Bronagh Chapter 18
I couldn’t sleep. I tried, but after an hour of staring up at the dark ceiling in our bedroom, I gave up.
Next, I tried to read. I never got past the first page.
Tossing my Kindle reader aside, I got up and paced.
It did nothing to make me feel more tired.
I was unable to shut my mind down enough to drift off.
I kept trying to imagine what was happening with Cathal and the others. He said they had a place not far from the commune where they would take the three surviving men. He didn’t say where. I understood why. Dad and his guys were nearby.
I watched the security force effortlessly take out twenty-three men in mere minutes.
I’d never seen anything like that. Any altercations involving my family, I’d been isolated from because I was at boarding school, then college, much of the time.
I knew it had happened, especially when Uncle Irial was in charge.
I found it both terrifying and exhilarating that they would respond that way to threats.
It made me feel even safer. I knew it had given Dad a reason to pause and think if he had any intention to try to take anything from the O’Sheeran family, which, as far as I knew, he didn’t.
This altercation would have made him second-guess that idea.
I loved my dad and wanted to protect him, but my allegiance had shifted to include protecting the O’Sheerans, too. They were my family. Cathal was my husband.
At 6:08 a.m., the doorbell rang. I was in the family room staring off into space when it did. I let out a startled squeal and jumped. Uncurling my legs from where I'd been sitting in the chair, I rose and went to see who it was. Usually, the family would barely knock before walking in.
When I opened it, I found Dad and all three of his guys standing there. They were grim-faced. My heart began to pound as I waved them inside. They passed me in silence. I closed the door.
“We can go to the kitchen. Would anyone like coffee? And I have wedding cake, if you’d like something sweet to go with it.”
I tried to keep my voice calm-sounding. All four followed me.
In the kitchen, I had them sit at the wet bar.
It was an unusual kitchen setup, but I found I liked it.
As I prepared their coffee, I set small plates, forks, and a platter with slices of the various cakes in front of them.
I knew how each of them took their coffee without them having to tell me.
When everyone was served, including me, I leaned back and waited. Only Cain took the cake.
“What’s wrong?” I asked Dad.
“Who said anything was wrong?” he countered.
“Daidí, don’t play games. I know you. You wouldn’t be here at the crack of dawn and not speak a word unless something was wrong. Did you hear something from Cathal?”
If anything had happened, surely the family would’ve sent someone, not Dad. My heart sped up.
“No, we haven’t heard anything. I hoped you had. This waiting isn’t my style. I should’ve been able to go with them.” His tone was somewhat petulant.
“Would you have allowed them to go to one of your secret places if the roles were reversed? Would you have let them know that you had a hidden safety lair beneath your property? Or allow them to see any of your defenses?” I asked rather sharply.
I understood that Cathal’s family was placing a lot of faith in the fact that Dad wasn’t interested in harming them or taking over, but it was a risk. Trust was earned.
“No, I wouldn’t have wanted that, even if I’m mostly confident they have no plans to use this as a chance to take over New Mexico and everything we have.
I will admit. Seeing what they have is disturbing.
It illustrated how far out of our league they are, and they’re not even in the illegal stuff we are.
Anyone messing with them has a death wish,” Dad conceded.
“Did you know about all this before that group showed up?” Murdoch asked me gruffly.
He had been with my dad for years. He took protecting him as his priority.
Murdoch was a well-trained, lethal man. And I’d been trained by him to make sure I could take care of myself.
He knew if anything happened to me, it would destroy my dad.
However, the fact that he was so protective didn’t mean I wasn’t uneasy around him at times.
“No, I was just as shocked as any of you. Cathal hadn’t gotten around to telling me. It’s not something they talk about until after the wedding.”
“Understandable. I’m just anxious. I want to get back home and back in charge of everything. I want whoever targeted us to be eliminated. We’re headed in a good direction. I detest the idea that someone can derail what I’m trying to do or take it for themselves,” Dad growled.
