by Shyla Colt
“Hope the luck of the Irish is with us today, my girl. We’re going to need it. My mum doesn’t like unexpected changes. Not that I can blame her. A lifetime of wondering if my da was going to make it home was enough.” Her thoughts went back to the late nights, shady dealings, and tasks that no child should be asked to complete. At the time, she thought she’d been helping the cause. Now, she wondered if she could ever make up for it. She climbed from the car, and removed Aoife, lost in the memories of the past.
PAST
“Love, I need you to do something for me,” her father said.
“What’s that, Da?” she asked.
He gave her a weak smile. “I need you to ride this bike over to the local store, and leave it for one of the boys to pick up.”
She smiled, happy to help. Lately, things had been tense around the house. Laughter had run dry, and her father had been strangely serious. He was gone more than he was home. “I can do that, Da, no problem.”
“Okay, lovely, but you have to be quick as a wink. Do it and skedaddle, you keen?”
“Yes, Da.”
“Okay, my girl, I’ll drop you up the road. Just to the drugstore and run like hell.”
Her stomach knotted. Was he sending her out there with a bomb? She knew the way the Army worked. It was right up their alley. If she didn’t know for sure, she could tell the police that, and pass the polygraph should she be hauled in. He handed her a black trainer and a cap. She wound her hair in a bun, shrugged on the jacket, and gasped when he handed her a pair of leather gloves. A look of understanding passed between them. He gave a slight nod, and they loaded up into a black van.
Everything moved in slow motion as they drove into town and he dropped her at the end of the street. She struggled to keep her pace steady, mentally counting down. Sweat poured down her back and into her eyes. Ignoring the burn, she made it to the drug store, hit the brake pedal, and dismounted. She leaned the bike against the wall, shoved her hands into her pockets, and ran for all she was worth. She was in an alley three streets over when she heard the explosion. Tears poured down her face and she slid down the wall. How many died just now? Their blood was on her hands—not her da’s, and not the Army’s. Catching her breath, she stood, swiped at her eyes, and removed her jacket and coat. Tucking the bundle under her arm, she casually strolled to the meeting spot her father had discussed. Tonight, they would be celebrating, and she would paste a smile on her face and accept their congratulatory praise. Because to do anything else was dangerous for not only her, but her family.
PRESENT
She held Aoife a littler closer as she climbed the stairs.
“You will never know the fear I once lived with, little girl. As much as I miss my da, his death gave us a way out. I just hope he’d be proud of the things we’ve done with that opportunity.”
She lifted her hand to knock and froze at the murmured voices she heard inside—heavily accented men speaking with angry tones. Terrified for her mother, she hurried around the corner to the opposite side of the condo and pulled out her phone. She dialed her mother’s number, praying to the good Lord she was mistaken about what she’d almost walked into.
“Hello, love, now’s not a good time to talk, can I call you later?”
“Mom, do you need Irish Breakfast from the store?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
A sob rose in her chest. They were no longer safe here.
“I have to ring off now. I’ll call you back later.”
She hung up and covered her mouth. Why had they come now, after all this time? Keir’s warning words rose in her brain. Jaysus, he’s with them? He’s a damn mole! Her brain raced. They had no resources. No one to combat the IRA. They’d been fools to think their reach couldn’t cross the ocean. She closed her eyes. If I stay with Enzo, I could be putting him in danger. God, what if I already did? Horror rose up and choked her. Her stomach churned. First thing first, she couldn’t leave her mother in there. She made a choice she knew she might later regret. She called Keir.
“Call off your dogs.”
“What?”
“I’m at my mothers and she’s not alone. I know you’re IRA. You deal with me and leave her out of this.”
“So, you figured it out.”
“Don’t talk to me like you’re my fucking friend. Do what I ask, or there’s no deal.” She held her breath, hoping her bravado would carry her through.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he said, and hung up.
A few moments later, a door opened. She crept to the corner and peered around it. Two burly mean in jeans, leather jackets, and newsie hats stepped out of her mother’s apartment. She leaned back against the wall. Temporary fix accomplished. Her phone vibrated. “Yes.”
“I gave you what you want, now what are you going to give me?”
“What do you want, Keir?”
“To make a deal and set up trade.”
“Trade for what?”
“Art of course. It’s what we deal in, right?”
“What the hell does the Army want with art?”
“Big money to be made. What do you think I have in those crates I’ve been getting in from Ireland?”
“Son of a bitch.”
“Careful, I might take offense if you talk about my mum.”
She could hear the smirk in his voice. “This doesn’t seem like you,” she said, thinking of the sweet, light-hearted man she’d gotten to know.
“We all do what we must to survive. You keen that better than most.”
She closed her eyes. They were probably blackmailing him into doing this. “We’ll talk but not now, later. I have to check on Mum.”
“Get her on board, Aibhlinn. These aren’t patient men. I tried to do it the easy way, but you shut me down, so now we do it the hard way.”
“What, you thought your dick was that good? That I’d be sprung and just go along with whatever you asked me?”
“I thought we had an understanding. We’d have been good together. We could’ve lived this life and been happy.”
