CHAPTER 21
Daisy paced the floor, worried. Luke had been gone for hours. Out of tears, and exhausted, she was scared. She knew she was safe in that hidden floor of Watermark – but was Luke safe? She saw what they did to the Senator and Carter’s injured face was a brutal reminder of what they were capable of and the lengths they would go to in order to get what they want.
What they want is her. Her gut told her to turn herself in, claim innocence, tell the world what she saw just to save Luke and the boys, but she knew that was a suicide mission. She’d never make it to the end of the block, much less a police station or local news building.
Just when she couldn’t stand to take another step the elevator pinged. When excitement should be consuming her, it was fear instead. What if it wasn’t Luke? She didn’t wait to see who it was. She ran.
Ducking into the bedroom closet, she left the hidden passage door to the rooftop slightly erect, so she could hear who was in the vault with her. If it wasn’t Luke, she’d lock herself in, buy herself time. She heard the footsteps growing near, and her pulse raced. With the hidden door nearly closed, she was ready to flip the latch and lock herself in when the heavy footsteps stopped just outside the closet.
“Daisy?” Came a soft voice from the other side.
She pushed the door open and lept into Luke’s arms. “Oh my God. I was so worried.”
She kissed him, but abruptly stopped, leaning back to look him over. Her hands stroked his face as she searched his eyes for any indication that he was hurting before she kissed his face, over and over, covering every inch.
“I was going crazy in here. How are you? How’s Gran? The boys, how are they?”
He held her head in his hands, his thumbs stroking her cheeks. He grinned, so happy to see her. He’d never had anyone to worry about like he worried about her, nor had anyone worried about him that way. “We’re all okay, baby. They just took us down to the bureau for questioning. That’s all.”
“You left? They took you?” Luke regretted his choice of words the minute he saw fury brewing in her stare, right before she raised her voice to a level he’d yet to hear.
“But they let us go when they realized they had nothing. If US Attorney Landry and the O’Reilly brothers show up missing, far too many people are going to come looking. Director Prick…errr Waterman, knows better.”
“You’re sure Gran is okay?”
“Yes. Ma has been with her. She went right to her when everything started to go down. They’re all waiting in the lair to debrief. Let’s go. You can see her for yourself, okay?”
“You want me there for that?”
“Yes, we all need to be there. Especially you.”
“Why me?”
“You’re famous now, baby. You’re one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives. There’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward for information leading to your capture.”
“Most wanted?” Daisy was furious, and didn’t find the humor in his tone…well, humorous. “Wanted for what?”
“Murdering a US Senator.” He winked.
When Luke and Daisy exited the elevator and approached the entry to the lair, Luke signaled for Daisy to be quiet. As they went in, she saw why. Liam and Dace were sweeping the room with a metallic flat-headed wand, scanning over every surface and body in the place. There were bright pink post-it notes on the conference table, one on the light in the ceiling, and even one on Liam’s computer.
The rest of the brothers, along with the cousins and Carter, were moving about in such a quiet fashion, you could only hear the light breeze their movement made – it was eerie to say the least. Small, silver button-like items were being removed from each area there was a bright pink paper. Everyone was there, even Daisy’s Gran, with Colleen sitting at her side, holding her hand, which warmed Daisy’s heart.
After placing all the silver buttons in an odd-looking bag that was relatively flat, Ronan disappeared with them.
“Okay, safe to talk now,” Liam announced.
“Wh-What was that?” Daisy asked, seemingly the only one on edge.
“Room was bugged,” Dace said, taking a seat at the table. “They were trying to listen to us.”
“So they didn’t believe Daisy’s not here,” Declan added. “Big shock there.”
“Did you think they would? This played out as I planned.” Carter laughed, going on to explain how all of this was intentional. “Showing up to that meeting like I did and mentioning I was staying here was the missing piece.”
“Piece to what?” Wylie questioned. “What are the rest of us missing here, because last I heard, there weren’t enough pieces to call it a puzzle.”
“Who rescued me? They wanted to know who was more invested in my return than they were. Now, you’re all on their radar.”