“I get that. And I believe it’ll be better for the whole family if they can just look past the temporary reductions in their spending,” I said, rolling my eyes.
Some of the Bragan family members loved spending money and living the high life, and hated anything that curtailed it.
They grumbled and kept after Dad, asking when the new businesses would pick up.
But none of them wanted to spend their precious time helping.
They were leeches. Dad and I had talked about it.
Once the businesses were fully transitioned, he’d address their entitlement and laziness.
If they didn’t contribute meaningfully, they’d be cut off from family funds. But one battle at a time.
“I wonder when we’ll hear how it’s going. They’ve cleared away the bodies. Not sure how they got rid of so many so fast, but unless they've hidden them on the property, there’s no sign anything happened outside the gate. Their cleanup is immaculate,” Murdock said. I heard the respect in his voice.
I smiled inside. Wouldn’t he like to know?
“How about we—”
A brisk knock at the door, followed by three seconds of silence, interrupted me. Then I heard a voice.
“Bronagh, It’s Cormac and Cyndi. We came to check how you’re doing,” my new father-in-law called out.
“Come in. We’re in the kitchen,” I called back.
Their footsteps drew closer as I grabbed more coffee cups, plates, and forks. A smiling Cyndi came around the corner holding onto her husband’s arm. Cormac was smiling too.
“Ah, I see someone beat us here. And to the coffee and cake. Faolán, you sly devil, don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. You’re trying to eat all the damn cake,” Cormac teased.
A slow grin spread across Dad’s face as he answered. “You caught me. Who can resist it? Good morning, Cyndi, Cormac.”
“Good morning. And yes, we came for the cake and our new daughter. How are you, sweetheart?” Cyndi asked, coming up to me and kissing my cheek. It was warm and sincere. Cormac replaced her, kissing the opposite side. They made me feel special and not in a fake way.
“I’m okay, just waiting impatiently,” I admitted.
She chuckled. “I know how that is. I’ve practically had to cuff him to the bed to keep him here.”
“Well, now, if you’d done that, we wouldn’t be here,” Cormac said suggestively, wiggling his eyebrows.
He reminded me so much of Cathal. His son resembled him in features, but in coloring, his blond hair came from his mom, and his blue eyes came from his uncle Patrick. I laughed while his wife turned pink and playfully shoved him as she told him to hush. He chuckled the same way his son did.
“I swear, I know where Cathal gets his humor and personality,” I informed them.
I held up coffee cups. Both nodded. I filled them as Cyndi plated up the cake, chatting about things Cathal did as a kid. Dad decided he wanted some cake after all. I knew my in-laws’ coffee preferences, too. I paid attention to details.
We spent the next fifteen minutes just chatting. Most of the comments were about the wedding before the excitement happened. I thought the entire thing had been exactly what I wanted. Dad being here to walk me down the aisle had sealed it for me.
Suddenly, as if a memory resurfaced, the same horn siren that went off last night sounded again. I felt blood drain from my face. Was it a false alarm? However, the way Cormac reacted, it wasn’t. He took out his cell phone. Mine was on the wet bar. I saw it light up. I grabbed it.
Cody: to CC. This isn’t a drill.
“Let’s go,” Cormac ordered.
Before he left, Cathal had shown me the secret entries into the tunnels from the house.
There was one in the living room, and the other was in our bedroom.
We went to the living room. Cormac opened the secret panel, but he motioned for me to unlock the inner door.
I shakily pressed my thumb to the screen.
My husband had told me that I was in the system, but we hadn’t tested it.
The light on the screen changed to green, and the inner door unlocked.
As we all hurried inside and resealed everything, we took the stairs. We quickly entered the tunnels, The Hive, for the second time in less than twelve hours. What was the issue this time? Where was Cathal? Were they okay?
A chattering throng gathered in the CC, where the camera monitors were.
Some of the people from last night manned computers and watched those screens.
