Sons of Justice 6: A Painter Walks into an Irish Pub (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever)

by Dixie Lynn Dwyer

  “Cindy touched Thylane? Threatened her?” Finlin asked.

  “Thylane walked away basically thinking Stack, and the rest of us, screwed Cindy and were looking to get laid. It was a fucking mess.” Rusty then leaned back in his chair.

  “He never should have fooled around with that bitch, Cindy. Anyone with a fucking brain could see the woman isn’t dealing with a full deck,” Finlin added, looking more sour than he had when he first entered the kitchen.

  “He drank too much, just gotten back from Cuba and that fucked-up mission, and it could have been worse. He could have screwed her,” Pisces stated.

  He remembered how he’d showed up drunk off his ass with a group of women and a couple of the guys to continue the party at the house and that Rusty and Pisces had stopped Cindy from stripping Stack naked and coming after the three of them when Stack passed out drunk. He had stitches on his side and was bandaged up from the knife wound that came too close to killing him. That was why Stack got shitfaced.

  “Thank God he didn’t. Could you imagine how much worse of a stalker she would be then? Hell, if we’d drank, too, who the fuck knows what have happened,” Rusty stated.

  “Keep your dick in your fucking pants and none of you would have to worry about stalkers or getting some bimbo knocked up. We’re too old for this shit,” Finlin said and then sighed.

  “What’s up with you? You’re in a worse mood than usual,” Pisces asked.

  “I can’t really talk about it. I’ll handle it.”

  “It’s this assignment you got from Spartan and Cesar?” Pisces asked.

  Finlin stared at him.

  “Oh fuck.” Rusty sat forward in his seat.

  “You can’t let us in on it? Maybe we can assist,” Rusty added.

  “I more than likely will wind up bringing you all in, but not at this point. Not until I do more recon,” Finlin added.

  “Okay. Whatever you need, you know we got your back. Spartan and John know that, too. We’re here,” Pisces said to him, and Finlin nodded.

  “What do you think the chances are that we see Thylane again and can talk to her about Cindy so she knows it’s bullshit?” Rusty said to them.

  “Pretty fucking slim,” Finlin said, and Pisces squinted at him.

  “You know something we don’t?” Pisces asked.

  “I saw her this morning when I was jogging. She made a comment.”

  “You saw her? What happened? What went down?” Rusty asked, and Pisces couldn’t help but feel interested, too.

  Since the other night at the Filling Station he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about Thylane and finding ways to talk with her and explain the Cindy situation.

  “Well, I was annoyed that she was jogging alone in the dark and through the wooded area off the path.”

  “What? Why would she do that? Isn’t she smart enough to know better?” Pisces asked.

  “Maybe she thinks she could defend herself because of those bullshit martial arts and kickboxing classes she takes in town,” Rusty said.

  “Oh, I wouldn’t go minimizing that, or the fact she carries a gun.” Finlin took a sip from his coffee mug. Pisces sat forward.

  “What?” he asked, squinting.

  “I came up behind her, didn’t want to scare her so I called out her name, and she got spooked, turned, fell back on her ass, and the next thing I know she has a twenty-two pointed at my head.”

  “Damn,” Rusty said.

  “Yeah,” Finlin replied.

  “I could only imagine Thylane on her ass in those damn sexy shorts she wears even in the winter and her drawing a gun on you. What did you do?” Pisces asked, feeling interested, hell, aroused.

  “Raised my hands up so she didn’t shoot off my head. She retreated, I helped her up, and then mentioned her being more careful, and she countered with a comment about men not being who they pretend to be or something to that effect. Now I understand it had something to do with the Filling Station.”

  “Damn, she’s still pissed,” Rusty commented.

  They were silent, and Pisces wondered what was happening here. Were they all attracted to Thylane and wanting her in their bed to share, or was it more? He was pretty fucking certain they weren’t thinking a commitment or real relationship like a girlfriend. They never did that. Never made that type of serious commitment. He was unsure of what to say.