“Wh-Why would you do that?” Daisy wasn’t kind in her questioning. Her tone was harsh. “That’s so dangerous. This building has kids in it, Colleen and Magnus are here, my Gran and Carly. Why would you put them in danger?”
“They were never in danger. It’s all smoke and mirrors – a distraction. Someone has a lot on the line right now. As long as you are alive, they are bound to make a mistake,” Carter reassured.
Declan took over, trying to put minds at ease. “Your Gran being here tipped the scale in our favor.”
Daisy shook her head wildly and flailed her arms in frustration. “What? How?”
“We’re protecting her,” Luke added, piecing it together himself.
“Protecting Gran from who?” Daisy still wasn’t satisfied with their answers, not even close.
Luke turned to her, his expression blank. “From you, Daisy.”
Daisy slumped, her color draining as her voice fell to a whisper. “From…me? You think I—”
“No, but they think we do now. They came for us because they thought we were hiding you, hence your Gran being here,” Carter explained, not that it was easy. “This was all a game of Russian Roulette and Reverse Psychology. I told them we were protecting her from any fall out and using her to draw you out. They think we were a step ahead of them.”
Daisy faced Luke with a painful stare. “That’s why you brought her here?”
“No, not at all. I brought her here for you. The rest of this was just a strange bonus in timing.”
Carter smacked his hands together and pointed to Luke. “I can vouch for that. It was only after he made arrangements that I made sure to leak that we had her here to the right people. None of you were ever in real danger. I have eyes and ears all over this city right now, people the Fed’s don’t know about.”
“Your grandmother was the real star today, Daisy,” Colleen chimed in. “You should be proud.”
Carly giggled. “She certainly was.”
“When Carter over there told me he needed me…well, I was happy to serve my country.” She paused at the snickering surrounding her. She was steadfast on the idea that she was serving her country and doing her civil duty. “I played the part of a feeble old woman – I’m thinking dementia.”
Carly and Colleen chuckled, enjoying the older woman’s frankness.
“I…I don’t understand.” Daisy huffed in frustration. It seemed everyone was a few steps ahead of her.
“When they questioned your Gran, she just stared off and didn’t answer. I reminded them a few times that she didn’t talk, and they eventually gave up,” Carly said. “She even mumbled and moaned a few times – actually worried me for a minute.”
“I was on my death bed and out of my ever-loving mind for about twenty minutes. Can’t wait to do this again,” Gran admitted, earning a round of laughs, even though she was drop dead serious.
Carter laid a hand on her shoulder. “You did your country proud, ma’am.”
With furrowed brows, Gran looked around, and said, “Who you callin’ ma’am, boy? You call me Tilly or Gran, but don’t be insultin’ me with some old lady business…ma’am.”
This time, the laughs were muffled, not wanting to offend Tilly.
“Yes, ma – Tilly.” When the older woman side-eyed Carter, he corrected once more, “Yes, Gran.”
Tilly, or Gran, smiled wide, liking the way her name sounded coming from him. Much like Colleen O’Reilly, Tilly King liked to claim people as her own rather quickly – nothing made her happier.
Liam had been pecking away at his computer, listening in, but something else had his attention. “Bingo. Got it. Jesus, I knew it.” Liam ran his hands through his hair, leaning back in his seat full of relief. “Yes!”
“Mind filling us in?” Luke snarked.
After hitting a few more keys, Liam turned to face the group while all the screens on his wall filled with images and what appeared to be live video streams with strangers faces plastered throughout. They appeared to be working as they were unknowingly being watched.
“Ta-dah! Figured out why it was so hard to break the code and locate Carter when he was missing. It’s also why I couldn’t trace the minor hack threats, or see Director Prick coming for us. I didn’t even see he was in town, or that he left town, until now,” Liam laid it out, like everything he just said would make sense of the whole ordeal, but it didn’t.
“Well he’s up on the screen, what does that mean, how do you know he’s gone?” Carter asked, referring to Director Waterman on the screen.
“Because that, my friends, is Director Waterman on his jet back to DC.” A near evil villain like cackle escaped Liam.
“How do you know he’s gone and headed there?” Luke inquired, also unsure where this was going.
