by Matt Lincoln
“It’s pretty good,” he shrugged as he held one out toward me. “Do you want one?”
“No,” I replied quickly. I didn’t really mind the smell of onions as much as I did the taste, but if the scent coming from the bag was this powerful, I could only imagine how strong the taste would be.
We were on the road for another hour before we finally made it to the police station in Larne, Northern Ireland, where we would be meeting with the police officers who would be accompanying us to the address.
Larne was a bustling port town on the edge of the Irish Sea and close enough to the neighboring country of Scotland that someone could take a ferry there in less than an hour. The city architecture was similar to Dublin’s, so there was a mixture of historical buildings and more modern ones that looked more like what I would have seen in Las Vegas.
I parked the car in a spot near the door and finished off the last of my water before opening the driver’s side door and stepping out. The Larne police station was a huge, imposing building made of brick and steel. An iron fence wrapped around the perimeter, which gave it the appearance of a prison rather than a police station. I waited until Junior, Seamus, and O’Haines were out of the car before climbing the short set of steps up to the station’s main entrance.
The inside of the building was just as imposing. Unlike the Dublin Garda station, which was chaotic but still buzzed with a friendly and inviting atmosphere, the interior of the Larne police station consisted of harsh lines and stark lighting as the fluorescent lights overhead seemed to glare angrily down at us.
“Can I help you?” a gruff, uniformed man sitting behind a desk near the main entrance asked as we approached.
“Aye,” Seamus replied cheerfully. “We’re here to see Captain O’Leary. He should be expecting us.”
“Right away,” the officer replied before picking up a phone on the desk and letting someone on the other end know that Captain O’Leary’s guests were there.
We were only waiting for a few minutes before I heard a heavy set of footsteps approaching us from the main hallway, accompanied by a booming voice not unlike Seamus’s.
“Seamus, you old dog!” a man in a black uniform bellowed as he walked up to us. “I’d know that ugly mug anywhere. You haven’t changed a lick since I last saw you.”
“I don’t know who you’re calling ugly, you great beast,” Seamus laughed as he pulled the other man into a hug before turning to introduce us. “Agents, this is Captain Tom O’Leary. Tom, this is Agent Hills and Agent Chapman with MBLIS.”
“Of course, of course,” O’Leary said as he moved forward to shake our hands. “Heard all about you and what you’re here for. So, you two ready to do this, then?”
I was a little taken aback by the sudden question, but I’d have been lying if I told him I hadn’t been ready and raring to go since I’d woken up this morning.
“Of course,” I nodded.
“Excellent,” O’Leary smiled. “I’ve got a team of men ready to go whenever you want.”
“How many men?” Junior interjected. “Not to offend you or anything, but the last time we did something like this, we found ourselves woefully unprepared, and we ended up getting ambushed. I want to make sure we’re really ready this time.”
“Don’t you worry, lad,” O’Leary chuckled before throwing a pointed look at Seamus. “I’m not an eejit like this one. I’m not about to waltz into a castle without plenty of backup.”
“Now, there’s no need to be rude about it,” Seamus scowled, which only made O’Leary laugh harder.
The cheerful laughter was interrupted by a tinny jingle as a phone went off.
“That’s me,” Junior mumbled as he took the phone from his pocket. “Oh, it’s Fiona. She might have an address for us.”
“Hey, what’s--” he started as he brought the phone up to his ear. His face fell as he listened to whatever she was saying.
“What?” He exclaimed, his eyes wide with shock. “Did you catch him? What did Wallace--”
He snapped his mouth shut again, and I scowled in frustration. It was irritating only being able to hear half of the conversation.
“Fine,” he huffed. “Okay, yeah. I’ll let you know. Bye.”
He ended the call and looked up at us with a serious expression.
“She got the address,” he announced. “She’s sending it to my phone. That isn’t all, though. Apparently, someone showed up at the office. He bypassed the security keypad somehow and made all these vague claims about helping us catch O’Sullivan.”
“What?” I frowned. “He broke into the office to offer his help? That doesn’t make sense.”
“I know,” Junior mumbled. “Fiona said that apparently, his own organization has enough on O'Sullivan, so they want to work with us to take him down.”
“Patrick did say there was infighting within the group,” I recalled. “And that there were a lot of arguments because Gallagher and O’Sullivan butted heads all the time. Could be that Gallagher’s side won out in the end.”
“Maybe,” Junior nodded. “Anyway, Officer O’Leary, this is the address.”
He handed the phone over to the tall man, who examined the address.
“Aye, it’s not that far from here,” he nodded. “Alright, enough with the tomfoolery. Here’s our plan. The best way to do this will be to just charge in headfirst. The house is set at the top of a hill overlooking a cliff, so I don’t think a sneak attack has any chance of succeeding. Nah, our best shot is to overwhelm them with manpower from the beginning.”
“Alright,” I agreed. Running in guns blazing didn’t really seem like a “plan,” but if he was right about the house being located at the top of a cliff, they’d probably see us coming regardless of what we did.
