Chapter 17

Caden

Rebel and I knock on Liam’s door first thing in the morning. When he opens the door, I find that I am surprised to see him awake and already diligently working on the laptop we provided him. “Hey, good morning,” I say as I peek into the room. “You got anything yet?” I ask.

“Yeah, I made some calls last night. We can get them out the day after tomorrow. That gonna work for you?” he replies.

I shake my head in disbelief. “So soon? Damn, you’re quick. We can definitely work with that.” I pause and then say, “What’s the plan?”

“Before I go into that, there’s one thing you’ll need to secure.”

“And that is?”

“You better make damn sure that you’ve got transport out of Ireland immediately after the breakout. And that includes the two we’re breaking out,” he says.

“You’re telling me that my parents can’t stay in Ireland?” Rebel asks.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you.”

“Why?”

“They are extremely high-profile prisoners. The British intend to make examples of them. The only reason they’re still alive is that they don’t want to make martyrs out of them. My sources tell me that the Brits are biding their time with the O’Byrnes,” Liam says.

What Liam says makes sense to me. And once Rebel realizes it’s the only way, I know he’ll be on board too. Looking at Rebel, I say, “I’ll call Willie. You need to call Dbag. We need IDs for them, DLs, and passports.”

Nodding, Rebel says, “Got it.” He pulls out his phone as he steps out of the room.

“Liam, now that Rebel has left the room, I need you to be straight with me.”

“Ok … what?”

“Is this gonna work? I don’t want to get my brother’s hopes up if this is going to turn out to be a total bust. I’d rather lay it out on the line for him now so he knows.”

“I won’t lie to you, it’s definitely risky. But when you place it against the alternative, ‘cause they’ll surely die in the hands of the British, you have to ask yourself, is it a risk worth taking?” He pauses and then adds, “If it were my family, I would say it is.”

I think about his words and then reply, “Yeah, I’d have to agree with you. I don’t even know them and I feel like I have an obligation to them as well as to Rebel.” I wait to see if he says any more and then add, “I’m really sorry about the way we pulled you in here. Before we got to you, we encountered some real winners, one of whom even tried to kill me. By the time you came, we didn’t know who we could trust and who we couldn’t.”

“I know. I’ve been there. My family was tied up with the IRA for years. I lost them all to the cause. Although I don’t actively participate in the cause, I’m always willing to help out where I can. When I realized who you were, there wasn’t a question as to whether I would help. It was a given,” he says.

“Well, you’ve been invaluable. Rebel and I both are indebted to you for all that you have done.” I pause and then add; “I think the girls are making breakfast if you’re hungry.”

“Girls?” he asks.

“Oh, we received a few visitors late last night. My old lady decided to surprise me with my sister and a good friend in tow.”

“They’re not gonna be involved in any part of the breakout, are they?” he asks, worried.

“Oh, hell no!” I reassure him.

We go downstairs to find Emma and Honey in the kitchen rummaging through cabinets and the refrigerator. Obviously, they’re looking for food and making themselves quite at home.

“Ladies,” I say.

“Ice,” they both say in unison. I’m just about to ask if there is any coffee left when Emma hands me a cup.

“Thanks, love,” I say, kissing her on the cheek.

Just then, Rebel comes in. “All good?” I ask.

“Yes, they’ll be here first thing in the morning,” he replies.

“Good,” I say.

“What will be here?” Emma asks.

“Need to know, babe, remember?” I tell her. She sighs and walks over to the coffee pot, pouting. One of these days, she’ll get it.

Doc and Ryder join us and the kitchen suddenly becomes a little too crowded for me. Realizing that I have things to do, I look over at Rebel and say, “I’m gonna go call Willie.” He nods.

My conversation with Willie goes better than expected; I’m pleased to find out that he has a transport leaving Belfast at midnight the Friday we’re doing the breakout. I was worried that we would have to get ourselves back to Dublin for a flight, but the Belfast departure couldn’t be more perfect if it was planned that way.

Upon returning to the kitchen, I walk into a room that’s full of tension. Ten minutes ago everything was fine, but now the tension is so thick you need a fucking chainsaw to cut through it. I glance around the room to see what’s changed. Doc and Ryder are in the living room reading the morning paper. Emma and Honey are over by the stove, cooking something that smells fucking amazing. Ari has come downstairs and is standing next to Rebel, his arm protectively around her. And then, standing next to Rebel, I see the root of all the tension. Ciara!

