Ciaran

I drove the old truck that belonged to Ma. It made it difficult to keep her out of my head, but focusing on the very real danger that Elle was in helped. Not that it was a preferable train of thought, but Ma was already dead. Elle still needed to be saved.

The town was pretty quiet at this hour and I hoped that meant the police would be at the ready. I also hoped that somehow my crazy plan to get them to catch the Irish Hounds red handed would somehow work. And if it didn’t, well, I hoped it would at least buy us all some time to get the hell out of dodge.

With Elle, I thought.

I was determined to get her out of this. Come hell or high water, she would make it through tonight alive. Even if I didn’t. Though I sincerely hoped I would, but could you blame me? I just found the girl of my dreams, and if things worked out tonight, I’d be rid of Shane and the Irish Hounds.

It was everything I could have asked for. At least, everything reasonable I could have asked for.

Shane’s place was at the other end of town and I’d wasted some time setting things up with the boys, so it was already getting late as I drove towards his house. Part of me wished I’d brought some of my men with me, but the other part was relieved I wouldn’t have to worry about getting any more of them killed.

Several might still show up, the ones who had been out looking for Shane, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. And while I fully trusted both Danny and Patrick, I wouldn’t count on them to get there in time.

As I drove, I considered what I might be getting into.

Shane had Elle. He had insisted she was alive and I trusted him that far. For now. If I didn’t show or if I failed, I didn’t think that would stay true, which was why I needed the police to bust the place. Just in case I didn’t make it out alive with her. At least if the Irish Hounds were put away, she wouldn’t have to spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder.

But I still had to make it long enough to make sure I got her out, or at least kept her alive long enough for the police to get there.

Which made me wonder what I would have to do to pull that off.

If the address Shane gave me was to a house, which I was pretty sure it was, there were going to be a lot of rooms, maybe a basement, possibly a couple of different floors. All of which was not good news to me. It meant he could have her hidden anywhere in the house and I’d have to search to find her.

Maybe I’ll get lucky and he’ll take me right to her, I thought, then snorted derisively. As if. Shane wasn’t going to make any of this easy on me, which meant I was going to have to find her on my own.

I had to drive slowly thanks to the snow when all I really wanted to do was run this truck as fast as I could. But spinning out into some ditch with no means of getting to Shane wasn’t the best move, so I tried to instill some patience in myself.

I tried to mentally estimate how many men would be at the house. If it were all of the Irish Hounds, I was screwed. There would be far too many men to handle on my own. Which made me hope and pray that somehow my boys did make it there, if only so I could focus on Elle. But remembering that I wasn’t counting on the cavalry, I tried to come up with some sort of plan to get myself in there and through what could be a hundred men or more.

“Guns blazing probably isn’t going to work,” I mumbled to the empty cab.

I hoped I would be able to get to Shane, kill him, and use his death as distraction enough to save Elle, but that plan banked on a lot of things. The main one was the Irish Hounds’ dependency on Shane. I had to believe they truly needed him as a leader, and that one of them wasn’t just waiting in the wings to take his place.

And, unfortunately, I didn’t really believe that wasn’t the case. Shane was a hard man and a pain in the ass. I could only imagine his leadership skills. Which meant there was a good chance someone was just itching for a chance to take the reins from him. Which wouldn’t bother me so much if I didn’t think whoever stepped in to fill those shoes would be just as dangerous as Shane himself.

Hope for the best, I thought grimly.

...

When I pulled up, I found I was right. It was a residential home. Unfortunately, I was also right that it was two stories and massive. Shane hadn’t grown up any wealthier than I had, but he was willing to cross some of the lines that I wasn’t. I wasn’t any saint and I wouldn’t pretend to be, but there were still things I wasn’t willing to do.

As a result, Shane had money and lots of it. Growing up the way we did, he had always been desperate for wealth. He wanted to have it and he wanted to flaunt it. I saw that now in his mansion. What did he need all that space for? I wasn’t fooled into thinking this was for the sake of his men, though I knew it was convenient when he wanted a small army there at his disposal.

Which was part of why I was so disappointed to see it really was a house here. There could be a lot of men in there and I wouldn’t see them until they were right on top of me. Of course, I told myself that I, too, would be invisible. Except they knew where they were going and I didn’t have the foggiest idea of where Elle was being held.

I wanted to go look for her first, but as I pulled up towards the front of the house, I quickly saw that that was not an option. Standing on the porch, alone and looking almost sinister, I saw Shane. He was waiting for me, his eyes unwilling to leave the truck.

