Chapter 25 #2
Noah nods and puts his head on Tinman’s shoulder. “And Bee,” he says softly.
I bite my lip when Noah whispers those words. Tears flood my eyes, and my gaze moves to my mum. She smiles mistily at me and blows me a kiss. Even Dad looks choked up.
Copper wraps an arm around my waist, tugging me into him as I inhale a shaky breath.
“Yeah, Noah. Bee is a good name for a mom,” Tinman agrees, looking at me warmly.
“Everything okay out here?” Coal wants to know.
I was so lost in Noah that I didn’t hear him approach.
“Yeah, brother. All good,” Copper says, pressing a kiss to my hair. “We’re coming. Just settling Noah.”
“Do you need to bring him in with you?” Coal asks.
If I’d had any doubts that this was a good MC, they would have disappeared right then.
“No,” I answer. “He’s good with your dad, if it’s okay that Tinman misses Church.”
“No problem. I’ll fill him in afterwards.”
Reaching out, I ruffle Noah’s curls. “I’m going into that room with Copper and Coal. If you need me, tell Tinman or Dog, and they’ll come and get me, okay?”
Noah nods.
Turning on my heel, I follow Coal to Church with Copper falling into step beside me.
I hesitate when we get inside because I’m unsure where to sit. The chairs next to Coal and Thea at the head of the table are empty.
Copper takes my hand and sits me next to Coal, then takes the one beside me.
Coal picks up the gavel and slams it on the table. “Church in session. Before we get to the business part, let’s welcome back our VP.”
The brothers hoot and holler, making me smile. Copper grins, happy to be back with his brothers.
“Right, settle down.” Coal orders, waiting for the brothers to quiet. “I’d like to thank Nickel for being a fucking fantastic interim VP while Copper was away. I couldn’t have done everything we’ve done in the last few months without you, brother. Thank you.”
Nickel smiles and nods. He looks like his brothers, but he’s much quieter. “You’re welcome. Damn glad to have you back, Cop.”
“Glad to be back, little brother.”
“I’d also like to welcome Bee, Copper’s Old Lady, to the table. Welcome, Bee. Thanks for bringing our brother back to us in one piece.”
Bee’s face flushes. “You’re welcome, and thanks for having me.”
Coal pushes a box towards Copper. “For you.”
“Thanks.” Copper pats the top but doesn’t open it, waiting for Coal to continue.
“Right, we’ve got a lot to cover. Cahir, the floor’s yours.”
Cahir gets right down to business. “Okay, so the organisation that took Bee wasn’t the major player we were after, but they’re not small fry either. This is Lloyd Eade.”
We’re silent as Ramzi pulls up his picture on the big screen.
“Thirty-five years old. Comes from a typical family, from what we’ve discovered.
Went off the rails in his twenties and got involved in the drug scene.
Parents got tired of him stealing from them and cut all ties.
He was a male prostitute for a bit before cleaning himself up about six years ago.
Not sure why. He rose out of nowhere and grew fast, which makes me think he has backing from another big player.
I’ve got a sneaking suspicion it’s Miles Burres.
However, we can’t find anything that ties the two of them together.
I’m sure there’s a connection somewhere, and it may take time, but we’ll find it. ”
Cahir pauses to make sure everyone has absorbed the information so far.
“We know where Eades is, and as soon as Bee gives us the go-ahead, we’ll pick him up.
As for Noah”—he looks at me, his expression grim—“his father worked for another accounting firm. He was given the Eade account by mistake. When he reported discrepancies to his company and nothing was done, he went to the authorities with enough proof to put Eade in prison for a long time. But as we all know, dead men can’t tell tales.
Two weeks ago, he and his wife were killed in a house fire. ”
“Does Noah have any other family?” I ask, my heart breaking for the little boy.
Cahir looks at Ramzi, who shakes his head. “His parents, Maggie and Sean Phillips, were both only children. Their parents died a few years ago. They have distant cousins but none they were close to. No guardianship was set up for Noah, and his parents never made a will.”
“I’ve fabricated a will and backdated it, making you and Copper Noah’s legal guardians, and started the paperwork to make him yours,” Ramzi explains.
“His parents still need to be laid to rest. I’ve reached out to a funeral home to get the ball rolling.
I’ll have dates for you if you want to take him. ”
“I’ll pay for it,” I tell Ramzi. “Make sure the funeral home knows Noah’s parents deserve the best.”
Ramzi nods his agreement.
I turn back to Cahir. “Why have the authorities done nothing about this? Why aren’t they investigating their deaths or looking for Noah?”
“The neighbours raised concerns about Noah, but with a few backhanders here and there, the paperwork on Noah went missing. We all know how this works. And it’s impossible to stop.”
Cahir sighs and rubs his hands over his face.
“Anyway, from the information we’ve found on the dark web, Noah was due to be auctioned off, which is where the nurse comes in.
She was sent to retrieve him from the hospital and take him to a pre-arranged location.