  “How hot did she look pointing a gun at you?” Rusty asked and then winked.

  Finlin shook his head. “Don’t do that. Not to her.” He stood up, all serious.

  “I was trying to lighten up the mood. I know she’s different, Finlin. This is different,” Rusty said.

  Finlin walked out of the room, and Pisces locked gazes with Rusty.

  “We better be ready for anything. This assignment has him on edge, big time.” Rusty nodded and then looked away and exhaled.

  Pisces could feel the thickness in the air, the conversation that hadn’t happened but seemed to be pushing closer and closer to the surface. Were they going to discuss their attraction to the same woman, to Thylane? Or were they going to keep up the walls, show no weakness, and pretend she was just an attractive woman they each wanted to possess, but wouldn’t unless they did so as a team? This was where it was leading, and liking her would either pull them closer or push them apart. A woman, the demise to the connection and friendship they all had or the key to complete the connection, the happiness and the bond they all shared? A chance right now none of them seemed fully willing to take.

  * * * *

  “How is the painting thing going?” Benny, one of the guys Thylane worked with, asked on their way into work from the parking lot. She was only working until noontime trying to finish off a design for one of the clients. She was almost finished.

  “It’s going well. I think I’ll be finished soon enough.”

  “You sound disappointed.”

  She smiled. “It’s actually a pretty cool place and the owner and patrons very nice and fun, too. It makes you feel like you’re in Ireland.”

  “That’s awesome. My brothers and I go to a place in Ausberry that’s pretty cool. They sell hard apple cider and other micro brewed beers and spirits. It’s a huge barn that they renovated where they make and sell the beer. It’s all happening behind the bar in the background. Very cool atmosphere.”

  “We should go sometime.” She was surprised that it seemed he was flirting with her. She looked away, her eyes locking onto a dark car, and it looked like Oscar was in it, but she answered Benny.

  “It sounds cool. Maybe I’ll tell some of my friends about it, and we’ll take a trip there one night.”

  “Great. Maybe you could give me some advice if we all meet up.” He opened the door for her, her attention now going fully to Benny and not even taking another glance toward the street and that car. Why would Oscar be around here? Unless he was working? She didn’t give it another thought as Benny continued talking on their way inside.

  “So there’s this woman my brothers and I kind of like,” he said, and she felt the relief hit her insides. So he wasn’t hitting on her. Thank goodness. She listened as he talked about the woman, and she offered some advice and promised to make a point of going by this place when they would be there. When she came into the hallway leading to her father’s office, the last person she expected to see was Charlie Soyer.

  He looked surprised to see her as he squinted and then abruptly spoke.

  “What are you doing here? Aren’t you working at Foleys?” he asked her, which was so weird. Why would he care?

  “Uhm, I still work here, too. The pub doesn’t open until eleven.”

  “Oh, so you have been doing the job then?” he asked, eyes squinted, totally acting like he didn’t believe her or it was important that she be there at Foleys. It was so weird and so were the thoughts going through her head.

  “It’s fine. I’ll be done in a week tops. I appreciate you recommending me. Mitchim is very nice, well, everyone is actually.”

&n
bsp; “So you’ll be there tonight then?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Good.” He turned to look at her father.

  “So you can handle what we discussed, and then I’ll talk to you after the weekend. I’m counting on you.” He gave a nod to Thylane, and she turned and watched him walk away.

  “What was that about?” she asked her father.

  “Nothing.” He sounded snappy as she followed him into his office.

  “Sounded like something. Is everything okay with the contract?” she asked.

  “It’s fine. It’s something additional.”

  “What is it?”

  “Nothing for you to worry about. You concentrate on finishing up the art work for the Mavericks and then getting to work on your painting.” She could tell something was up, but she didn’t know what.

  “What’s wrong? Something is wrong. I can tell.”

  Her father exhaled and ran his fingers through his hair.

