by Matt Lincoln
“Just one moment,” the officer held a finger up as if signaling us to wait. “I’ll go and get someone to help you.”
He rushed off, and Junior and I were left waiting in the hallway by ourselves. We weren’t waiting long, though, as a moment later, a booming voice echoed down the hallway as a different officer approached us.
“For goodness’ sake!” he exclaimed as he walked up to us. “I’m so sorry about that. I completely lost track of time. It’s a crazy time of year, you know, what with Halloween right around the corner. Folks are getting into trouble, and I need my officers ready to respond.”
“We understand,” Junior replied. The officer was a tall and muscular man, and the energy he was giving off was both frenetic and friendly.
“Excellent,” the officer beamed. “Oh, where are my manners? I’m Sergeant Seamus O’Connor with the Garda Siochana. Me and my partner, Sergeant Callahan Bolger, will be accompanying you on your mission today. The two of you must be Agent Hills and Agent Chapman. Did I get those names right? Feel free to let me know if I say them wrong. I know my accent can be a little much for newcomers.”
“All of you is a little much for newcomers,” a second officer chimed in as he approached us in the hallway. I was secretly glad he’d interrupted Seamus’s stream of speech. He’d been shooting information at us so rapid-fire that it was making me feel disoriented.
“And just what is that supposed to mean?” Seamus frowned at the other man.
“Exactly what I said,” he deadpanned back. “You’re annoying. Just look at ‘em. They look about ready to bolt.”
“Aye, alright,” Seamus huffed. “No need to be such a little scut about it. Anyway, agents, this is my partner, Callahan. Don’t let that surly demeanor fool you, now. His bark is a lot worse than his bite.”
Callahan glared at Seamus, but there was no force behind it, as though this was something he’d just gotten used to.
“Pleased to meet you, agents,” he smiled politely before moving to shake our hands. His accent wasn’t nearly as thick as Seamus’s, and he had a much colder attitude. He was a little thinner and shorter than Seamus, with a pale, hooked nose and unfriendly-looking, beady eyes. “Should we be off, then? Even without traffic, it’ll take us a solid two hours to get out there.”
“Yes, we should,” Junior nodded. The address we’d found on the mailing package was located out in the middle of the countryside. Fiona hadn’t been able to find much about it during her search, not even any property records, which was odd in and of itself. The faster we got out there, the quicker we could progress our investigation.
“Let’s get going, then!” Seamus declared jovially. “I can introduce you two fellows to some fine Irish music on the way. Oh, and I can point out some landmarks as we’re leaving the city.”
“They didn’t come here for that, Seamus,” Callahan grumbled. “We can’t afford to waste time.”
“We won’t waste any time,” Seamus brushed him off casually. “It’s on the way. Nothing wrong with pointing out a few historic buildings on our way out, right?”
Usually, I didn’t like people who fooled around and refused to take things seriously. It was one of the reasons Miranda and I had clashed so often during the brief time we spent dating. I liked something about Seamus’s cavalier attitude, though. He seemed incredibly confident and self-assured without being arrogant, so I didn’t really mind if he wanted to give us a quick tour of the city while we made our way south toward the countryside.
Callahan, however, was crabby as the four of us made our way outside and into one of the police vehicles. Seamus ended up being right about the tour not distracting from our mission, as he zoomed by everything so quickly that I barely had time to figure out what I was supposed to be looking at before we’d already passed it by.
“Ah, well,” Seamus sighed as we finally left the city limits and broke into an open green field. “You two gents will just have to come back and have a better look once you’re finished with your mission. Ireland’s a beautiful place. Not just Dublin, either. And there are a lot of fall festivals and such this time of year. There’ll be a big Halloween parade in Dublin in just a couple of days. Though I have to caution you to be careful. There’s a lot of crime in that part of the city on a regular night, but Hallow’s Eve brings out the malice and trickery in everyone. Not saying you should let that deter you, though. It’s a lot of fun so long as you keep your head screwed on straight and don’t do anything stupid.”
“Seamus is the most patriotic person I’ve ever met,” Callahan remarked. “He could take the crappiest little town and in Ireland and make it sound like an oasis.”
“Well, excuse me for loving my country, then,” Seamus retorted. “And there aren’t any ‘crappy’ towns in Ireland. There’s something beautiful about each and every one of ‘em.”
“See?” Callahan chuckled.
“How long have you been working together?” Junior asked, echoing my thoughts aloud. They had a very comfortable back-and-forth banter, and despite the acerbic words being traded, I could tell there wasn’t any ill-will between them.
“Too long,” Callahan muttered.
“Quiet down now, you wee pup,” Seamus replied. “Let me see now. It’s been about eleven years, I think. Since Callahan joined the Garda. It’s been about that long, aye?”
“Yes,” Callahan sighed. “And Seamus is still acting like I’m a green twenty-year-old still learning how to use a gun.”
“You’ll always be wee little Callahan to me,” Seamus laughed boisterously. “Anyway, enough of all that. Do you boys mind if I roll the windows down? The air out here in the fields is always so lovely, especially right before it rains.”
“Go ahead,” Junior nodded. I just shrugged my shoulders in agreement.