Without another word, Liam pointed to another screen that looked like a GPS map and had a moving image.
“Because that red dot is his plane. The white dots before and after it are the flight details filed before he took off about twenty minutes ago. And that…” He said pointing to the live feed of Waterman, “Well that is him on the plane, scrolling through his phone…looks like text messages.” Liam leaned forward and read his screen before putting the messages up on the wall for everyone else, “Eww, dirty text messages. I better not put that one on the big screens – just a second.”
Liam hit a few keys and turned back to the group, “I thought I was working against a brilliant techy – a hacker like no other and that was why I couldn’t get in.” Liam threw his hands in the air, “I was right. I was that techy.”
“Uhh, come again?” One of the brothers asked.
“It was me – my program – they were using it against us and that’s why I couldn’t get around it. I did such a good job, I couldn’t even break my own code. I was just chasing my own tail. Well, until now – I knew I would figure it out.”
“Is this where you high-five yourself?” Wylie asked with a laugh.
“Humble isn’t his strong point.” City laughed.
“I’m just saying, the product is solid. All of the changes and things they brought to me while they were in test mode were just more fail safes for them, to keep me out.”
Anger was filling the brothers, their own business was being used against them to bring them down, Luke was particularly angry, “Son of a bitch.”
“Exactly. But now that I know, I can lift those layers and see what we’ve missed, what they’ve been hiding. A play back, really. I’m dismantling the program as they know it and adding a few new features. They’ll be none the wiser. I see everything and have the kill switch. I can shut them down whenever I feel like it.”
“Now that you know, can you figure out who our players are? Who’s behind this?” Carter questioned because time wasn’t on their side, they had a trip to DC coming up.
“Does a monkey eat banana’s?” Liam asked in response.
“I think that’s a myth.” Wylie spoke.
“Okay, then do bears crap in the woods?” Liam tried again to make his point.
“Jesus, Liam, of course they do, they’re bears they live in…the woods.” Wylie burst into laughter, realizing the ridiculousness of the conversation at hand.
Liam shrugged and extended a hand as if it were an offering, “There’s your answer, brother. I’m already on it. Like a bear in the woods.”
“Excellent.” Carter slapped Liam on the back, pleased with the new information that would give them the upper hand they needed to bring DC to its knees. “Will you have details by the time we land in DC, I know it’s a tight window of time, but we need to know.”
“What? You can’t be serious, you can’t go.” Daisy cried. “It isn’t safe. You’re walking right into the lion’s den.”
“That’s the point.” Luke answered.
“What if you can’t get out, no. No. You aren’t going, you can’t go.”
“Daisy, honey, the boys know what they’re doing. I know we sound like a broken record, but they’re the best at what they do.” City conveyed, she didn’t like it either, but she knew it had to be done. “I’ll be watching everything from here. I know what to do if they run into trouble.”
“No.” Daisy deadpanned, her tone as serious as it was stubborn. “I…I can’t let you risk…everything. Your lives. Not for me. You have kids, and wives and almost wives. Colleen…Magnus, surely you agree.”
They gave a sympathetic and knowing look, they’d been there a hundred times with their boys but didn’t say a word. At the end of the day, City was right, and they were the best.
“Daisy May…you can’t live in fear honey.” Gran chimed in. “I trust them. My gut says to trust them, and you know my old gut is never wrong. It’ll be okay, sweetheart. Besides, my money is on that weasel Francis something. Beady little dark eyes…never trust a set.”
More of Grandma Tilly’s wild candor was good for the mood of the room as it ended in good hearted laughs.
Daisy was outnumbered. Everyone was on board, even her Gran who was suddenly immersed in the mission like a secret agent herself. Despite the uncomfortable chill embracing her, Daisy had no choice but to let Luke go.
“Don’t worry Daisy, we may be headed into the Lion’s Den, but we’ve already set the trap and we’re adding bait. Business as usual people – they’re watching.”
Carter winked which seemed odd to Daisy. These guys seemed to enjoy this. The more dangerous, the more they smiled and grunted. Maybe they were the best at what they did and whoever is waiting on the other side of these threats should say a prayer. Lion or not, the O’Reilly’s were coming.