I helped the moms comfort the scared children.
They didn’t take them into their special room yet.
Their parents wanted to find out what the alarm was about this time.
The man who had been pointed out to me last night as Hollis, Alistair’s second-in-command for the Hounds, was there.
Darragh, Patrick, Sean, and Cormac gathered in a huddle with Hollis first, while the rest of us waited and kept watching the screens.
I saw no one outside the walls. It was the longest three or four minutes.
Finally, they broke out of the huddle and faced everyone.
The constant murmuring of voices died away.
Even the kids and the infants went quiet.
“Sorry for the scare, but Cody’s team detected more chatter online, in the same way and place they did last night.
It hinted that a secondary wave of people was on the way here.
They’re less than two hours away. Alistair and the others with him have been notified.
We want all family members and guests to remain down here.
The guards, enforcers, and other security personnel will be divided according to their predetermined assignments.
My people will do the same,” Hollis glanced over at Darragh before he said more.
Darragh stepped forward.
“What Hollis just said goes. Everyone to your stations. Family, you can rest in the rooms with beds. Get something to eat. The children, we’d like to have them in their room where they’ll be the least disturbed.”
His words were like magic. People began to disband and scatter. I was planning to help get the kids to the safe room, but Darragh called my name. Leaving the kids, I hurried over to them.
“Yes, do you need me? I was just gonna help get the kids settled,” I explained. I saw Dad and his guys wander over to stand close by.
“You can do that shortly, but we thought you’d like to know what else Cody’s team found.” Darragh’s gaze landed on Dad. “Faolán, you should hear this, too.”
It took the four of them seconds to move closer.
“There was a missive that was sent to the ones who have been behind the chatter that’s being intercepted. They no doubt believed it was encrypted, but they don’t have a Cody. We don’t yet know who they are, but we do know why they chose to attack the commune last night.
“They discovered that Cathal and Bronagh were not only engaged, but the wedding was happening this weekend. They were mobilized, but were too late to stop the vows. So their secondary orders were, if they didn’t stop the wedding, then they were to kill Bronagh to break our alliance with you, Faolán.
They apparently had no idea you were here.
They thought the death of your daughter would make you blame us, and the assistance we’ve been giving, and all future help would be lost. Even more likely was that we’d turn on each other,” Darragh explained.
Dad swore long and hard in Gaelic. No one interrupted him. When he was through, his face was a dark red, and rage radiated off him. I knew what he was like when he got like this. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, he could be extremely vengeful.
“Undoubtedly, they hoped that if you fought each other, you’d eliminate a portion of my birth family or maybe most of it, leaving their territories up for grabs,” I mused.
I forced myself to think, not react.
“That’s a good guess. But while we don’t want your territory, Faolán, we would never leave it open for others to take over.
We’d protect it and what’s left of the Bragan family.
Bronagh is part of our family. That makes the rest of you the same.
And as long as that bond isn’t betrayed, we’ll remain that way,” Darragh vowed to Dad.
I saw that declaration stunned my dad. He stood there absorbing it. While he did, I had a question.
“Have you heard anything from Cathal and the others about how their discussions are going with the three from last night?”
“We did. Right before Cody’s alert came in. The first two provided very basic information, but they did include two addresses. The last guy, the one who was the leader on the ground, had to be forced to give up what he knew. It wasn’t pleasant for him. However, he eventually broke.
“He gave more information on the number of men they have, how many bosses there are, and things of that nature. He mentioned first names. They’re on their way back. We’ll talk about everything they know once they get here. At least we have places to search.” Darragh assured us.
I felt deflated. I hoped that they’d know exactly who was behind everything and where to find them. I was feeling rather bloodthirsty. Cormac’s arm came around my shoulders. He pulled me close.
“Don’t look so dejected and pissed. We’ll find them. Who knows. If this second wave actually hits us, we might capture someone else who knows tons more,” he said.
I hoped that he was right.