He rolled all four windows down, and the car was immediately filled with the fresh, almost sweet scent of grass and wildflowers. Unlike Dublin, which had been beautiful but also cramped and confined, the countryside stretched as far as the horizon. There were trees here and there, but for the most part, all I could see were rolling green hills all around us, interrupted only occasionally by fields full of crops or flowers. Once in a while, we’d pass by a lone cottage or farms covered in herds of sheep lazily grazing.
Back in Las Vegas, I’d never seen so much peaceful greenery. Las Vegas was full of noise, pollution, and the ever-present sun as it bore down upon the city and filled it with relentless heat. The sprawling desert outside the city limits was the exact opposite of what I saw now, all dusty brown and scorching air that made it difficult to even breathe during the summer months.
Here, all I could hear was the thrum of the car as it traveled down a narrow dirt road through the cool and quiet fields. I wondered, for just a moment, what it would be like to live somewhere that was the exact opposite of Las Vegas. Always cool and rainy instead of hot and dry, with streets that were cramped but straightforward as opposed to the dizzying, interconnected metropolis that was Las Vegas.
“Looks like we’ll be coming up on it any minute now,” Callahan remarked before I could dwell on the thought for too long.
“That’s a bit odd,” Seamus replied. “There’s not much out here aside from little cottages and old abandoned houses. You agents did say that you believed this was the place the drugs came from, right?”
“This is the address that was on the package,” Junior responded as he looked out the window curiously. “Though I did have my suspicions that this could be some kind of trap. It’s possible whoever sent the package used a fake address or wanted to lead us into an ambush.”
“Well, I suppose we’ll find out when we get there,” Seamus replied.
I frowned as I glanced out the window. Honestly, I’d been expecting to find some kind of factory or warehouse. The drugs must have been manufactured somewhere, after all. Seamus was right, though. There was nothing around us for what looked like miles. It had been a while since we passed any houses, as well.
Then, as we crested a hill, something began to come into view in the distance.
“Is that another castle?” Junior asked incredulously.
As we got closer, I was able to confirm that the building we were approaching was, in fact, a large stone castle similar to the one the police office was located in. It wasn’t nearly as big and impressive and honestly looked more like an oversize stone house than a castle to me.
“Aye, that it is,” Seamus answered as we drove up to the gate. “Though it’s pretty puny, to be honest. It’s not all that unusual to find out here on these old dirt roads. Ireland had a rich history, and a lot of the old castles and lodges are still around today. Like the Garda station, some of them were converted into modern buildings, but many of them are too unstable and are just left to rot away. It’s actually quite sad.”
“This one doesn’t look like it’s rotting away,” I noted as I looked over the large structure.
It was obviously old. Anyone could tell that just by looking at the cracks and holes splintering up along the walls and by the moss and ferns that were trailing all along the building’s exterior. But modern doors and windows had been installed all over the castle, and, even more damning, I could see cars parked on the other side of the closed gate.
“No, someone’s definitely been using it,” Callahan agreed. “I’d wager an old castle out in the middle of nowhere would have plenty of space and privacy. Perfect for a group of drug traffickers to operate out of.”
“Maybe we should call for backup,” Junior suggested. “I can’t tell how many people are inside, but I doubt the four of us have great odds against whoever’s in there. Castles were literally designed to withstand attacks from outsiders.”
“That’s a good idea,” I agreed, though it seemed obvious now in hindsight. We were two hours outside of the city, and I had no idea if there were any rural towns nearby that would have officers available equipped to deal with something like this.
I was about to ask Seamus if there was any backup we could count on nearby, but before I could get the words out, a metallic crack resounded through the car.
“Take cover!” Callahan yelled just as a barrage of bullets burst through the front windshield. I crouched into the footwell and ducked as low as I could into the backseat.
My heart was racing as I listened to the sound of bullets tearing through the metal body of the car. We were riding in a large police van, but it wasn’t an armored military vehicle, so the shell was taking a beating.
“We can’t just sit here forever!” I yelled over the sound of the gunshots. “We’re sitting ducks!”
“Aye!” Seamus yelled back. “As soon as there’s a lull, throw the doors open and use them for cover. We need to fight back, or they’ll take us all out right here.”
I waited tensely for the bullets to stop. As soon as they did, I threw the door open as Seamus had instructed and drew my weapon. I peeked carefully around the edge of the door, but I couldn’t see anyone at any of the entrances or windows.
“Should we move in?” Callahan called.
Before anyone else could answer, the surrounding silence was broken by a rumbling creak as the wrought-iron gate slowly swung open at the front of the castle. As soon as the gap was wide enough, a massive black armored jeep came rushing through, directly toward where our car was parked.
“Move!” I barely managed to call as I jumped to the side and out of the way just as the car rammed into our van. The large vehicle flipped over twice before coming to a stop in a ditch in the side of the road, on its side with half of its windows smashed out. Unfortunately, this left me completely without cover, which wasn’t lost on the men in the car.
They immediately began to fire, and I scrambled away from the narrow dirt road before turning around. I could see Callahan on the ground a few feet in front of me. I couldn’t tell how badly he was injured, but he was immobile, and I assumed he’d been shot. The van had been shoved to the side of the road, and I didn’t have any visuals on Junior or Seamus.
