the plans. What are you doing?” I yell over the bullets hitting the car.
“Thomas’s orders. If it’s an ambush, we secure you and get out.” The guy is checking his mirrors, and a thin sheen of sweat coats his forehead.
He must have told them the final plan on the sly behind my back. Give the little woman what she wants, but not too much. Being pursued down this narrow highway isn’t a winning strategy. My heart gallops in my chest. I shouldn’t have come. If I make it out of this, I’m cutting my father out of my life for good. I can’t keep doing this to myself because it’s not just me anymore. Lucas . My gut clenches.
SUVs flank us on either side. Bullets hit the vehicle in sharp succession, and I flinch. When one of the SUVs inches ahead of us, I throw a quick glance at the driver who is sweating buckets now. Once the SUV is a full length in front of us, it wheels into our path.
The move is so sudden, so swift, I don’t have time to think, and I brace for the impact.