They didn’t think that you’d keep him with you. ”
“This is the nurse. Meet Beatrice Morgan,” Ramzi states as her image appears on the screen. “She’s Eade’s lover, does whatever he asks of her. Our informant tells us that Eade is slowly unravelling since Beatrice hasn’t made contact about Noah and has gone missing.”
“And she won’t be,” Jeanie assures us with a gleeful grin. “Beatrice is enjoying O’Shea sensory deprivation right now. She’ll be ready for a conversation when you are.”
“There you go. Hospitality at its finest.” Cahir chuckles. “We need to move on Eade before he slips away again. You up for it, Bee?”
I internally assess the damage to my body before I nod. “Yeah, if I go in as backup, I’m good to go. I want to be there when you take him down. I want my time with him once he’s ours, but I’m happy for you to take the lead.”
Copper slides his hand up my thigh, giving it a squeeze.
“Okay, Eade is holed up near the Scottish border.” Cahir waits for an aerial map to appear on the screen showing a large house surrounded by forest. “He has neighbours, but we’re in luck because they’re out of the country right now.
He’s tightened his security, so getting to him won’t be easy.
The property is protected by a ram-proof steel gate and concrete walls and is monitored 24/7.
There are approximately twenty security guards, accompanied by five guard dogs. Guard rotation is every four hours.”
I lean forward to get a better look, thinking and discarding ideas as they flip through my mind, when I suddenly hit on one. “Food delivery,” I suggest, then slap my hand over my mouth, forgetting that I’m not at my family Church. “Sorry.”
Coal chuckles, “You can talk, Bee. There’s no standing on formality here. Go ahead and elaborate.”
“Thank you, Coal.” I smile, then continue now that I’ve been given the floor.
“We can arm a food delivery with a bomb. If we can get it inside the guards’ hut and detonate it, that will take care of one problem.
If we position a sniper up there”—I point at the hill at the rear of the property—“he’ll have a perfect view of the entire property.
The rest of us can park down the road and approach using the forest for cover.
We’ll need to drug the dogs, but I’m sure we can incapacitate them without hurting them.
I can call Josie if you don’t have a contact? ”
I look at Cahir, who nods.
“We do have contacts. We can use the drones that Thea built to drop small explosives on the roof of the property to draw him out.”
“What about the police?” Cross asks. “I know you’ve had that covered so far, but do you have the same pull in Scotland?”
The Cursed Skulls’ grin and it’s a little intimidating. If I didn’t know them as well as I do, I’d be worried about the look in their eyes.
“Cross, my friend,” Ramzi says, “one thing you never have to worry about is the police. We handle high-level jobs for people around the world, and they know the deal—if they want us to keep doing their dirty work and cleaning up the filth they can’t touch, they know they need to cover us when we call it in.
Once Cahir gives me the go-ahead, I’ll deal with that side of things and put the cleaners on standby. ”
“Good to know.” Cross leans back in his chair, relaxed now that he knows his brothers aren’t likely to be put in prison.
“Right, let’s go over what Bee has suggested and finalise everything so we can put this filth in the ground,” Copper growls.
“I want to officially make my woman my Old Lady, and this fucker has stolen too much of our time already. I vote we go the easy route and drop a bomb on his house, blow the fucker up, and call it a day.”
The others laugh, and I join in, pressing my forehead to Copper’s shoulder. I have to agree, and I wish it were that easy.
“I love you, Cop. And I’d love to be your Old Lady. I want to blow up that piece of shit as much as you do, but sadly, we need information from him.”
“Fine,” Copper grumbles, but he’s smiling. “Let’s plan.”
It takes us hours, and I’m exhausted by the time we’re done, but we expand on my idea and put a plan in place. We leave early tomorrow morning. Thea and Jeanie are staying behind this time.
The Queens Wraith and Cursed Skulls will go after Eade.
It’ll take most of the day to get there, so we’ll leave at four in the morning and catch some sleep at the motel before the operation.
Then, we’ll drive back to the O’Sheas with that piece of filth to utilise their ‘hospitality.’ It was brought up that the club needed its own torture chamber.
We’ll sort that out once this is all over, because I have a feeling we’ll be using it more often than not.
“If you’re all happy with your roles in the operation, I’ll call an end to Church,” Coals says, looking around the table.
“All good, Pres.” Blue nods. The other brothers follow suit.
Coal bangs the gavel on the table. “Church dismissed. Be safe out there, brothers.”
Church empties quickly, and as the door opens, the scent of food permeates the room.
“Come on, Spice. Let’s make this official,” Copper says as he helps me to my feet. He picks up the box from the table and tucks it under his arm as we walk out the door.
I smile, knowing I’m walking towards my future, my past finally laid to rest.
Later that evening, with my mum and dad watching, Copper slips my property cut over my shoulders.
I look down and see the name he gave me on my breast—Spice.
Emotions I didn’t realise I was holding back spill over as a sense of rightness surges through me.
It’s not simply the knowledge that I belong; it’s about coming home to a place without memories, a place I hope to one day fill with beautiful and happy memories.