  “He showed up because he has a shipment that needs to go out overseas and wants to know if he can pay me to use our services and resources.”

  “What is he trying to get shipped, and why not use his own company?”

  “That’s where it gets complicated.”

  “Complicated, Dad?”

  He held her gaze. “The shipment I sent through before, I signed for all those boxes with our labels on them, and they came from our warehouse.”

  “Yes.”

  “They had illegal weapons and laundered money in them. I didn’t know, Thylane. I didn’t know any of this.”

  “What? How the hell could you not know?” she asked, her heart racing in her chest and anger filling her gut. She was instantly suspicious, pissed off, and concerned.

  “They tricked me, and they have copies of my signature and my own documentation saying I made these deliveries overseas.”

  “How? How could you not know?”

  “They tricked me, Thylane, and worst of all, Soyer is after more.”

  “What more? Illegal shipments? Call the cops, the feds. Report him.”

  “I can’t, Thylane. There is no proof of anything. It all points to me.”

  “Why? Why would he do this?”

  “Because he’s a shrewd businessman.” He stepped closer and held her shoulders. “I don’t want you to worry about this. I’ll handle it, and I’ll handle him. I have to make things right and fix this. There’s a shipment that went out today. If all goes well, then we’re done and no more shipments. I won’t allow any, and he won’t try to report me. It’s the only way this will work.”

  “Asshole. I can’t believe he did this.”

  He hugged her. “It isn’t your worry. I’ll handle it fine. It will be over soon enough.”

  She exhaled and tried not to think about all the things that could go wrong, but an hour later, when she sat in her office forcing herself to finish the project she’d come here to complete, her father called her. She answered the phone.

  “It’s fine. Nothing else will happen. The shipment was delivered accordingly and no problems.”

  “I think we should get rid of Soyer’s account.”

  “How can we?” he asked her.

  “Simple, tell him you’re done and he needs to find someone else. Tell him you won’t be fooled again, Dad. Get him out of your life, out of this business immediately.”

  “It doesn’t work that way, Thylane. You should know by now how men like this think. I have your cousins Ava and Tiana to worry about, too. They work for the company like you do. I won’t risk all of us losing out.”

  “You get involved in something illegal, or in some way that jeopardizes the company, it won’t matter anyway.”

  “I’ll handle it. Good luck later on. Focus on the mural you’re painting. At least one good thing came from Soyer. Him recommending you to his friend. I never suspected his kindness to be a means of pulling the wool over my eyes. Don’t you worry. It will be over.”

  “Okay, but keep me posted if it isn’t and we’ll put our brains together and see what we can do.” She ended the call with a heavy heart and concern not only for her father but for his business. If he got caught, the business was done. What wasn’t her father telling her? Could there be more going on here? She started to really feel panicked. Her father wouldn’t purposely put any of them in any danger. Lesson learned the hard way, and he’d lost his brother Mel. He had no choice. Soyer chose him to manipulate and use for a reason. What was it?

  * * * *

  An hour later Finlin got off the bus and walked down the street to headquarters where the makeup artist would put on his disguise exactly as she had been doing the last few days. He took extra precautions since the other day meeting Thylane in the woods and her recognizing his cologne. The last two days he’d stopped into Foley’s he hadn’t caught sight of any of the men he was looking for or the guy with the beard. He was having the department run the pictures he’d taken through facial recognition now because he had no other leads on where this Yorkshire might be.

  When the makeup artist was finished, he looked at himself in the mirror just as the door to the small room opened and some guys in suits came in, along with Cesar.

  “Finlin, this is federal agent Lucas Ferrow and his team, Rogers, Plankin, and Roth.”

  He gave a nod and waited to find out why these men were here.

  “We ran that picture through the FBI database when nothing local came up. There was an alert, and Agent Ferrow called me identifying the guy in the bar as Yorkshire.”