“No, Keir. You can’t, because the Army becomes your life, and everything revolves around that. Listen, we’ll come to you at the gallery.” She hung up, sick of his voice. She walked to her mother’s door and knocked. When it opened, she found herself staring down the barrel of a gun. “Jaysus, Mary, and Joseph, Mother!”
“Couldn’t be too careful. I was afraid they’d found you and were using you as bait—whose bairn is that?”
“Mine?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Aibhlinn Marie Leahy, get your ass in here and start talking. And I want the truth, not whatever trumped up bullshit you’re feeding other people.”
She snickered. “Aye, Mum.” She then explained it all. It felt good getting everything off her chest.
“Sounds to me like the two of you gave that little girl a better life. Sometimes, things aren’t black and white. I know the way we brought you up has scarred you. Those bad memories have a way of lingering. But this isn’t that, and Enzo is nothing like your father. His connection with the MC is friendly, and not a bad one to have. When trouble comes around, they’ll stand by him. That’s smart. You aren’t me. You won’t make the same mistakes I did. And to he honest, I didn’t know any other way. All the boys were the Army growing up. It didn’t occur to me to date someone who wasn’t. You have a better life. I made damn sure of that. So, we’ll handle this and you and Enzo and Aoife will go on and be happy.”
“What are we going to do, Mom? From what I can tell, they want to smuggle art. Hell, I think they already were.”
“I can’t believe that bitch Maureen would play me like this. I was trying to get her boy out of this shite.” She shook her head.
“He made it sound like he didn’t have a choice,” Aibhlinn said.
“Don’t you get soft on me now, girl,” her mother warned, bouncing a happy Aoife on her knee. “You got too much to lose.”
“I know, Mum.”
“First
thing you need to do is call your man and let him know what’s going on.”
“No way, I could put him and Aoife in danger—”
“The worst thing you could do right now is try to handle it on your own.” She shook her head. “They try to use fear to isolate you and then they exploit.”
She bowed her head. Her mother had far more experience with the Army. She would be a fool to ignore her advice.
“Then it’s settled. Call him now.”
“Fine.”
“Ack, you’re so stubborn. It’s payback for the hell I gave me own mum.”
“How can you be so calm right now?” Aibhlinn asked, flustered.
“Because we’re out from under their thumb. This isn’t their turf. If anything, they’re putting feelers out for a new venture. It costs money to fund bombs, guns, and extortion, but they won’t be making a penny more on the backs of our family.”
With her mother fired up, she couldn’t help but feel better. As the matriarch of the family, she had a strong sway.
Pulling her phone from the diaper bag, she phoned Enzo.
“Hey, Ave, everything okay?”
“No, we have a problem,” she said.
Chapter Twelve
Enzo
He’d never known anger like this. He could literally kill the bastard with his bare hands if given the chance.
“You have to chill, brother. We have to know the game they’re playing before we move in,” Snake advised.
“It’s an insult for the IRA to try to move their shit in here under our noses,” Big Mike stated. The massive black man had been the acting President for the past ten years and he had a reputation for a reason. While he was fair and pleasant most of the time, he didn’t tolerate betrayal or disrespect. He’d been a nomad for ten years, and the wildness in him still remained.
“I appreciate you taking up for my fiancée,” Enzo said.
“Hey, you’re a friend of the club, and we take care of our part of town,” Mike replied. “I don’t want that shit going on. Last thing we need is Feds to have a reason to come in and get all up in our shit. We had a hard enough time shaking them five years ago.”
Enzo nodded. He had Aoife. The less Keir new about the recent changes, the safer she would be. The sight of Snake cuddling the baby to his chest and her patting his cheek might be the funniest thing he’d seen in a while. The Vice President had a soft spot for women and children. Enzo glanced at his watch and shifted his weight. She’d been in the gallery for thirty minutes now. They had prospects nearby, but it did nothing to ease his anxiety.
He peered around the clubhouse. The mood was tense. I should be with her right now. Bike Mike had vetoed him anywhere near the gallery. He said it’d tip off anyone who’d been watching her. He’d never hated the fact that he and Ave did so much together until now. There was a lot resting on this. No one wanted war. But the Wild Ones would fight to protect the niche they’d spent the past forty years carving out.
Mike’s phone rang and he stood. “Hey, brother, what’s the update? Shit. When? Is she okay? Yeah? All right, I’ll let him know.”
Enzo leaned forward.
“Your old lady, her mother, and Keir are on the way to the hospital.”
“What happened?” he asked, rising to his feet.
“A car bomb went off in front of the store, blew out the windows, and rocked the front of the gallery. I’m not sure what state it’s in.”
“Fuck!” he barked.
Aoife began to wail, and he ran his fingers through his hair.
Snake hushed her.
Mike looked calm. “Go see to your woman. I’ll send a few prospects with you, post them at the door, and I think Snake here has Aoife.”
“Yeah, I got the little beauty,” Snake said.
“You sure?” Enzo asked. He’d barely gotten her, now all that could be gone in a puff of smoke.
“Positive, go.”
