Chapter Eight
Arriving at the Florida Sons Of Ireland Brewery, the whole group made their way to the warehouse and the small hotel behind it.
Siobhan was back from the hospital by then. She started handing keys out and getting everyone settled for the night. It seemed she was very organized and up to date on the hospitality part. They all had coffee makers and microwaves in the rooms along with a small fridge that had been fully stocked.
A couple of hours later, vehicles were pulling into the lot.
Darragh and his crew pulled in first. He got out of his car along with his sons Ronan and Shane. Tadhg stayed behind to run the plant there.
Cillian arrived in the middle of the night with some of his boys, Senan, and Ryan. His other kids again stayed behind to keep their own plant working.
The ones from New York and Boston had a longer drive. More vehicles were pulling into the parking lot just as dawn arrived in the eastern skies.
Seamus was just having his first coffee of the day when his sons Teague and Rory joined them. He recognized several other men he knew in Boston, coming through the door.
He raised his eyebrow when he saw his sons coming over to his table. They dropped down into chairs and looked at their da.
“We’re here,” Teague pointed out the more than obvious fact.
“So I see.” Seamus nodded as he gave him a smirk.
“How is your Uncle Colin?” Rory asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee. He poured Teague one as well and his brother nodded his thanks.
“He’s well enough. Both bullets missed killing him but only by a wee bit and he’s still in the hospital but he’s getting his strength back day by day.
” Seamus sipped his coffee. “We got more people coming in this morning with intel. So, we can figure out a plan but we’ve also stumbled into a bigger mess than just Shanon White. ”
Teague sat up straighter. “Bigger than Shanon White? What do you mean, Da?”
Seamus explained it, “When we were in Portland we found Ria was operating a smuggling ring. She was housing stolen goods from all over the world and Shay took it all into his custody. Ria herself warned us that now we had a whole operation of some really bad men pissed the hell off and they would be coming after their stolen goods. She claimed that this was bigger than just her.”
Teague looked over at Rory and just shook his head. “This is not good, not good at all. What the bloody hell did we get ourselves involved in?”
Seamus looked at his sons and growled. “We are the Sons of Ireland. We look trouble in the eye and we spit right in that eye. Don’t you ever forget that. We don’t run from trouble coming our way, we fight back and we don’t stop until the last of us falls. That’s just who we are.”
Rory reached out and gripped his arm. “Da, we know that and we will never forget it either. We just don’t know what we’re doing yet.
We donna know the details or the plan, give us a minute to see what’s coming.
We sure as hell won’t run away from this.
It’s too important to us as a family. You don’t need to fear that we’ll fail you. ”
Seamus nodded. “Aye ladies, I know that.” He rubbed his face then admitted, “We keep uncovering more deceit and more trouble but like I said we aren’t quitters. We’ll see this through right to the end.”
Just then, the doors opened again and a group of men walked in.
Seamus recognized Timmy and his friends.
Finn moved forward to greet them.
Seamus got up to walk over to the group gathering. He listened to his Uncle Finn introducing the group to his other family members.
“Timmy, these new ones are our other brothers Darragh and Cillian. Darragh’s from New Orleans and Cillian is from Chicago. They are here to help us complete this mission,” Finn assured him.
Timmy shook their hands as he looked a bit surprised. “Man, your family is sure spread out, isn’t it?”
Darragh nodded. “Aye, we are a bit far from the other ones but there is a reason for that. We each hold up the family business and the family name. We are known as the Sons of Ireland and we make and sell good Irish whiskey.”
Timmy licked his lips and nodded. “Yeah, we know about that part. Everyone’s heard about SOI whiskey. We don’t often drink it, but when we can afford it, we sure enough do. It’s very smooth, top shelf all the way.”
Darragh smiled. “We try.”
Timmy looked over at Finn and cleared his throat.
“There’s talk on the streets about your brother’s shooting.
Most folks around here don’t like it. He’s a man with many people who think highly of him.
We’ve been spreading the word and the street people are gearing up to help us.
You’re gonna have an army behind you when the confrontation comes. ”
The outside doors opened again and a single woman stepped inside.
A small woman with her hair all tucked up inside her cap.
Dressed in an oversized green jacket and faded looking jeans.
With newer looking boots on her feet, she was limping toward them with help from a cane.
“Timmy O’Rourke, you were supposed to wait for me,” she called out.
Timmy turned and groaned at the sight of her. “Oh Gret, I’m sorry, I didn’t think you were coming. We waited as long as we could but you never showed up.”
Gretchen made her way through the room and came to a stop next to Seamus. She stared at Timmy and asked, “You didn’t hear?”
“Hear what?” Timmy glanced at his men then looked at Gretchen. “What did I miss?”
Gretchen smiled. “That witch Shanon lost half her men this morning, about an hour ago, they just got into their vehicles and drove off. Scattered. They threw their bags in the back of the cars and trucks and just drove away. All the while Shanon was standing there yelling at them that she was good for their pay and as soon as she freed up some spondoolicks she’d catch up with them.