“The house is about a ten-minute drive from here,” he explained. “We’ll keep our lights and sirens off to keep our approach as unnoticed for as long as possible, but we’ll need to be ready to jump in right away, regardless. We’ll all be wearing tactical gear as well to prevent another mishap like what happened to you before.”
He led us down the main corridor and into a side room filled with equipment.
“Meet me outside as soon as you’re finished changing,” he instructed as he gestured toward the bullet-proof vests hung along one wall. “We’ll set off as soon as you’re ready.”
He left the room, and I began to sift through the vests to find one in my size. Junior, O’Haines, and I were ready reasonably quickly, but Seamus was having trouble finding a vest that fit him properly. He was a very tall and broad-shouldered man, and although he was able to clasp the largest vest they had available closed over his chest, it was a tight squeeze, and he was clearly uncomfortable.
“Good enough,” he shrugged as he got the last clip latched into place. It didn’t seem very safe to me, but Seamus was already halfway out the door before I could open my mouth to say anything.
I followed him out of the room and back down the corridor toward the entrance of the station. O’Leary was waiting for us outside, along with a team of ten officers wearing not only bullet-proof vests but full-on tactical gear, including helmets.
“Let’s go,” was the only thing O’Leary said with a grin before turning on his heel and heading toward his car. It seemed like he was really enjoying himself, and I found myself getting pumped for the mission just watching him.
I got back into the car and waited until Junior was inside before taking off with the rest of the fleet. We filed out of the police station’s parking lot and onto the main road before speeding off in the direction of the house. I could feel the adrenaline rushing through my veins as my heart pounded harder every second that we got closer to our destination.
36
Charlie
Just ten minutes away from the city, the tall buildings and crowded streets gave way to rolling green hills. The house was just a few yards away on the edge of a steep cliff. Beyond it, I could see a rocky shore against the clear, blue ocean.
I pulled directly up to the house while Seamus, O’Leary, and the other officers strategically positioned their cars to surround the entire front half of the house. With the vehicles placed like this, there was nowhere to go but off the edge of the cliff.
“Let’s go,” I nodded to Junior before pushing the door open and jumping out of the car.
I ducked down, using the car door as cover as I peered around to check if the coast was clear. Before I could fully take in my surroundings, though, bullets sprayed through the front windows of the house, and I pulled back reflexively.
“Move in!” O’Leary shouted, and that was all the men needed to begin storming into the house. Junior and I raced inside, our guns drawn and ready for battle.
The inside of the house was chaos. For a moment, I could only see the other uniformed officers. I looked around frantically for any suspects and finally spotted one just as he rounded a corner at the end of the hall and opened fire.
One of the men standing next to me fell with a surprised “oof!” as the bullet struck him, and the officers all began to scramble. I was about to head up the stairs when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye.
I managed to duck out of the way of the man’s fist just in the nick of time. I hadn’t even noticed him approaching me.
I lifted my gun instinctively, but to my surprise, the man didn’t try to hit me again. On the contrary, he immediately began to run in the opposite direction. I was about to take off after him when something large and heavy slammed into me from behind. I fell to the ground but was rolling over instantly, ready to combat whatever had just hit me.
“It’s me!” Junior yelled as I swung my fist.
“Why the hell did you knock me down?” I yelled.
“That one was about to shoot you,” Junior replied as he nodded toward my right. I turned and found two Garda grappling with one of the suspects, attempting to disarm him.
“Thanks,” I muttered as I got back to my feet. As soon as I did, I heard a loud crashing noise, like glass breaking. I turned to see what it was and spotted the man who’d attempted to hit me weaving through the throng of people and into an adjacent room.
“Over here!” I yelled to Junior as I changed course and took off in the man’s direction. By now, the fight was in full swing, and the house was so crowded that at times I wasn’t sure who was friend and who was foe.
Finally, I broke my way through and caught sight of the man just as he was climbing out of a window.
“This way!” I yelled to Junior, who was a few steps behind me. I made it to the open window that he had disappeared through. Outside, I could see him and several other men running off, away from the house and toward the edge of the steep cliff.
I didn’t think twice before leaping through the window myself, determined not to let the men get too far away. Junior climbed out just behind me, and together we made our way swiftly toward the cliff.
The edge of the cliff wasn’t a straight drop down, as I’d expected, but rather a very steep, rocky slope. The two men were obviously more used to this terrain than we were because they were scaling down the side of the cliff fairly quickly.
I started down the steep face and almost immediately slipped on the uneven terrain. I struggled to keep up but kept losing my footing and slipping in my attempts to catch up to them.
“Damn,” I swore as I tripped and sliced my leg open on a jagged rock. Pain lanced through my shin, and I could feel an unpleasant wet sensation as blood began to seep into my pants leg.
“Come on,” Junior huffed as he pulled me up by the arm. “We’re almost to the bottom.”
About halfway down the cliff, one of the men turned to look at us. I braced myself for incoming fire, but to my surprise, it didn’t come. Rather than pulling out his gun and shooting at us, the man just turned back around and continued his descent. I was so shocked that I actually stopped running.
“What are you doing?” Junior snapped.
