Cathal
Fionn was driving one vehicle and Daniel the other.
The rest of us were split between them. We were all racing home.
We’d finished with Baldie and had gotten what he had to offer, which still wasn’t enough.
We’d been about to tie things up with the bodies when we were alerted that another attack at the compound was imminent.
Despite all the security measures we had in place and the fact that The Hive was impenetrable, my heart raced, and I felt sick to my stomach with worry for Bronagh and my family. I needed to be there with her.
Both bodyguards were driving as fast as they could while avoiding getting pulled over.
We wouldn’t come through the front gate.
Instead, we entered through one of the hidden escape tunnels and made our way to the CC.
Everyone who should be in it would be there by now.
Darragh wouldn’t fool around when it came to getting people to safety.
As I rode along, I wondered how Bronagh was handling this. Darragh hadn’t gone into detail on what Cody’s team found, but he hinted that they at least knew why the strike on the compound happened.
Alistair’s cabin was situated in Turnbull Swamp, which lay about twelve miles outside of St. Augustine.
Since it was a Sunday morning, we didn’t have the usual morning rush of traffic, so it would take us closer to twenty minutes to get home, versus the thirty it would on a weekday—every second dragged by for me.
When we entered the tunnel closest to the route we took back, a smidge of tension eased. We hadn’t received any messages that the commune had been hit again. Alistair was in the vehicle with me, continually monitoring with Hollis on the phone.
Once we entered the tunnel through a cleverly camouflaged opening, we drove to where the escape vehicles were kept. They were checked weekly to ensure they were in working order. Leaving our vehicles there, we set out at a brisk pace. It was faster than a jog, but slower than outright running.
As we neared the central area, voices became audible. I began scanning the crowd for her. It didn’t take me long to find her. She was standing by the monitoring stations with Daid, Darragh, Hollis, and her dad, plus his guys.
“Bronagh!” I shouted.
She whipped around. When she saw me, she took off running toward me.
I had my arms open. I heard someone shout my name, but it wasn’t her, so I ignored them.
She almost knocked me over when she hit my chest. I wrapped her up tight in my arms. My mouth automatically went to hers.
The kiss was relief mixed with panic. I made sure she felt how much love was in it, too.
When we came up for air, she was babbling. I tried to make sense of what she was telling me. But we were interrupted when Faolán, Daid, Darragh, and Hollis joined us.
“Cathal, glad you’re back, but,” Darragh said, giving me a concerned glance. At the same time, Daid spoke over Dar.
“Mac, you need to let go of Bronagh.”
I scowled. “Why the hell would I do that?” I asked my dad.
“Because you need to make yourself presentable,” he said.
For three beats, I had no clue what he meant, then it dawned on me. I let go of Bronagh and pushed her away from me. She frowned and tried to cling to me.
“Cathal, what the hell are you doing?” she snapped.
I glanced down at her body. I saw the smears. I hated that I’d done that. She noticed where my gaze went, so she looked down at herself. I waited for her to freak out at the blood I’d smeared on her clothes. Instead, she stunned me.
“Oh, I guess we made a mess. We’ll have to shower. Are there clean clothes down here? I figure with everything else you stocked down here, there have to be clothes. Or will we have to get some from the house?” Her voice was calm.
“Mo ghrá, I’m sorry. I forgot. Let me get rid of these. You need to get out of those immediately,” I told her.
“It’s okay. It never registered. Are there clothes down here?” she asked.
“Go into the first room on the left, down that tunnel. It has a stock of scrubs in various sizes. You should be able to find something to wear. We don’t want anyone to be above ground in their houses,” Darragh explained.
“We’ll grab them and find a vacant room to shower in. I’ll make it fast. I want to know what you found out.” I told him.
“Why don’t we find out first, then we’ll shower? I’m not about to cry or lose my mind over a little blood on my clothes. It’s not on my skin. You’re the one with more on you. If we shower first, you’ll be losing it having to wait,” Bronagh said calmly.
She left me speechless. I knew she was a strong woman, but to have the blood of someone I tortured smeared on her would’ve sent most women over the edge, but not my Mafia princess.
“Are you sure?” I asked her.
“I’m positive. I’m anxious to know what you discovered and to tell you what they know on this end.”
?
Bronagh and I had gotten updated. We told everyone in The Hive what the last guy told us.
He confirmed that two men were referred to as the bosses behind their hiring.
They were Primo and Lotario. He didn’t know their last names.
And although he couldn’t swear to it, he thought that they were brothers.
Their looks were very similar, and Primo seemed to tell the other one what to do—insinuating that he was the leader.
Those were Italian first names. And not common, especially Lotario.
They had only come to the farm twice in the year Baldie had been there.
He shared that when he arrived, there had only been a group of ten men already there.
They claimed to be the first ones. He’d overheard the two bosses arguing the second time they came to visit the farm. They mentioned Sault Ste. Marie.
A quick online search on Shane’s phone revealed that the only place with that name was on the Michigan-Canada border. In fact, there was a bridge that connected Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada.
Baldie’s estimate of the men at their disposal was higher than the forty-five we were given by the first two. Since he’d been there longer, he’d seen more come and go from the farm. Not all the men were stationed on it. He put the number at just over one hundred.
Whoever Primo and Lotario were, they had been raising their troops for at least a year, though in truth, it had to be longer than that.
And if they had more farms or locations like it, they could have far more.
What he couldn’t tell us was why a group possibly from the Upper Michigan peninsula would want to take over territory in New Mexico.
All he said was that Lotario and Primo had mentioned when he overheard them that they had a score to settle.
Of course, Baldie may be totally wrong, and they aren’t headquartered in Michigan at all.
He verified that the equipment and quality of weapons they had access to weren’t nearly as good as ours.