Coming to a stop, I lingered in the cab as my eyes met Shane’s. He had a smile on his lips, but it was tight, caught somewhere between angry and maybe even a little scared.

Dare I hope that he was planning on fighting me fair, one on one?

It would be stupid to assume that, I thought, but I did hope it was true.

Finally, I bit the bullet. I pushed on the door to the truck and forced it open. The cold air rushed at me, pinching at my exposed face and my worn hands. It wasn’t a blizzard outside anymore, but the snow was coming on and off, little flakes dropping down through the freezing night.

Holding myself taut with the readiness to fight, I slipped out of the cab and left the door open. It would be a frigid bitch in there, but at least I could get into the cab faster if I had to make a break for it, which I expected I would have to do at some point tonight.

So long as I get to Elle first.

I stepped towards the porch where Shane waited. I had a gun tucked into the waistband of my jeans and it was pressing cold metal into my back. I itched to pull it out and just fire at him, but I didn’t know what I was getting into. I didn’t know who waited in the wings, where Elle was, or if I was walking into a trap of six men all hanging back in the shadows. And if that last one was the case, then I needed to be patient. Keeping Shane alive might be the only thing keeping them at bay.

And more importantly, I didn’t want anyone getting any funny ideas about Elle.

Doing my best to remain calm, I called out to Shane, “Where’s Elle?”

He shrugged his shoulders, seemingly unconcerned about the whole thing. “Elle? Is that her name? Pretty.”

My shoulders tightened, my body wanting desperately to fight him—no, to kill him. But I needed to play this smart. “Where is she, Shane?”

He pretended to think about it, tapping his chin with his forefinger in an exaggerated motion. He looked up at the sky and even hummed as though really giving it some thought. The whole show made the urge to punch him that much stronger, but I somehow managed to keep that desire at bay. For now.

“You know, I don’t know. I think she’s having tea or something with the boys.” He grinned at me, his tone of voice telling me that he thought this whole thing was just one big joke. Like Elle’s life didn’t even matter.

“I swear to God, Shane, if you’ve touched a single hair on her head—” I began to threaten, but he just waved me off, unconcerned by my anger or my threats.

“But enough about her.” He moved to stand on the first step of the porch and that was when I noticed the ice lining the overhang. Thick icicles hung over the edge, formed after the days of snow and sleet. It might have made a nice, cheery picture for a Christmas card or something if it wasn’t about to become the place for a battle between two brothers. “I think it’s time to talk about us, don’t you?”

He waited for me to get closer, and I didn’t disappoint. My boots crunched on the snow beneath them, packing it down as I strode with purpose towards him. I came to a stop only a few feet from the man I had grown up with, standing at the base of the stairs with three separating me from him. “What’s left to talk about Shane?”

He frowned. “I thought you wanted to talk peace. Wasn’t that what you were all about?”

I gritted my teeth until I thought I might crack them. “I think the time for peace has passed, don’t you?”

“What makes you say that?” He asked in such a way that I knew this was all just blowing smoke up my ass—which made me wonder why he was stalling. Was there something going on? Was there some plan underway I didn’t know about? Or was this just him teasing me?

With Shane, it was impossible to say.

“Mostly because you had our mother killed,” I said, feeling a resurgence of anger and grief both.

Something in his face tightened and he took another step down towards me. “I didn’t have her killed. It was an unfortunate accident.”

“How can you call a bullet to the chest an accident?” I demanded, closing the space between us until I was just one step down from him and was just a hair shorter.

His hands clenched tightly at his sides, good only because it meant he wasn’t going for a gun. “I didn’t order anyone to kill her, but sometimes people have to die, wouldn’t you agree?”

And for once, I did. Not Ma or Elle, but Shane? Yeah, I believed he needed to die. And while something inside me still squirmed at the idea of having to be the one to do it, I knew I couldn’t rely on anyone else for this. He was my brother, my responsibility. “I do,” I said in a low voice, and in that moment, there couldn’t have been any questioning what I meant by that.

I saw Shane’s hand twitch and begin to move around behind him, probably reaching for the gun that he would have hidden in the same spot I did. I did the same, but before either of us could get to our guns a shrill scream sounded into the night, echoing from inside the house only to be tamped down by the snow.

“Elle!”

I forgot about the gun and about Shane. I shoved past him and raced towards the door, which still hung open, desperate to get to Elle. God, tell me I’m not too late! Panic rose in my chest. I made it to the porch and almost reached the door, but before I made it a hand wrapped around my upper arm and jerked me back. I swiveled around only to get a hard fist to the face.