The conniving bitch really pisses me off. It’s so transparent that she’s using Reb’s brother to make him jealous and she’s so fucking stupid she doesn’t even see that it is not working. But now, she’s not only fucking with my brother’s head, she’s also fucking with my sister’s happiness. It’s time that I step in and put a stop to her little charade. I’ll make this little twat come to terms with the fact that Rebel is no longer hers, and even more importantly, he’s never gonna be. I walk over to Ari and kiss her on the cheek. “Hey, sweetheart,” I say.

She gives me a big hug and says, “Hey, Caden.”

I turn toward Ciara and say, “Ciara, I don’t believe you’ve met my sister.”

She stutters, “N…No … I haven’t. Not formally, that is.”

“Imagine my surprise when Rebel here, my Sgt. at Arms, asked my permission to date my sister. But, as I’m sure you well know, Rebel isn’t just my sergeant, right? He’s my friend and cousin on my dad’s side. We bikers, we like to keep it all in the family, now don’t we, Reb?”

Smirking, he replies, “Absolutely, Boss!”

“And you wanna know something else about us bikers?” I ask.

“Yeah, what?” she says defiantly. She’s still not getting it, but I see that changing real fast.

“We don’t take kindly to bitchy ex-girlfriends fucking around with our old ladies. You got me?” When she doesn’t answer, I gesture over to Emma and I say, “This is Emma, my old lady. And over there is Honey, the woman who single-handedly takes care of all my boys.”

I can tell by the look in her eyes that she is finally getting my meaning. By now, she should know that I’ll fuck with anyone who tries to ruin my sister’s happiness, even if it is a woman.

“Nice to meet you,” she says curtly. She then turns and stomps out of the kitchen. Hopefully, that little shit will keep her distance for the remainder of our stay in Belfast.

I hear Liam in the living room talking to Doc and Ryder. I need to get the boys together and get all our shit straight for Friday. This is definitely something that I don’t want to do in front of the girls. I look over at Rebel and say, “Liam just came down. Let’s go.” He nods and we both leave the kitchen.

Walking into the living room, I say, “Liam, why don’t you join me and my boys downstairs in the basement and we can get everything together for Friday. I don’t want our girls involved, so it is better that we take this elsewhere. All I need is for one of them to accidentally hear something they shouldn’t. Get what I mean?”

“Sure, Ice. We can do that.” We all walk through the kitchen and head for the basement. I notice that Liam is carrying the laptop that we loaned him.

As the last one to head downstairs, I turn to the girls and say, “Let us know when breakfast is ready, otherwise I don’t want us disturbed.” I give Emma my most charming smile and then turn to proceed down the steps. She’s a curious little thing and I know it’s killing her to not know what’s going on. But we both know it’s better this way.

We get downstairs and all take a seat. Liam asks, “Did you arrange transport and IDs?”

“Yep. We’re scheduled to be on a transport out of Belfast at midnight on Friday.”

“Good, that should work,” Liam replies.

Just then we all hear the basement door opening and footsteps coming down the stairs. We stop the conversation until Damon and Patrick turn the corner.

“Do we have a plan?” Patrick asks.

“Perfect timing, we’re just about to get to that,” I say. I really don’t want these two involved, but since they were the ones that called us, I guess I don’t have much of a choice. There’s something about them that I just don’t trust. I have my men and the MC in Belfast at my disposal; I doubt that I will need Damon and Patrick. I start to wonder if I can trust them enough to take Emma and the girls to the airport. That would give them something to do so they’d be out of my hair. I can’t imagine they would fuck that up, but I’ll have one of Declan’s crew stay with them to ensure that there aren’t any fuck ups. They want us gone just as much as we want to go home.

I look over at Liam and say, “We’re all here, what’s the plan?”

“I’ve got two guys inside the prison that I trust with my life. They’ve informed me that the O’Byrnes are both being held together, which is a good thing for us. We only have to break them out of one cell instead of two. They also indicated that every day, a guard checks on them first thing in the morning and then again around 2 pm. A meal is brought to them at 6 pm sharp, and then the last check of the day is at 9 pm. Between 9 pm and 9 am the next morning, they are left alone. That’s our window.”

