Sons Of Ireland #7

Book 4

Backstory....

Book Four

How Shanan White MacGruder became an enemy

Liam sat down at his computer and Zoom-called all the uncles.

When their faces came online, Daragh said, “Brothers, I got the craic. Or rather, we do. The shite done hit the fan here in New O. And we finally found out what happened to Brigham McCrary. You remember he’s the one that stole a whole year’s worth of profit from our grandfather.”

Several voices growled and grumbled over the computer’s speakers. Of course, none of them had forgotten this old scar.

“Anyway...” Daragh cleared his throat and went on, “Brigham settled in the Chicago area and he lived well or so it seems. He went on to have a son named Niall, who grew up right in his daddy’s footsteps.

He got married and had a son he named Ferguson with his proper wife and another son with his mistress, a son that didn’t carry his name but the name of his mother, Ford Donnally.

So Ford and Ferguson got together and began running guns.

Ferguson became Stuart MacGruder as soon as he grew up and has been a gun dealer for over thirty years now.

He went international and has several warrants out under that name.

But he kept his original name a big secret, just in case he ever got arrested.

Well lads, he got arrested and he now thinks his real name is gonna be his way out of trouble.

But we got a man named Shay Montross on our side.

He now knows who Ferguson really is and he’ll double down on the reports and he’ll keep him in jail.

This Shay is also gonna pick up the brother Ford Donnally.

You see, Sean’s woman Ciara told him about a secret she found out while living under Ford’s roof as a child, she’s his stepdaughter.

She told him the brothers had their own bank and she even knew right where it was too.

Shay found the bank and enough proof of their illegal operation that will just add years to their sentences in prison. ”

The information silenced the group call for a moment while they all digested what they had been told.

Finally, Cillian spoke up, “Are you telling me that Brigham’s family lives right here in my city?”

“Aye, I am.” Daragh nodded. “Not only that but Stuart married a lass that’s way more dangerous than he is.

He married Shanon White. Shanon had two brothers, Reggie and Dean.

Now Reggie went and got himself arrested by this Shay for doing what I would consider their family business.

He got caught shipping guns to our enemies.

And Dean, well he went and got himself dead after Shay went looking for more guns. ”

A new/ old enemy Ria Sanchez...

“Who sent you here?” Cillian asked the men in custody.

Tied up, one of the men looked uneasy as he admitted, “We were supposed to put you into a coma. Or death, whichever came first.”

“Me in particular?” Cillian stared at him.

“Yes,” another of them spoke. “We were shown a picture of you.”

“Then that brings us to the center of the tootsie pop, doesn't it?” Seamus said as he squatted down to stare at them. “Who ordered this?”

The main guy looked up at him and whispered, “It came from an old woman.”

The Irish men all paused to glance at each other then they looked back at the men.

“You don’t mean a younger woman?” Seamus asked, thinking of Shanon.

They all shook their heads.

“She said she was protecting her family or something,” one of them added.

“If you let us go, we won’t come back,” the main guy said.

“And why would we do that?” Callian asked.

“Cause we can tell you who she will go after next.”

Cillian looked at Liam then at Seamus and gave them a nod. “Ok, laddies we will set you free, so tell us.”

“We need to be outside, then we’ll tell you.”

“Ahh, they don’t trust us, nephew,” Liam told Seamus.

Cillian glared down at the men. “My word is my bond.” He signaled to his son, Spencer. “Open the doors.”

After a moment, the metal doors slid open.

The men slowly got up to move back with their hands behind their head as they literally walked backwards.

“I overheard her talking to someone on the phone, she sent a team to each of the Sons of Ireland breweries. To kill, maim and burn them to the ground.” The first guy gave them a nod.

“Each?” Seamus repeated in shock.

One of the three men narrowed his eyes and sneered. “You realize we are painting a huge red target on our backs, right?”

Cillian shrugged. “You knew the risk when you took the job, didn't you? Or did she tell you we would fold the second you showed up with your little stinkin’ crow bars? Is that it? You expected us to just give up? Well, who are the fools now, boyos?”

The three men seemed to slump a bit.