And their living conditions weren’t either.
So that made us believe there was a revenue issue, or that they were too cheap to spend it on their foot soldiers, which was what those men who came were.
Darragh told me what Cody found online about why they attacked the commune. The idea that they wanted to kill Bronagh to break up our alliance and possibly make us turn on each other pissed me off. I wanted to get my hands on more of them.
However, since the second wave wasn’t here yet, I chose to distract myself by taking a shower with my wife.
That had been an exhilarating experience.
I only wished we had time to do more, like her suck me off and me feast on her pussy until she came.
We were both already horny, so it was a strain to resist, but we did, barely.
Now, we were freshly showered and out in the center of The Hive getting an update.
Eyes were glued to the camera feeds again.
I saw nothing on them. I was about to interrupt the huddle at the long workstation when I heard Cody’s voice.
I rushed over with Bronagh in tow and found him on a video call with Alistair, our dads, Darragh, and Hollis.
I felt no shame pushing my way forward to stand with them, even though Bronagh tried to yank me back.
“What did we miss?” I asked Daid.
“Good. You’re here. Cody just came on,” he told me.
I brought my wife to stand in front of me so I could hold her tight.
“Ah, hey, Cathal. And this has to be Bronagh. It’s a pleasure to meet you, but I hate that it has to be this way,” Cody told us.
“I’ve been hearing about what a genius you are. Hopefully, we will meet in person soon. But until then, everyone is dying to know what you know?”
Her straightforward, commanding behavior made everyone close by laugh.
“Damn, she’s trying to take over my job. I’ll have to watch her,” Darragh teased, winking at her.
“Though she is right. Do you have anything for us? We’re here waiting in the CC for the next wave to hit. They should be here by now or damn soon,” Dar tacked on.
“I just got another update. They’re not the smartest in keeping shit encrypted, but it works in our favor. They chose to turn around. They were recalled when they got to the halfway point between Jacksonville and St. Augustine,” Cody reported.
“Why the hell would they do that?” I asked. My need to inflict more pain on the individuals targeting my family and wife needed more appeasement.
“From what I can piece together, and it’s still hazy, the higher-ups got spooked by the fact they hadn’t heard from anyone in the first group.
The second one was put into play at a location farther from us starting a week ago.
They were to arrive a few hours after the first bunch in case there was any need to clean up stragglers.
And some were to remain behind to occupy the compound.
They thought they would take you all out and claim the property.
“When those coordinating things failed repeatedly to raise anyone, they freaked and pulled the second team back. I have my people working on those two names you gave us: Primo and Lotario. Plus, we have the two addresses and now the new location, Sault Ste. Marie. If those two men have a connection to it or New Mexico, we’ll find it,” Cody stated.
“Do you know where they were recalled to? Was it the farm in Michigan?” Alistair asked.
“The word farm was mentioned. However, we don’t know if that’s the only one they have. But I can verify that someone mentioned the name ‘Primo.’ They said he was gonna lose his mind,” Cody verified.
I felt let down. We still had people out there gunning for the Bragans and us.
We had no clue why, or even who. And there was nothing we hated more than having threats hanging over our heads for a long time.
I wasn’t the only one who was dissatisfied.
There was a lot of swearing and dark muttering.
It was a good thing none of the kids were around to hear it.
“Thanks, Cody. You know the drill. Let us know when you discover anything new. We’ve got to meet and go over what we know. We’ll talk soon,” Darragh told him.
Cody told us to try to get some rest. After he disconnected, Darragh faced the rest of us.
“I know none of us are gonna like this, but to be safe, we need to lie low,” Dar said.
“What exactly does that look like? We have businesses, things we can’t ignore,” Aidan said. The others had slowly gathered around us as we talked to Cody.
“Well, I think that during the daytime, we can be up top but on alert. They’d be stupid to hit us in broad daylight.
We’re not that far from neighbors in the scheme of things.
A few miles at most. Tonight, I recommend we come back down here.
That way, if they change their minds and come back, we don’t have to wake everyone up in the middle of the night.
“Tomorrow is Monday, and we can’t all just refuse to go to work.
However, anyone who doesn’t absolutely have to go stays home.
Those who need to go in will have to do so in groups, if possible, with guards.
We’ve done that before. I want the kids to remain here.
And if the women could, that would be best. And I know they’ll say they have to work, too, but the easiest way to get to us is through them.
These people were coming for Bronagh,” Darragh added.
“And how should we plan to go after those on the farm and to check out the warehouse in Milford? We’ll need to deploy resources there. Meaning we will take most from here,” Declan reminded us.
“I’ll be reaching out to Diablo to see if they’re willing to help watch over the compound and play bodyguard.
He has helped us with things in the past. As for those sent to both Michigan locations, it’ll have to be coordinated to happen at the same time.
I bet Raider’s men might be willing to help for a price.
God knows those bastards are scary and don’t fear anything,” Dar added.
“What did Darragh mean by that last one? And who is Diablo?” Bronagh asked softly, so only I heard her.
I checked to make sure her dad and his men weren’t next to us. They weren’t. They were off to our left.
“Raider is the president of the Grave Prowlers MC. His members are different. They look like a bunch of wild ones. And their compound is part of a cemetery. They have houses built facing the damn place where dozens of dead bodies have been for decades, some centuries. It’s spooky.
And I swear I have no problem picturing them communing with the dead.
But there’s no one better to have your back, unless it’s the Horsemen of Wrath MC.
Diablo is their president. Their club is here in St, Augustine. ”
“Well, it sounds like there’s a lot of work to do. I’m very organized, so if you guys need my help. Tell me.” Bronagh said. I couldn’t resist kissing her. She made my heart sing despite the danger.