“So that basically gives us two and half hours to get them out and get to the airfield in Belfast.” I pause and look at Liam. “Is that doable?”

“Yes, but you will have to act quickly. The prison is roughly 40 minutes from Belfast. Do you have the address of the airfield where your flight will be leaving?” he asks.

I reach into my pocket and hand him the piece of paper on which I scratched all the information that Willie gave me about the flight. “It’s on here.”

He looks at my scribblings on the paper and says, “Good, this is very good. I know this airfield. It’s on the east side of the Belfast International Airport. That just shortened your trip by twenty minutes.”

“Fuck, it looks like this is gonna work,” I say.

“Don’t get too confident yet. Now comes the tricky part. I need more men than what we have. Do you have reinforcements? Anyone you can call to help?” He directs this question to Damon and Patrick and the twit brothers both look to the other for an answer.

Damon says, “I don’t think we have anyone else. Our resources are tapped out at the moment.”

What a dumb fuck! This is his fucking mother and father we’re talking about and his resources are tapped out. Something is just not right with these two.

I say, “We don’t need your resources, Damon; we have resources of our own. Liam, how many extra men do you need?”

“Two, maybe three,” he says.

“Done!”

“Perfect.” He sets the laptop on the table and boots it up. Once he has an Internet connection he pulls up a diagram of the prison, including the tunnels.

Holy shit, we’ve hit the jackpot with this guy. I’m beginning to like him more and more.

Liam says, “You need to look at this.” He points to an area on the screen and says, “This is the prison main entrance. We’ll need two guys out there, not dressed in cuts and definitely not obvious, if you get my meaning.” Then he adds, “These two are nothing but lookouts and they can’t leave with you all. We won’t have time to get them and get to the airport.”

“We’ll use my backup crew here,” I reply.

He nods and continues, “Your family members are way over here.” He points to another area of the diagram that’s at the opposite end of the main entrance. He then draws a finger from the main entrance to the location that my family is being held. “This is the tunnel that’s gonna get you in.” Moving his finger to the very back of the prison, he says, “This is the tunnel that’s gonna get you out.”

“And you said that nobody guards those tunnels?” I ask, just to make sure.

“Six months ago, they weren’t guarded. My sources say they are still not guarded. But I suggest that you go in armed with silenced weapons, just in case. In the event you need to shoot someone, you don’t want the entire prison alarmed by gunfire,” Liam says. I nod and Liam continues.

“The entrance to the tunnel is here.” He points to an area just to the left of the main entrance. “Let me show you on Google Earth so you can see what it looks like.” He pulls up the Google Earth image of the prison, but all I can make out of where he’s pointing is a bunch of shrubs. “The entrance is in those bushes. Your exit is camouflaged the same way.” He then moves the view to the exit tunnel so we can see. “Notice that this exit leaves you in the back of the prison. You’ll still need to go through the prison parking lot and around to the front and the main gate.

“One of my guys will meet you at 9:15 pm inside the entrance of the tunnel and escort you to the O’Byrnes’ cell. I suggest you have at least three guys with you inside. You never know what could happen in there and it is better to be safe than sorry.

“My guy will have a key to the cell and will release them. He won’t be able to escort you to the exit. For that, my friend, I’m afraid you’re on your own. My guy needs to get back to his post before anyone notices he’s gone.

“I’ll be waiting for you at the exit.” He pauses and looks around the room and says, “You get all that?”

“Yeah.” I then turn to my crew and say, “You boys good?” They nod in agreement.

“I suggest that you pay close attention to the path you take to get to the cell. And make sure you study the location of that exit. The last thing you need is to make a wrong turn and get yourselves lost in there,” he says.

“What happens after we get them out?” Damon asks.

Before Liam can respond, I jump in. “I believe I need to be clear about how this is going to go down. You boys called upon my club to help you with this. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I don’t sit back and take orders from anyone. Things are done my way or no way. Understood?” I pause until they both nod. I continue, “With that being said, we will not be getting them out. My boys and I will. Your parents will be leaving the country for a while. I think it is best that you don’t know where they are, for the time being.”

“What?” Damon asks incredulously. “What do you mean, they can’t stay in Ireland?”

Fucking idiot. “Damon, your parents are high-ranking officials in the IRA. The British have captured them and after Friday, they will have escaped. They’ll be fugitives.”

“Yeah, but they can’t leave!” he whines.