The leader of the group just shook his head. Then he exhaled hard before he finally broke the silence, “She told us you wouldn’t fight back, that you were a bunch of old men now. That you were weak and she finally wanted her revenge on one of you.”

Another man nodded as he added, “She wore this odd-looking necklace and she kept clutching it. Looked like some kind of medallion or something?”

Liam paused as his gaze met Cillian’s.

Liam growled. “We need to know her name, laddie. And exactly what she told you.”

The other man nodded and then said, “Ria Sanchez.”

Liam and Cillian’s eyes widened and they both cursed in Irish, “Go maith fuck!

“The hell you say. I thought that bitch was dead a long time ago.” Cillian growled.

Seamus frowned as he stared at his uncles. “Who is this woman?”

Liam shook his head and looked at his nephew sadly. “Oh laddie, she is a ghost from the past all right and not a welcome one at that.”

Later on, the conference call between the Sons...

“Ria Sanchez is behind it all,” Seamus told them then glanced at his brothers. “That’s a name I haven’t heard for forty years and a name I could live another forty years and not ever want to hear again.”

Daragh shook his head. “That woman has caused us nothing but trouble since the day we met her. I thought we were well rid of her years ago.”

Cillian nodded. “Aye brother, as did I, but there’s more.”

“What more can there be?” Finn growled.

“How bout the fact that Ria Sanchez is wearing the O’Malley crest? The same pendant Mauve lost the day she died?” Liam growled.

The room went silent and tension ran high at his words.

Finally, Colin spoke from the PC screen, “How the hell did she get that pendant?”

Liam shook his head. “No fucking clue little brother but one of the men she sent after us positively identified it. Told us she held on to it while she was speaking about bringing us down. She made a claim to the fact that we’re all old men and we wouldn’t even stand up to them.

We were supposed to just roll over and allow them to brain us with their crowbars, I guess.

Well, when they came in here they found a whole different scenario. I can tell you that much.”

Some chuckles came from the other end of the zoom call.

Then Daragh said, “Ok, so now we can watch out for the attacks that we know are coming, but what the devil are we going to do about finding Ria Sanchez?”

Cillian grinned. “Well brother, we can continue to question the men that came here tonight. We’ll find out where she ran off to and maybe we’ll just visit her ourselves.” He paused then asked, “We understand Shanon left Chicago, has anyone seen her yet?”

Daragh shook his head. “Not yet anyway but Shay told me tonight that he’s got a hold on her father’s release.

And he also stopped Stuart’s bail release.

Along with Ford’s arrest that family is pretty much stopped now.

The road should be cleared for Ciara to collect her mother’s legacy tomorrow, free and clear. ”

“Aye that’s good but be careful with that,” Seamus warned. “Shanon might be waiting in the shadows and she might blame the girl for Lord’s death. She’s pretty unstable about that yet.”

“Aye, she is and that’s a fact.” Daragh nodded. “But we’ll watch out for her. She threatened to burn the city down over that.”

“Yes, she did and we got people watching Niall’s house still,” Cillian told his brothers. “If he leaves, we’ll know it.”

Seamus shook his head and muttered, “I willna feel safe until the whole White family and Niall is locked up in a jail cell, so they canna hurt anyone else.”

Bits of Book 6

Daragh shook his head. “You three worry about Ria and the rest of us will see to Shanon White. We’ll make sure her plans go arseways.”

“Don’t you mean Shanon MacGruder?” Seamus asked.

“Oh no, lad.” Daragh chuckled. “Her proper name is Shanon White. She married Stuart under the name of MacGruder for sure but that wasn’t his proper name. But their marriage is over anyhow.”

“And why would that be?” Seamus wanted to know.

“MacGruder finally found out that Shanon was carrying on with Moses Lord something fierce and that just pissed him off royally.” Daragh shook his head.

“Rumor is he’s gotten orders out from his prison cell and Shanon is hiding from his men.

But as you know, Ciara’s got her own network down here and we’ve got people looking for where she’s hiding.

And even though she’s up to 90 by being so busy.

I don’t think she’s out on the road anymore.

She’s hunkered down somewhere and it's just a matter of time before either we find her or MacGruder’s men find her. ”

Seamus shook his head. “I doubt she’s under any real strain. After all, she’s got the money to hide in plain sight.”