He grabbed his keys and jogged out with two men trailing behind him. Ignoring the speed limits, he made his way to Bethesda North. He came into the parking lot on two wheels and slammed the car into park. Dashing inside, he ran to the information desk. “Hi, I’m looking for my fiancée, Aibhlinn Leahy. She was brought in not too long ago.”
“She’s on the third floor, but you’ll have to wait, the police are interviewing her now.”
Ignoring the nurse, he rushed to the elevator with the prospects on his tail. Inside the elevator, he hit the door close and hit three buttons at once to insure the elevators wouldn’t stop until he reached his destination.
“Dude, nice trick,” the short, tow-haired, lanky male said. The kid couldn’t be more than twenty-one.
He studied his patch. Rad? Part of him wanted to know, and the other part was too afraid to ask. “Yeah, it only works on Otis elevators though,” Enzo explained.
“We’ll have to keep that in mind. Could come in handy someday.” The other prospect was a dark-haired boy with more base in his voice, and hair on his face. He had to be mid-twenties, to early thirties.
Enzo always wondered what drove each member to join, but it was such a personal question, he never asked. The patch on the older man’s vest read Clean. Clean? The elevator stopped and they stepped out. He immediately recognized her room as the one with a cop.
The cop stood in his path. “Excuse me, sir—?”
“That’s my fiancée in there, and I’ll be damned if I wait out here a second longer. “
“Enzo.” Her voice sounded thready and weak.
He pushed through, shouldering the cop out of the way.
She had scratches all over her face and a cast on her arm, but otherwise seemed unharmed. Relief flooded through him. “You scared the shit out of me, Aibhlinn.”
“Yeah, well, you think you’re shocked,” she said.
“What the hell happened?”
“One minute, I’m inside the gallery talking about a show, and the next thing I know a deafening sound goes off and I’m thrown to the ground with glass flying everywhere.”
He came to her beside and took her hand.
“Are we done here, Officer Miles?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am. You have my card if you remember anything more. It’s a damn shame that these terrorist incidents are becoming an almost regular occurrence. We’ll be sending out investigators and once we’re done, you can have your insurance people come in. I’m sorry this happened to you.”
“Me too, sir,” she whispered.
Officer Miles walked to the doorway and paused. “You might want to think about who you’re keeping company with. You’re a sweet girl, and I don’t want to see you again, anytime soon.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she replied.
He tipped his hat and continued out the door.
“What the hell happened, Ave?” Enzo whispered.
“I don’t know. One minute we’re talking to Keir and the next, I swear I was smack dab in the middle of Backdraft.”
“I just got you, girl. I’m not trying to lose you so soon. I’m going to break that Irishman’s neck.”
“Not if I shoot the fucker first,” she seethed.
“You’re so hot when you get murderous,” Enzo teased, brushing his lips over hers.
“Where’s Aoife?”
“With her Uncle Snake,” he replied with a laugh.
“Who would’ve thought they’d take to each other so well?”
“I don’t know, but I think we should make him her damn godfather. Given the way shit is going, its protection she may need.”
“Aye,” she said, dropping her gaze.
“Don’t you fucking do that. I know you’re blaming yourself. It’s not your fault.”
“How can it not be?”
“You’re not responsible for the choices your parents made. You didn’t choose to join the Army.”
“But it doesn’t change the fact that I bring danger—”
“Hey, living is dangerous. Don’t pull away from us now.�
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She sighed.
“Can I come in?”
“Motherfucker.” Enzo grabbed Keir around the neck and slammed him against the door. “Do you have a fucking death wish?”
“I want to explain,” he rasped.
Enzo increased his grip, confident the boys outside the room would keep anyone from investigating.
Keir’s eyes bulged and he brought his hands up to claw at Enzo’s hands.
“Let him go, Enz,” a quiet voice ordered.
He turned to see Colleen—looking banged up, but whole—as she stepped inside and closed the door behind her.
“Tell them everything you told me.”
Enzo released him, grinning when he coughed and sputtered. Keir rubbed his neck, and Enzo retreated to stand by the bedside.
“It was a set-up for a rat. We had to weed them out.”
“And why the fuck did you need the Leahys to do it?” Enzo asked, grinding his teeth and balling his fists to keep from rearranging Keir’s face.
“Revenge. It’s the same people who took out Aibhlinn’s father, Brian. The Army has a long memory and leadership always changes hands, given enough time.”
“Mum?” Aibhlinn whispered.
“It’s true, a leabnh. I checked with my connections. It’s legit.”
“Who?” Aibhlinn asked.
“Johnny Dunne,” Keir croaked.
“Uncle Johnny? He ordered ...” She shook her head.
His heart bled for her. Grasping her hand, he squeezed. “I hope you don’t think we’re trusting you after this. You been lying from the minute your ass stepped foot on US soil. I want you out of the gallery and away from my family,” Enzo growled.
“Yeah, and who are you? You’re not even a part of this.”
“Please give me a reason to fuck you up the way I want to.”
“You’re nothing but an interloper. You think you can get into Army business?” Keir said.
“You see my two friends out there? I got backing, little man. You want me to come for you? Your organization should’ve done its homework. You don’t roll into this town and not clear shit with the Wild Ones. This ain’t your territory.”