Cathal Chapter 17
It was three in the morning. Everyone had left The Hive and had either gone to bed or was dealing with the last of our problems. The twenty-six men who had thought they could send drones into our compound and then, when that failed, had tried to get through the gate or over the wall discovered how foolish and suicidal they were.
We got tired of messing with them, so Darragh ordered them to be dealt with.
So Alistair, several of his Hounds, and a handful of our security force left the compound and snuck up on the men.
Half had been killed before they realized where the danger and bullets came from.
The remainder tried to fight back, but they failed.
In the end, all but three had been eliminated.
While some of our men took care of rounding up those bodies for disposal, which meant we had to call our associates from the Grave Prowler MC in Asgard, Florida, which was near Pensacola.
They had the means to help make the bodies disappear.
And they were way less likely to get caught transporting the bodies, the five and a half hours there.
They ran two distinct businesses that provided a credible cover.
Who would bother to open a truckload of caskets headed to a funeral home?
What we didn’t send with them, we could ask the Horsemen of Wrath MC to feed to their buddy, Gnawbert, a huge ass alligator who lived outside their compound.
Or, we’d dispose of them ourselves. It was good to have options and to spread the bodies out when you had so many.
I’d shared this information with Bronagh, but not her dad and his guys.
She was surprised and impressed. Deep down, she was the daughter of a Mafia boss.
I wanted to be one of the ones who were there to hear what our captives had to tell us.
Bronagh was convinced to go home and sleep.
I asked her to do it, so Faolán, Burke, Murdoch, and Cain would rest rather than ask to join us.
She’d reluctantly agreed. Her hesitancy stemmed from her desire to be in on the talks.
No way did I want her to be a part of that.
It was highly doubtful the men would give up the goods without painful and bloody persuasion.
Bronagh asked where we did it. I told her we had a place off the compound but close by.
She accepted it without pushing for more details.
The place I referred to was a cabin that Alistair owned. We’d used it to question captives a few times. The other, more popular option was at the docks, where our warehouse was located. We stored merchandise from our various businesses there. The storage was mostly a cover for what lay beneath.
Beneath it lay a secret basement. It was equipped with all kinds of “tools,” including a metal autopsy table, which loosened tongues rather well.
There, we painted a big circle in the middle of the floor, just to fuck with heads and make them wonder what it meant.
We settled on taking them to Alistair’s cabin.
It was closer in case more of them showed up at the commune.
The whole family didn’t go. It was Alistair, Shane, Conor, Fallon, Cillian, Declan, Ciaran, Rory, and me. Of our bodyguards, we chose to bring Owen, who guarded Cillian. Nolan, who was with Declan; Ciaran’s primary guard, Daniel; and, lastly, Rory’s, Fionn.
One of the men who survived had never left the vehicles during the attempted drone invasion.
He sat in the front passenger seat of the second SUV.
A few times, the men who had left the vehicles went to his window and conferred with him, but he didn’t get out.
But when our guys ambushed them, he’d tried to scoot over and drive off.
He was blocked in and then torn from the SUV.
He hadn’t gotten into a shoot-out with them.
When you had five high-powered rifles pointed at you through the windshield, you thought hard about whether you wanted to die in a hail of lead or try to live another day. He chose another day.
We didn’t want to mess up Alistair’s cabin, so we took them to what passed for a backyard for him, an area he had enclosed to keep out alligators.
It was the section of solid land in that area, rather than the swampy part or the sections with surface cover, that broke through once you stepped on it.
We let Alistair guide us out and followed his trail exactly.
The generator powered floodlights. Those lights made the backyard bright as day.
The three prisoners were tied at the wrists and ankles with gags in their mouths.
They were pushed to their knees on the slightly damp ground.
No matter what time of year, it was always wet, which made the vegetation grow fast.
“I’m gonna lay out what’s happening here tonight.
I don’t want any confusion, and we’re in a hurry.
My brother Cathal here got married today, and he’s anxious to get back to his beautiful bride.
However, he wanted to be here to hear what we discover, so we’re working this a little differently than usual.