” She laughed. “It was glorious to see her losing her cool.”
Timmy stared at her. “I wish I’d seen this. Finally, she’s gonna go down.”
Shay joined the group as well as some of the others. “Two questions: is spoodoolicks money? And did you actually see this happen?” Shay asked.
Gretchen nodded. “Yeah, she went to get her money or so she claimed. I was there and I saw it. Although she never saw me I sure as hell saw her. It was glorious. She just lost her shit right there and then. She was tossing things all over and saying she was done with this place.” Gretchen studied him then she looked around and saw the faces of several men she didn’t know.
She stepped back and stumbled on her feet.
Aiden stepped up behind her and he was there if she fell.
She used her cane and got her balance back. “Who the hell are all of you? I thought I was meeting Timmy and his crew here. Sinead didn’t tell me about all of you guys.”
Seamus raised his hands up at her. “Hey now, we’re Sinead’s family and we aren’t gonna hurt you.”
Gretchen turned her head and stared at them suspiciously. “Yeah, she said her uncles were here but you can’t all be uncles.”
“Oh yes, we can,” Liam said. “The O’Malley clan is huge.”
Shay stood and said, “I’m not family at all, but my name is Shay Montross. I’m what these guys...” He motioned his thumb over the whole group. “They call me the government guy.”
Gretchen snorted. “Oh, that’s great, now we’re working with the man? What are you doing here, exactly?”
Shay grinned. “For one, I’m the one who took Shanon’s money.”
Gretchen’s brows shot up and then she grinned too. “Ok, so you’re the one that mucked up her life so far. That’s nice to know.” She turned around suddenly and glared at Aiden, “And who the hell are you sneaking up on me like that? Don’t you know sneaking up on a person might just get you hurt?”
Aiden grinned at her then he also raised his hands in surrender. “I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m only standing here in case you fall.”
Gretchen growled at him. “I ain’t gonna fall. I walk all over this town and I will walk all over you too. I got my feet under me just fine.”
Finn laughed as he sang, “Those boots are made for walking and that's just what she’ll do.” He turned to Teague and teased, “Now she’ll just walk all over you.”
Gretchen stared at him then she leaned her head back and laughed.
Everyone joined her.
Liam scoffed. “Of all the silly...”
Gretchen seemed to calm herself and nodded at Finn. “That was hilarious. I can see that you are my kind of crazy.”
Breaking in, Timmy asked her, “How many men walked away this morning, Gret? Did you see how many she’s got left?”
Gretchen turned around to stare at Timmy. “Yeah, about seven left this morning and she’s only got about that many left.” Shaking her head she admitted, “But Timmy, that wicked woman is losing her tiny evil mind.”
“Well, that’s good for us then, isn’t it?” Finn grinned.
Gretchen turned her head to stare at him as she still smirked about his song. Then she shook her head at his statement. “That’s not good news.”
Finn stared at her. “Why not? Why isn’t that good for us?”
Gretchen rolled her eyes. “Because for a woman like her, losing her mind is never a good thing for other people. She already had a screw loose. Then now she’s getting desperate and that’s when she’ll start making the wrong plans.”
“What do you mean?” Seamus frowned.
Gretchen snorted. “All her life she’s learned what she can get away with and what she can’t.
She grew up learning her trade and figuring how to make money that isn’t really legit if you know what I mean.
Then she married a man like Stuart MacGruder and that’s when she got used to a certain lifestyle.
Spoiled her rotten. She turned her back on anyone who couldn’t give her or make her money.
She got used to just taking and taking and not worrying about how to pay for what she took.
I've been watching here for more years than I care to admit, but now I’ve been noticing something else about that woman.
” Shaking her head she admitted, “She’s always been a little high strung but recently she’s been over the top type of high strung.
Something happened that either just pissed her off or made her think she needed major security. ”
Seamus snorted. “Yes, that would be losing one brother to a gunshot wound and the other to arrest, then she found her lover shot to death in an alley and finally her father is stuck in prison. She’s alone for the first time in her wasteful life and my bet is she doesn’t know how to be alone.”
Gretchen paled as she understood what he just said. But one thing stood out more than the rest. “She had a lover other than her husband? Is she nuts? Stuart isn’t going to like hearing that. And he’s one man you don’t want to cross, not in this life anyway.”
Seamus shook his head. “No, it isn’t good. No man ever wants to know that the woman he loves has taken another man to her bed.”
Gretchen shook her head and explained, “No, you don’t understand something here. If she took a lover outside of her vows then she knows she’s a dead woman. Her husband always told her that if he ever found out she had cheated on him, he put something in place that would guarantee she was punished.”
“Punished?” Finn frowned. “How could he do that? He’s sitting in prison right now, he canna do a thing to her.”
Timmy shook his head and answered this, “It won’t be him that punishes her. He’s got his own men.”
Gretchen nodded. “He made it very clear to her that if she cheated on him, she’ll get a bullet in her head and she wouldn't know it until it was too late to stop it. So now it all makes sense, that’s why she’s got all those men on her payroll. That’s also why she’s been in hiding.”