11. Plans Change & a New Enemy
Chapter eleven
Plans Change & a New Enemy
MICK
Brightly lit and utilitarian, the conference room in The Bunker smells faintly of coffee (expected) and gun oil (not so expected). I flick my gaze to where Rory is cleaning his weapon at the far end of the conference table.
"You couldn't have done that another time?" I ask him.
He shrugs. "I was busy."
"Not at work, you weren't." Brice folds his big body into one of the black leather and steel executive chairs surrounding the long conference table.
Rory, Brice, and Conor sit on one side of the table, their postures alert but relaxed. Kara sits at my right, Fiona at her right. Wraith comes in last, shoulders squared, expression unreadable.
I nod toward him. "Everything sorted?"
He called last night and explained the necessity of shifting the timing for his marriage a few days. His idea to take his fiancée, her mother and their daughters to Las Vegas where they will be overcome with the romance and get married spontaneously was a good one.
The updated version he called to inform me of early this morning is admittedly better. He's taking his new family to Disneyland where he will execute a surprise proposal and wedding.
It gets them out of town for a few days while his crew gathers intel on the Kenneth Shaughnessy situation, with the additional benefit of making the hasty marriage more believable to the outsiders we need buy-in from.
"You'll be able to sell it?" We aren't men that are big on romance.
Though I've learned how to be for Kara's sake, but her brand of romance isn't that of other women. Lucky for me.
Wraith nods. "She’s cranky about how fast we have to do it though and she's fretting over lying to her mom. I'm going to buy a house, but she wants me to move in with her and the girls to begin with."
"I can’t imagine why she's out of sorts." Kara’s lips twitch.
Wraith shrugs. "I'll make it work."
Kara rolls her eyes. "I was being sarcastic. Of course, she's cranky and reluctant to uproot her whole life for the sake of a mob she wants nothing to do with."
"She's not marrying him for the mob," I say. "She's doing it to protect herself and the girls."
Kara's smile for me is warm and filled with love. "I doubt she sees it that way. After all, that protection wouldn't be necessary if she was still ignorant of her husband's involvement in it."
"What's she talking about, boss?" Conor asks.
"I'll get to that. But first." I look each of my lieutenants in the eye and then Wraith.
He thinks he's here because of the part he's playing in circumventing Kenneth Shaughnessy's plans and the fact that his crew is tasked with gathering intel on the matter.
He's partly right.
I fold my hands on the table. "Brogan is stepping down early. Officially. He'll make the announcement at the Labor Day picnic."
"Is it because he and Hope are moving to New Mexico?" Fiona asks.
"Aye," I answer her and then explain to my lieutenants and Wraith, "Enoch’s been accepted to a specialty arts school there."
"Woah," Rory mutters. "Big changes are coming."
Brice grimaces. "That puts a different spin on the situation with Kenneth Shaughnessy."
"Aye." My gaze sweeps the table. "When my father-in-law steps down, everything shifts. I’ll be boss in the mob and CEO for all of Shaughnessy Corp’s global concerns, but Brogan will continue to work remotely for Shaughnessy Corp as a negotiator and liaison."
No one looks surprised, but the air thickens with the weight of what it all means.
"Some of those responsibilities," I continue, "will be delegated."
I look to Kara first. "Kara will replace me as COO of Shaughnessy Corp. She’ll also rule beside me in the mob as my queen. Her word is law, same as mine."
Rory’s grin is immediate, wide and knowing. "About time someone put that in writing."
Kara smiles faintly. Fiona blinks, caught between shock and pride.
Brice leans forward, eyes narrowing slightly. "And underboss?"
"That’ll be you." I meet his gaze squarely. "You’ll serve as underboss and as Vice President of Operations for Shaughnessy Corp."
Brice gives a single nod. "Understood. Thank you, boss."
My crew all call me boss, but he says it with a different inflection, like it’s already official.
Which it might as well be.
I turn to Fiona. "You’ll oversee investments, money laundering, and financial planning. You’ll sit on the Board of Directors for Shaughnessy Corp and act as our CFO for it and our mob operations."
Fiona blinks hard. "But I’m not mobbed up."
"You will give your oath of loyalty," I say evenly, "but you’ll never be made – no more than Kara will."
Kara’s head tilts. "You don’t think women should be made?"
"If it’s in their temperament to kill, they can be," I reply. "We’ve got runners who’ve never killed and never will, and they’re still vital to the family."
Fiona's brows furrow. "But those are low level positions, not ones with authority and access to sensitive information."