I stumbled back from the force of the blow, my hand automatically going to clutch at my nose, which didn’t feel broken, but was definitely bleeding. I looked up to see he’d managed to get a hold of my gun when he’d swung me around and was grinning triumphantly now. He didn’t use it, though. Instead, he tossed it away to land in the snow somewhere on the other side of the balcony.

I didn’t know why, but sensed his need for physical violence tonight.

Shane was already coming at me again. I had a moment to wonder why he hadn’t gone for his gun before he grabbed me by the collar of my shirt. He jerked me up again and cocked his hand back as it formed into a fist, ready to hit me again. “I’m going to enjoy this,” he said right before he swung at me again.

I jerked out of the way of his fist, letting it slam against the siding of the house instead. He cried out in pain and rage, but it was enough for me to slip out of his grip. I swung around myself with a hard fist to his ribs, hoping to bruise his kidneys enough to make him go down.

It didn’t work.

Pissed off, Shane had evidently decided he wanted to beat the shit out of me, but not at the expense of losing the fight. He reached around again for his gun, but I saw it coming this time. I rushed him.

I barreled into him, grabbing him around the waist until we both tumbled back. He slammed into the banister hard enough to shake snow and several icicles loose up from above. I tried to get to his gun, but he squirmed out of the way, shoving me back far enough to give me a hard kick to the chest. I grunted in pain, spiraling away from him.

He reached for his gun again and this time got a good grip on it. He aimed it at me and I only just ducked in time to dodge the bullet. I landed hard on the porch, my already injured shoulder taken the brunt of the blow. I cried out and felt my vision clouding, but reminded myself I had to keep moving or I was dead.

Another shot rang out, but I was already scrambling out of the way. I jumped off the porch, ending up rolling around in the snow.

Shane fired several more shots after me before I finally heard that lifesaving click that told me he was out of bullets. He cursed. “Shit!”

I took that opportunity to come up with a new plan. My gun was buried in the snow somewhere off the side of the porch. Shane’s was out of ammunition, but he might get enough time to reload. I had to do something now. I looked up, searching for options, and that was when I saw the icicles again.

Big, thick icicles with sharp points. Several had already broken loose and landed heavily on the porch before shattering.

My eyes dragged down to where Shane was standing, only inches from them. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. My shoulder throbbed and was probably bleeding again. Shane was slapping at his gun, trying to reload quickly. And those icicles dangled precariously overhead, close to me, close to him.

Maybe it was dangerous since one could hit me, too, but I didn’t have my gun and I couldn’t wait any longer to try to wrestle Shane’s away from him.

I lunged at the porch, grabbing the railing with one hand and with the other I reached for him. I grabbed him by the shirt and jerked him back, using our combined weight and gravity to pull us down. His eyes widened in surprise. I knew if this was going to work, it was going to be now or never. I grabbed Shane’s gun toting hand by the wrist. He’d managed to put a new magazine in it and there was a round in the chamber. I slammed his wrist against the banister hard, hoping to dislodge another icicle, and hoping it would land where I needed it to. But the shove wasn’t hard enough to dislodge anything.

I slammed his hand again. He cried out in pain, his free hand trying to get ahold of me while I tried to hold him off. I slammed his hand a third time and that was when the gun went off.

It was pointed up towards the sky. Towards the overhang that only barely covered us. The bullet hit the edge of that overhang, shattering one of the icicles and dislodging another.

If I hadn’t been trying to do just that, it would have hit me. But I’d been waiting for it, trying for just that thing to happen, and I was prepared. I jerked back away from Shane and before he had a second to register what was happening the icicle fell. It hit him point first in the throat, that spot between his shoulder and his neck. Blood spurted instantly as the sharp object went in deeper than I would have guessed. Shane’s eyes widened in surprise and his free hand clutched at his throat. The other jerked and a second shot went off. More icicles fell, another hitting his leg as he fell.

Blood stained the snow, pouring from his wounds and his mouth. His eyes jerked to me. I thought he was going to try to shoot me again, but his grip on the gun lessened and then finally released. Instead, he mouthed, “Help.”

A year ago, I might have stopped to help him. But a lot of things were different a year ago and I had more important things to worry about.

Like Elle.

I remembered her scream. Turning away from Shane, who was still trying to stop the blood and call out for help, I ran up the porch steps again and headed for the door. This time no one stopped me as I raced inside, hoping against hope Elle was there and she was fine. I prayed I wasn’t too late.