I watched as the armored jeep sped away, down the road and out of sight, and I cursed in frustration. I stood and lifted my gun toward it, but it was moving away too quickly for me to get a good shot. I turned around to go check on Callahan, but Junior came sprinting out from behind the van before I could. He ran toward Callahan and got to him just as another, smaller vehicle came speeding through the gate directly toward where Junior was attempting to lift Callahan off the ground.
I lifted my gun and fired at the sleek black car, first at the windshield and then at the tires in an attempt to get it to stop before it struck the pair. My shots hit their mark, and the car spun out as its front left tire exploded.
While Junior dragged Callahan to the relative safety of the grassy hill just off the road, I rushed toward the car, making sure to keep an eye on the gate as I did, just in case any more cars came speeding out. None did, at least not immediately, so I turned my focus back to the overturned sedan. I could see through the broken glass that my bullet had hit whoever was sitting there.
“Come out with your hands up!” I yelled as I slowly approached the car. The driver-side door swung open with a crunch as glass and metal scraped together. A tall man with shortly cropped red hair stepped out wearing a smarmy smile. His hands went up, but the cocky look on his face put me on edge.
“Get down on the ground,” I commanded as I stepped toward him. He got to one knee, and I quickly circled around to cuff his hands behind his back. I heard him chuckle as I was clicking the handcuffs into place behind his back. “What’s so funny?”
The man looked over his shoulder to sneer at me, but he didn’t answer. A chill ran down my spine, and I snapped my head around to look back toward the gate, expecting to see another car full of suspects come barreling toward us. Instead, I saw a thin plume of dark smoke and an eerie orange glow emanating from one of the windows. It took me a moment to realize what I was looking at.
The castle was on fire.
“Dammit,” I hissed as I hauled the man to his feet and turned around to look for Junior. I could see him hovering over Callahan just a few feet away from the road. I noticed that the jacket and sweater he’d been wearing this morning were gone now, and he was down to a thin undershirt.
“Hey!” I called without loosening my grip on the suspect’s arms. “Is everything okay?”
Junior looked up at me. There was a grim expression on his face, and he was silent as he staggered to his feet and walked over to where the suspect and I were.
“Callahan’s still alive,” he muttered as he glared venomously at the suspect. “Barely. I counted four bullet wounds, though it’s hard to tell with how much blood there was. I didn’t want to move him. I used my jacket and sweater to staunch the flow, but he needs to get to a hospital right now.”
“Have you called for an ambulance?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Junior shivered against the cold. “I called just a minute ago. They said it might take a while since the nearest hospital is half an hour away.”
The suspect snickered, and I shoved him roughly against our damaged van.
“Watch this idiot,” I growled. “I need to find Seamus. The damned castle is on fire!”
I waited until Junior had a good grip on the man before running over to the other side of the road. Seamus had taken cover on the same side of the van as Junior, but only Junior had come running to assist Callahan and me. As much as I wanted to focus on the castle, Seamus was more critical. I could only hope that he wasn’t hurt too badly.
I spotted him instantly, lying in a patch of tall grass on the other side of the dirt road. His face was covered in blood, and he appeared to be unconscious, but I could see his chest rise and fall as he took in steady breaths.
“Seamus,” I called as I shook his shoulder gently. I didn’t want to move him around too much if he had internal injuries, but I needed to get him awake.
His eyes flew open, and he suddenly sat up violently, thrashing around
as though he was being attacked by invisible assailants.
“What happened?” he cried as he turned to look at me.
“We were attacked,” I replied. “How much do you remember?”
I watched as Seamus took several deep breaths and clutched at his head.
“All of it, I think.” He nodded slowly and pulled his hand away from his head. It was slick with his own blood. “Had to get my bearings for a second there. I tried to jump out of the way, but the car came right for me. It must have knocked me out cold. Did you stop them?”
“No,” I replied bitterly. “We caught one of the men, but the ones in the armored jeep got away.”
“Bollocks,” Seamus groaned. “How’s the damage, then? Is everyone okay?”
I must have hesitated a moment too long before answering because Seamus’s eyes went wide, and he suddenly shot to his feet.
“What’s happened?” He demanded anxiously. “Where’s Callahan and the other agent?”
“Calm down,” I warned him, but he was already storming off. He had a head injury and probably shouldn’t have been moving around so much, but there was little I could do to stop him. I followed him around the van to where Junior and the suspect were standing.
“Where’s Callahan?” he shouted. He turned and spotted his partner lying in the grass before any of us could answer.
“The ambulance is on the way,” Junior assured Seamus as he rushed to Callahan’s side. I could tell it did little to comfort him, though. “And I called again for the fire department this time.
The suspect snickered again, and I rounded on him angrily.
“You set your own base on fire?” I asked the man, and he burst into outright laughter.
“It’s a small price to pay,” he smirked.
I gritted my teeth in frustration. If the ambulance was expected to take half an hour to get here, I doubted the fire department’s time would be much shorter. There might not be anything left for us to investigate by that point.