  Finlin squinted. He was surprised, but now that he knew who he was and what his disguise was, it would be easier to track him and he wouldn’t have to stick too close, like right in the fucking bar.

  “Great news. Then we can monitor his whereabouts and then snag him,” Finlin said.

  “It won’t be that easy. There’s another case we’re working on. An open one we’ve connected to another businessman by the name of Merritt Hopper. He’s a multimillionaire banker and entrepreneur who dabbles in some illegal activities, and we believe is connected to the murders of several federal agents,” Agent Ferrow stated.

  “Among other things,” Agent Roth added.

  “Such as?” Finlin asked.

  “Such as money laundering to supply ammunition, travel means to help the IRA commit terrorist acts. We believe he’s helping to provide services again for some of Yorkshire’s crew as Yorkshire attempts to lay low and undetected. Now that you have your sights on him, we need to wait this out to see what his next move is with Hopper. Then we can catch both of these terrorist assholes and end this once and for all,” Ferrow stated.

  “So you don’t need me anymore? You’ve got this covered and will have him watched?” Finlin asked and thought about Thylane and worried about her safety. He also wondered if these federal agents knew who owned Foley’s and what those men had once been part of and could still be.

  “We need you to remain undercover monitoring the situation. More could be going on here considering Yorkshire showed up at Foley’s of all establishments. You see the Foley family was highly involved with IRA activities as activists for years. They’ve stayed out of trouble for quite some time, but still, a few misfits have come in and out of there over the years, and to see this Yorkshire show up now is concerning,” Plankin stated.

  “You should know that I do know who the Foley family is, that I would never divulge any information to them.”

  “Of course we know. Which is why your team, specifically Pisces, needs to stay out of this. If you can’t do that, then we have ourselves a problem,” Agent Ferrow stated.

  “There won’t be a problem. I’ll do what you’re asking and keep my eyes and ears open. I’ll let you know every move Yorkshire makes and even what time he takes a piss. Considering what he’s capable of, I wouldn’t wait too long to make your move.”

  “Oh, we know that. Yorkshire is a ticking time bomb. He isn’t exactly sane, but he’s fierce when it comes to his cause.
To the liberation army he leads. If he somehow evades capture and goes back to Ireland, our hands are tied, and he once again becomes the government of Ireland’s problem. We want to charge him for his crimes here. For killing so many brave men and women.”

  “Understood, Agent Ferrow. Like I said, I wouldn’t hold back too long. Perhaps that other case isn’t as important as catching Yorkshire and bringing him down.”

  “Tell that to the wives of three federal agents and the family of two investigators for the anti-terrorist task force,” Plankin said, and then they walked out of the room.

  As soon as they left, it was just Cesar and Finlin. Finlin rubbed his jaw and then exhaled.

  “This is getting pretty fucking intense. I don’t want you risking your life and coming up head to head with this guy.”

  Finlin held his gaze. “There may be another problem.”

  “You mean the Foleys being related to Pisces?”

  “More than that.”

  “What?” Cesar asked.

  “Thylane Mosely is doing a painting, a mural for Mitchim Foley at the restaurant.”

  Cesar was silent. “Does your team know?”

  “My team doesn’t know anything. Not about Foley’s, about Yorkshire, or about Thylane.”

  “Finlin, Stack had a situation at the Filling Station the other night. Tobias needed to step in, and from my understanding, Thylane was scared, and that Cindy woman you all had some kind of thing with isn’t backing down.”

  “We didn’t do anything with her. Stack got drunk, brought in a bunch of people to the house, and she tried taking advantage of his drunkenness and the fact he just got back from that mission in Cuba where he was stabbed. We stopped it from going any further, and she started hitting on us. We didn’t do a thing with her.”

  “So you’re all interested in Thylane? Suddenly want to give up on your wild one-night stands and pursue a young, classy woman like her?” Cesar asked, sounding pissed off and disgusted, as if Finlin and his team didn’t deserve such a woman.

  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean, Cesar?”