Sean Chapter
Sean:
I was infuriated that we had to leave Brenda and Cyndi in the hands of those fuckers at the club. It was these men’s fault. Since I couldn’t be with Brenda, I’d take out my frustration on the prisoners. Our greetings were over, yet Patrick said nothing. I broke the quiet.
“Brother, Duane said that men were here stealing weapons. Is this all of them? Do you have any idea who they are and why? What did they get away with?” I directed at Patrick, though Ranald was like a brother, and we called him that, too.
“Always with the hundred questions. Patience, Sean. Give me a moment,” he replied without heat.
As I waited, I tried to see more of the captives, but their heads hung down too far.
“To answer you, Sean, it seems that some people thought they could steal from us. We were lucky. Something told Scully to come out and check on this warehouse. When he and a few of the saighdiúirí, soldiers, arrived, they found a truck backed up to the building. The big door was wide open. Several men were loading crates into their truck. As you can see, they captured three of them. The rest, well, they weren’t as lucky. ”
When he paused to let it sink in, Cormac spoke. “Patrick, did we lose any of our people? What happened with the guard who should’ve been here? Was he in on it?”
“The other bastards are dead. The guard wasn’t in on it. There are some minor injuries and one with a hole through his upper arm. As for losing any of ours, we lost the guard. We lost Kit,” Pat answered.
A spear of pain flashed through my stomach, making me nauseous. Kit had been a favorite among the regular guards. He wasn’t necessarily a soldier. He’d stuck to guard duty. He could always make those around him laugh.
“Fuck. Tell me, did one of these three fuckers kill him?” Cor hissed.
“We don’t know. We waited for you before doing any of the real asking. They look like their current conditions are due to resisting,” Ranald replied, smirking.
“Then, should we get to work, Patrick? Or are we waiting on others?” I left the questions dangling there.
“No, we’re ready. Scully, make sure they’re ready to cooperate.
I hate to repeat myself.” Patrick’s tone grew menacing.
His eyes narrowed to slits as he focused on the prisoners.
We’d learned at Daid’s knee how to project power and to always be the one in control.
If perceived as weak, the wolves would attack.
Scully moved to loom over the men. One by one, he latched onto their hair, yanked their heads back, hyper-extending their necks, and then ordered them to look at Cormac, Patrick, and me.
“Look at the bosses! Tell them everything. If you lie, evade, or resist answering, it’ll only end with you prolonging and worsening your pain.”
Their faces were bruised and bloody. They clearly fought their capture.
Now for the part that I equally hated and loved.
The one thing I despised was that we had to do this at all.
I hated that, because of others’ stupidity, we had to discipline or kill them.
However, it was a necessary thing in our line of work.
On the other hand, I loved doing it when I got the chance.
Defending my family was always a pleasure for me, and the feel of fists on flesh couldn’t be beat.
We always had the option to be part of the beatdown team, designate a stand-in, or allow our saighdiúirí to take care of them. Tonight, I was frustrated and disappointed with how things went with Brenda and her friend. I could work those feelings out if Patrick would permit me.
“Brother, I would like to be one of the ones to get his hands dirty,” I spoke up.
“Me, too,” Cormac said, almost over me.
Patrick’s brows rose. He wanted to know why, but he’d wait until we were alone to ask. His reply was short and to the point.
“As you wish, so be it. If you want assistance, call upon anyone you want to help. Okay, enough talk, let’s get this done. My bean chéile, wife, needs me.”
Patrick knew none of us would keep him away from Maeve for long, especially when she was so close to her due date. I unbuttoned my shirt to take it off—no use destroying all my clothes.