A tiny voice in the back of my mind was screaming that something was amiss, but between the sharp pain radiating from my leg and the urgency of the situation, I couldn’t concentrate enough to voice what it was.
“Nothing,” I replied hastily. “Let’s go.”
We made it to the rocky beach at the base of the cliff just as the two men turned and disappeared around a large boulder. I blocked out the pain in my leg and sprinted after them. I drew my gun as I went, ready to fire as soon as I turned the corner.
I didn’t get a chance to, though, because the moment I rounded the corner, something dark filled my vision, and pain exploded behind my eyes as something struck me in the head. Stars sprung up before me, and for a moment, I couldn’t see or hear anything past the ringing in my head.
Something knocked my gun out of my hand, and a moment later, I felt someone grab me from behind, forcing my arms behind my back.
“Charlie!” Junior screamed from somewhere in front of me. My vision was still swimming, but everything was slowly coming back into focus.
I could hear Junior yelling, but his voice sounded distant and was echoing in my head, as though we were underwater. My vision began to clear, and as it did, I realized the gravity of the situation we were in.
I was standing in some kind of cove. The ground and roof were a dark gray stone, and I could hear the sound of ocean waves somewhere behind me. In front of me, all I could see was darkness, and I could tell right away I was staring at the wall of a shallow cave.
Someone was behind me, holding my arms behind my back in a painful grip. I could see Junior standing a few feet away from me to the left, in a similar position.
Four men were standing in front of me, which meant that there were at least six, including the ones restraining us. Suddenly I realized what had seemed so off about the man earlier. He’d had the chance to shoot me twice, once back at the house and then another time while we were climbing down the cliff, but he hadn’t. We’d walked right into a trap.
“I have to thank you,” one of the men in front of me said in an obnoxiously smug voice.
“What are you talking about?” I asked calmly.
“Your agency did such a good job ruining my latest two business ventures,” the man continued. “I was angry at first, of course. I knew I needed to deal with you somehow, but then I thought: Why not kill two birds with one stone?”
I still wasn’t sure what he was talking about, and by the look of consternation on Junior’s face, he wasn’t sure either.
“You’re Liam O’Sullivan,” I surmised, unable to keep my face from twisting into a disgusted scowl.
“Of course,” the man smiled. His short blond hair was slicked to the side, and his gaunt, sunken face gave him the look of a grim reaper. “And you did such a good job getting rid of Finnian for me. To be honest, I had hoped that you would have ended up killing him, in some dramatic shoot-out, perhaps. I’ve heard about that temper of yours.”
He smirked at me, and I glared back at him as menacingly as I could from my current position.
“But I guess I’ll have to settle for jail.” He shrugged with a dramatic sigh. “In any case, I have friends within the prison system. It won’t be difficult to arrange a little accident for him once he’s behind bars.”
As he spoke, I racked my brain as I tried to figure out a way out of this situation. I could probably use my body weight to knock the man behind me off balance. He was holding both of my arms behind his back, which meant he wasn’t currently carrying a weapon. I had no doubt that he had one, though, so it really came down to whether I could gain the upper hand before he managed to pull a gun or a knife in retaliation.
I glanced around the small seaside cove. My eyes widened as they landed on my gun, lying just a few feet away. Whoever had knocked it out of my hand hadn’t bothered to retrieve it. They were probably so confident that they’d be victorious that they hadn’t deemed it necessary.
O’Sullivan was still monologuing like a villain out of a children’s c
artoon, and I tried to get Junior’s attention as subtly as I could. He happened to glance over to me just as I looked at him, and I tried to draw his attention to my gun on the ground.
“Honestly,” O’Sullivan sighed before I could attempt to convey my plan to Junior. “I thought you agents were smart. I can’t believe how easy it was to lure you down here. Of course, I could have just let my men deal with you, but I knew it would be much more satisfying to eliminate you myself.”
“Damn, you talk a lot,” I groaned, half in an attempt to distract him and half because I was just unable to listen to his drivel for a moment longer.
“You have a lot of nerve,” he snarled at me.
“Yeah,” I scoffed. “And you should have let your men kill us when they had the chance.”
I snapped my head back as hard as I could and struck the face of the man behind me with a satisfying crunch. He screamed and loosened his hold for just enough time for me to slip free.
I didn’t waste any time. Before the man could regain his composure, I leapt forward and retrieved my gun from the floor of the cave. My head was throbbing again, both from the headbutt and from moving so quickly, but I pushed past the queasiness I felt rising in my gut. I spun around to face O’Sullivan and the rest of the men and fired my gun at the man nearest to me. He fell to the ground with a short, pained grunt.
The man who’d been holding Junior slackened his grip in shock at my actions, and Junior seized his own chance to pull free. He turned and punched the man once before reaching down from his gun. Unfortunately, it wasn’t there. He, too, must have dropped it when we were ambushed.
The man reached into his jacket, but before he could do whatever he was planning, I lifted my gun again and shot him square in the chest.
The other men in the cave raised their guns as he fell to the ground, and I aimed my gun at them, ready to go down fighting if I had to.
“Stop!” O’Sullivan suddenly yelled, his voice echoing in the small, cavernous space.