I nod. She's right. "Doesn't mean it has to stay that way.
" Though exceptions outside of family will be rare, if they ever happen.
There are other ways to test loyalty than forcing someone to spill blood for it, but it's still the best way in our world.
"Your sister is already privy to all mob activity. "
That's how me and Kara work now. Total disclosure on both sides. I still watch her when she's not with me, but I don't have to learn her secrets that way anymore.
She tells me everything and I tell her everything she wants to know. My wife isn't bloodthirsty enough to want details of a torture session.
"But she's your wife," Rory says. "Your queen."
"And Fiona is my sister. Some family can't be trusted." Like Kenneth fecking Shaughnessy. "But her loyalty to us is absolute."
"Zoey's isn't," Conor points out. "She's a good soldier, but she's given her oath to the Cosa Nostra."
Something flickers in my sister-in-law's eyes. Not anger, but like she's figured something out. She says, "You don't tell your wife mob business and I won't tell Zoey about anything we aren't partnering with our Cosa Nostra allies on either."
"You going to tell her about Brogan stepping down next month?" Conor presses.
"Not until he announces it to the rest of the family." Fiona looks at me. "I can tell her I've been offered the CFO job for Shaughnessy Corp at that point though, right?"
I nod. "The Cosa Nostra doesn't use a corporate structure in their syndicate. There's no reason she has to know the job extends to our less than legal businesses."
"Will I ever be able to tell her I hold both roles?" Fiona asks me.
"Will you tell Róise?" I ask, naming the cousin married to the Genovese don, who is close as a sister to my wife and Fiona.
Fiona's face wrinkles in thought. "I don't know. Her first loyalty is to la famiglia now."
"She knows a lot about Cosa Nostra business that she doesn't tell us," Kara muses. "And vice versa for me with her and mob business."
"Do you think there's stuff she knows about our mob she hasn't shared with Miceli?" Fiona asks.
Kara shrugs. "Maybe, but I wouldn't risk telling her something I wouldn't want the Genovese don to know regardless."
"Me either," Fiona says with a nod. "That's how I'll handle the information I share with Zoey too, but if and until we marry, I'm not telling her about making my oath to the mob."
Conor says, "Fair enough."
The rest of my council nod their approval too.
"What about my role, boss?" Rory asks
"You’ll take over my weapons dealing including the rollout of higher production of the whisper guns."
Ultimately, we decided to start that venture with small numbers of bespoke whisper guns sold to select clients for an exorbitant price, maximizing our profit while maintaining control of the market. Six years later and no one has been able to feckin' back engineer the Vanta.
Now that Hex has developed sister models with specialized features, we are increasing our production of the basic Vanta and offering it without modifications to a bigger list of our clients.
"You’re in charge of all of it," I stress to Rory. "Consider yourself our Chief Procurement Officer for the syndicate."
Rory gives a sharp grin. "Nice! I’ll take that."
"Conor," I say, shifting my gaze, "you’ll be head enforcer. You’ll have oversight of all the family’s security teams, including mine and Kara’s, and the fixers attached to the legitimate companies. Think Chief Security Officer, but with a broader reach."
Conor nods once. "It'll be my honor."
"Good."
I let the silence stretch a beat. "The other lieutenants will remain in their positions." I pause. "Unless they stop being effective or loyal."
That earns a few smirks. They all know what happens to men who stop being loyal.
"With one exception," I continue. "Kenneth Shaughnessy."
Brice and Wraith's expressions harden.
Rory slides his newly cleaned gun back into its holster. "That guy is an entitled pain in the ass, but I'm gonna assume you've got a more concrete reason for retiring him."
"I do. He’s trying to undermine my position as the next boss." I run through a quick explanation of what Fitz told me about the shite Kenny Jr. has been spewing, what happened with Sadie yesterday and what we learned from áine after her daughter was attacked.
Clearly furious, my top advisors all agree with Kara, Wraith and my assessment of what it all means.
Conor leans forward. "Why isn’t Brogan here? Kenneth’s his lieutenant."
"Brogan and Hope are in Santa Fe looking for a house," I answer. "I’ll brief him when there’s concrete evidence, or when he’s back. Whichever comes first. I called him this morning and told him about the attack on Sadie and the punishment we mean to dole out."
Brogan hadn't enjoyed being woken at four a.m. Santa Fe time, but he agreed with sending the boys involved to foster with allied mob families in Ireland, Chicago, Boston and Spain.