“You can protest all you want, it doesn’t fucking change the facts.” I pause and then add, “It is what it is, plain and simple. If they stay here they’ll be killed. It’s their best chance.”

“And what about their family?” Patrick asks.

“Rebel and I are their family, too,” I remind them.

“They don’t even fucking know you!” Damon yells.

The violence of his reaction totally takes me aback. I understand loving one’s parents, but this is a bit over the top if you ask me. Rebel, who is twice Damon’s size in girth and about an inch taller, steps in and says, “What’s the matter, Damon? You fucking jealous of your big cousin? Did all the talking that Mam and Da did about him all those years ago make you think they didn’t love you?” Rebel gives his best impression of a whining baby. It surprises me a bit to see him egging his brother on like this. It’s the first that I’ve seen him stand up to his oldest brother, and I’ve never been more proud of him.

“Fuck you, Balefire!” Damon yells.

“Yeah, fuck you!” Patrick adds.

I can tell that Rebel is seeing red. How quickly they forget that although Rebel may be their little brother, he is also the man that avenged his uncle’s death at my side. He is the man that helped me slaughter Satans at Dirty Dicks until every last Satan in that bar was dead. He’s the man that I trust above all others to protect my girl, the only man I will ever trust with my sister. And the man who’d die for any one of his brothers. They don’t understand the man he is now. They can’t even to being to comprehend the pillar of strength that stands before them. But I have a feeling they’re about to find out.

Rebel gets in Damon’s face and says, “You, big brother, are a fucking pussy. You act like you are this big tough member of the IRA, but the fucking truth is that if you were, you would have had Mam and Da home long before now. It kills you knowing that you aren’t the one to get them home and it kills you even more that it’s Ice and I giving them their freedom.”

Damon doesn’t say a word, he just stares incredulously at his little brother. Rebel continues, “You and Patrick may be my older brothers, but I’m no longer a kid. I’m a fucking man and I have seen and done things that would make your head spin. I don’t take shit from anyone and I sure as hell won’t take any shit from you. If Ice and I say this is how it is, then you will fucking shut your mouth and agree. If you can’t, then get the fuck out of my sight!” He pauses and then adds, “And my fucking name is Rebel. I suggest you remember that.”

Holy fucking shit. Neither brother says a word. Liam looks utterly shocked and I am just beaming with pride for my brother. It was clear from the minute we got here that his brothers pushed him around in the past and never really gave him any credit. It bothered him and I knew eventually he’d hit his breaking point. I’m glad he finally did. It’s nice to see him standing up to them. That’s the Rebel I know.

Patrick is the first to speak, after looking cautiously at Damon then back at me. “Ice, what do you need us to do?” he asks meekly.

Yep, he’s definitely the follower, I think. “Make sure the girls get to the airfield by 11 pm,” I say. “I’ll arrange to have one of the local club boys with you all too, just to make sure all goes as planned. We can’t afford to have anything go wrong,” I warn.

“Girls?” he asks.

I shake my head, snickering. “You must have missed the gabfest in the kitchen this morning. We received surprise guests last night. My old lady, my sister, and one of the other girls from the club showed up at your front door.”

“I didn’t go in the kitchen, we just assumed you all were down here, so we came straight down the back stairs.” He pauses then adds, “But we did smell the food. I thought maybe Ciara had taken up cooking, but I just realized she is too wrapped up in herself. The last thing she would be doing is cooking breakfast for all of us.” He laughs. That remark came at the perfect time, it really did break up the tension between Damon and Rebel.

“So who’s gonna help at the prison?” Damon asks.

“Our brothers,” I reply, which reminds me that I need to call Declan and see if he can spare a couple of guys for us. I look over at Liam and say, “I’ll secure the manpower. I assume you’re driving us to the prison?” I ask.

“That’s my plan,” he replies. “I guess I’ll be staying here through Friday?” he asks with a smirk.

“Yep, you guess correctly. Make yourself comfortable; the way tensions have been running upstairs I promise it won’t be dull,” I reply, laughing.

Just then the basement door opens and Emma calls downstairs, “Breakfast is ready.”

I look around the room. “We good here?” I glance back and forth between Rebel and Damon.

Damon nods and Rebel says, “Fucktastic, Boss!” He walks past me as if he’s on top of the world and heads upstairs for some food. And like lemmings, we all follow.