Rather than questioning you one at a time, we'll question you both together.
“The more forthcoming and truthful you are, the better for all of us. For you, it means less pain and suffering before you die. For us, we get to go home to our beds. I happen to have a wife waiting for me, too. I don’t fucking like to be out here dealing with pieces of shit like you when I can be in my warm bed with my wife.
” Alistair spoke gruffly as he gave them hard stares.
“What we want to know is who you are? Who sent you? Why are you here? What was the outcome you wanted if you succeeded in infiltrating our home? And why were you so fucking dumb as to park outside the gate and attempt it? Is this your first time or what?”
His last questions showed his disbelief and contempt, causing the rest of us to chuckle.
The two who we knew weren’t the leader exchanged uneasy glances.
The other guy stared off into the darkness, pretending he was ignoring us.
But I saw the way his cheek twitched. He heard, and he wasn’t happy or unaffected.
“Alright, any questions?” Alistair asked.
He was asking the gagged men. A second passed before he clapped his hands and added, “Good, that’s what I like to hear. Nolan and Fionn, ungag those two.”
The two guards hopped to it and had the gags removed in seconds.
“We don’t know anything,” the redheaded guy said immediately.
“That’s right,” the blond kneeling next to him added.
“We were just doing as we were told,” Red stated.
“That’s right. You know how it is. You do what you’re told,” Blondie said, nodding.
“We do know what it is to do as we’re told, but we never do so blindly. And I find it hard to believe you know nothing,” I told them.
“Who do you work for? That’ll help us understand why you were sent,” Cillian stated.
The men exchanged looks and remained silent.
Shane clicked his tongue as he took out a lethal-looking knife. “See, doing that doesn’t bode well for you guys. It’s not going to help you avoid pain. Let’s try again. Who do you work for?”
“We don’t know, and that’s the truth. We’ve never met the boss. A few different guys hired and trained us. He’s one of them. They never told us who the ultimate boss is,” Red answered.
“You were hired, meaning you knew where to go. How were you interviewed? Where?” Alistair asked.
“We answered an online ad. It was on a site that, if you know where to go, you can find jobs. You know, mercenary, bodyguard, and security gigs. We saw one that asked for experienced prior military men for a long-term assignment. We applied. We were sent to a warehouse,” Blondie supplied.
“Where was this warehouse?” Declan asked.
“Down near the waterfront in Detroit. There were four men there. They were the ones to ask us about our previous experience, both military and non-military,” Blondie tagged on.
“How many were there that day? How many were hired?” Alistair asked.
So far, these guys had been talking freely, but they hadn’t given us anything concrete. We would work up to that. Start with the easy stuff, get them talking, then move to the harder stuff.
“The day we were there, there were twenty-five or so of us. In the end, they asked ten of us to stay while the rest went. We were the ones they hired. After that, we were given our directives,” Red answered.
When he didn’t go on, Alistair motioned for him to continue. Red hesitated. My brother-in-law shook his head.
“You were doing so well. Why did you have to stop? Since this is our first meeting, and you don’t know me, I’m giving you a break. Tell us the rest. Where did you go? How long ago was this warehouse meeting? And how many men are there? You know what we need. Don’t play stupid.”
The two exchanged looks again, and let a few seconds of silence sit there before continuing.
“We were told to go home and to be at an address they gave us in two days. We were told not to tell anyone where we were headed. The address was a property in the countryside outside of Milford, Michigan. It was a farm. Or so it looked from the outside, but they had men there learning something other than farming. It was training and barracks for men like us. We got hired four months ago. But two more small groups of guys were added after us. And they already had guys there when we arrived, including the leaders. As for how many men, in total, forty-five,” Red added.
The leader, who was still gagged, grew animated when Red shared this part. He was making urgent sounds and glowered at them.
“Man, you can glare at us all you want, but didn’t you see what they did?
They fucking picked us off like we were nothing.
They had defenses against drones, and God knows what else was inside their walls.
We’re gonna die. But I’m not eager to be tortured first,” Blondie told the gagged one.
His redheaded buddy was glumly nodding in agreement.