Chapter Six
Looking around, Lora clasped her hands together. “You’ll stay with us of course, won’t you?”
Finn looked at her and said, “Lassie, we’re expecting more people tomorrow. Some from Boston and New York. Maybe even from New Orleans and Chicago. Your wee house cannot hold all of us.”
Finn looked surprised then he shook his head. “Should have known that brother. You always gave more than you ever received. Aye, we’ll stay at the hotel.” Then he cleared his throat and told him, “We met some interesting people when we stepped off the plane. People you might know.”
Colin’s brows rose. “Oh, and who would that be?”
“You know a group of men that hang round with Timmy O’Rouke?” Liam asked.
Colin lay back in his bed and grinned. “Oh aye, I know Timmy and his boys. How’d you meet them so soon?”
Finn jerked his thumb over to where Arthur aka Robert Marsden, sat. “Seems our boy Arthur here knows them from years ago.”
Colin looked over at Arthur. “He does? Timmy has told me a lot about his past but he never mentioned anyone named Arthur.”
Arthur shook his head. “I changed my name a long time ago. He knew me as Robert Marsden back then.”
Colin stared at him. “Robert Marsden? Bobby Marsden?”
Arthur nodded. “That’s me.”
Colin looked shocked. “You’re Bobby?”
“Yes.”
“Holy hell son, you are a God damned hero,” he exclaimed. “Timmy told me a lot about you.” He held out his hand.
Looking surprised, Arthur reached out to shake his hand. “Good stuff, I hope?”
Colin chuckled. “It was all good. He told me about your last battle and the courageous or what could be called ‘stupid’ things you did that saved all their lives.” He looked at his brothers and his nephew.
“This man stood his ground and took out a dozen of the enemy while protecting his men. He never gave them a chance after one of the enemies threw a stun grenade into their camp. He was off taking a leak when the enemy tossed the grenade so he missed the initial shock, he only caught the blowback. Then even being unsteady on his feet he never stopped shooting until they were laid out dead and bleeding. When his buddies woke up he was sitting there with blood running down his neck, not from a bullet mind you, but from the shock of the blowback. It broke his eardrum. They were all truly shocked to see enemy soldiers all laid out around them. They tried coming in from three directions and he just played the hero.”
Arthur shook his head. “Naw, I didn’t play the hero man, I just protected my friends.
That’s all. But that broken ear drum got me and them sent home.
We came here first then I stopped in New Orleans before I finally made it back home to Montana.
I stayed there awhile then I moved around and finally ended up in Portland.
That was where I met my wife and we had a good life for about three years.
Then I suffered a tragedy and lost her and our baby son.
I stayed around but I couldn’t stay in that house anymore.
I ended up on the streets and that’s where I stayed. ”
Colin was surprised and Lora gasped and held her husband’s hand even tighter as Arthur’s words faded into the silence.
“Well lad, you survived something most men wouldn’t,” Colin finally spoke again. He reached out and patted Arthur’s hand. “I’m very happy to welcome you to Miami and I’m grateful for help in all this.”
“Aye, that’s for sure and fer certain.” Finn reached into his pocket and pulled out a soft velvet bag. “He led us to find this and we finally got it back.
Colin reached for the bag and opened it. He then gasped as the family pendant spilled out into his hand. None of them had seen the pendant in forty years. He looked up at Finn and asked. “How the hell did you ever find it?”
Finn shook his head and replied, “You aren’t gonna believe me. Ria had it and we finally tracked her sorry ass down and by God, we took it back.”
“Good and I hope that terrible woman is burning in hell,” Colin snapped.
Finn crossed his legs and gave him a nod. “Oh aye, she will be soon enough, but she’s also got another worry to be thinking of.”
“And what worry would that be?” Colin asked.
“When Shay here arrested her, he confiscated inventory from her warehouses. Some of that stuff wasn’t just hers and she claimed some bad men would come after her for losing their shit. Shay is working on locating them but she’s sitting in a prison cell about now.”
Colin nodded as he looked relieved. “So now, we only have to worry about Shanon.”
“Seems to be so.” Liam sighed. “Since this all started, we’ve been very lucky to have good people step up and help us get it done.”
“In Boston,” Seamus mentioned as he nodded at Shay. “We had Leon Vinciti helping with his men. Then Shay comes along and he literally ended the threat with his copter. Then in New Orleans we had the Bratva come along and they helped too. Though they had their own score to settle. Same in New York.”
Liam nodded. “So now, we can almost see the finish line.”
“Aye, brothers, it's almost in sight now but this may not be the final battle we fight.” Finn shook his head. “I’m hoping it is but you never know what the future will bring.”
“And just when did you say the others were coming?” Colin asked.
“They should be here later tonight or tomorrow morning,” Liam told him. “Timmy and his boys will be around tomorrow morning so we’ll possibly have an idea as to where Shanon is holding up.”
Sinead stepped forward and suggested, “There might be another person that would know where this hateful woman is hiding.”
Colin asked her, “Who would that be, daughter?”
“Gretchen Bannon,” Sinead spoke quietly.
Lora gasped quietly beside Colin and her hold on his hand tightened.
Colin looked at his wife, then at his daughter. “And just who is Gretchen Bannon?”
“She’s someone I’ve gotten to know recently,” Sinead told him.
Siobahn nodded. “She lives on the streets but she’s a good person.”
Colin looked back over at his wife. “And you know her as well?”
Lora shook her head. “Not really.” She shrugged. “I mean I’ve seen her with Sinead but I never met her in person.”
“And just how did you meet her?” Colin looked back at his daughter.
Sinead stood tall and she looked her da in the eyes and told him, “One day about three weeks ago, I was leaving the café when someone ran into me, the guy dumped coffee all over me and then began to dress me down saying to watch where I was going and blah, blah. Like him running into me was my fault! Then suddenly, Gretchen was there dressing him down, telling him she’d seen everything and the fault was his, not mine.
She really tore into him and when he sneered at her telling her to crawl back into the hole she was living in, she practically attacked him.
” Sinead grinned. “She’s got a mouth on her that could take paint off a wall but she drew a crowd.
They all heard how he was picking on little ole me and then insulting her when he was the bully.
And that just embarrassed the hell out of the guy.
He finally slunk away like a guilty dog with his tail tucked between his legs.
” Sinead burst into laughter, then snorted.
“And he deserved every minute of the rebuke. So her and I have been meeting up whenever we can since then. She’s a real hoot. ”
Everyone in the room was smiling.