Chapter 29
“Why? What difference does it make if I saw the boss or not?” Issa asked in bewilderment. “I wasn’t conscious much of the time either.”
“They couldn’t take the chance you could identify your kidnapper.”
She turned to Eagle and blinked. “You’re thinking he was somebody I might’ve recognized?”
Both Hawk and Eagle nodded. “That makes the most sense. It also makes sense that they knew to look for the jewels and the money.”
“Revenge? Is that possible? After twenty years?”
“Do you know how badly injured Danny was, Hawk?”
Hawk shook his head. “No idea.”
“Too bad. It would also help to know who else or what else he may have lost at that fight. You don’t know how it impacted the rest of his life. Maybe he was unable to do anything again. For all you know, he’s totally incapable of supporting himself, and his life is miserable, all because of whoever did this to him. And you could be the only living connection he has to the person who did this.”
“Then why torture me?”
“Because he wanted to make sure you weren’t protecting someone. He wanted to make sure you weren’t trying to hide this person from him.”
They were at the car by then. She slumped against the side of it. “I did hear voices that night before all hell broke loose. But I didn’t recognize any of them. A lot of the men were young who worked for my father. One was old. But he wasn’t that old.” She tilted her head and thought about it. “He was small and was older than my mother.”
“He might possibly have been somebody your mother knew. Maybe they were hoping she’d have bared her soul before dying and gave you all the details of what happened.”
“Or, out of respect for her, they waited until she was gone,” Hawk said. “I don’t know these people, but everyone has a motivation for doing something in a particular way. It all seems to revolve around your mother and you.”
“That’s nothing new,” she said in frustration. “None of this helps us find Panther or Tiger.”
She watched the two men exchange glances. Just as Eagle was about to speak, his phone went off. He answered it with, “What’s up?”
He spun and turned toward Hawk. At that moment Hawk’s phone went off. Hawk pulled it out, checked the number, and glanced over at Eagle. He held it up for Eagle to see the screen.
She leaned over to take a look. It was Panther calling. She frowned. “I can’t believe that.”
Hawk shrugged. “Only one way to find out.” He hit the Talk button and said, “Panther, what’s up?”
Issa only heard one side of the conversations. She paced and waited. And just as the men sounded like they were getting off the phone, hers rang. She wiped tears out of her eyes to see a number she didn’t know. Hesitantly she lifted the phone to her ear and said, “Hello?”
“It’s Angus. You’re looking for Danny McNeil,” he said. “He’s the man who organized the shipment. He was older than your brothers. He was the one hurt and taken away. He might have answers for you.”
“Any idea how I can find him?”
“Yeah. Barney from the pub. His brother-in-law is Danny’s father. You be careful though. Not all the pub folks are on your side.” And he hung up.
When she put down her phone, she found both men staring at her, but Eagle was now on another call. As soon as he was done, she raised her eyebrows and said, “That was Angus.” She repeated his message.
Hawk nodded. “That aligns with the information I just got. But Panther didn’t call me. It was one of my other men. He found Panther’s phone—outside the pub.”
She felt the color wash away from her cheeks. “Angus said Barney at the pub would know how to reach this other guy who is also his brother-in-law. But not to trust everyone at the pub because they weren’t all on my side.” She turned to Eagle. “Who were you talking to?
“The man who held you captive. He had Tiger’s phone.”
She took a deep breath. “Asshole. What did he want?”
“He wants us back at the pub.”
“Then I suggest we let the detective know what the hell’s going on and get back there fast,” she said darkly. When only silence met her words, she stared at them in bewilderment. “What? Why are we stalling?”
“I don’t want you to go back to the pub.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “It doesn’t matter what you want. They have your friends, and I won’t let the kidnappers hurt anybody else. If they want me, then let them tell me exactly what it is they’re after. Because I sure as hell don’t know.”
Eagle hesitated.
She cut him off when he opened his mouth. “I didn’t come all this way for you guys to rush to the rescue and leave me safe and sound back in town. That’ll just get more men killed. Let’s get the detective and whatever bloody team you have pulled together here. I don’t care. But we’re going back and getting to the bottom of this now.” She glared at Eagle, than switched to look at Hawk. “You can’t possibly want to leave your friends in trouble like this.”
*
Eagle watched as Hawk shrugged. “We already have men on-site. They’re prepping to rescue our buddies now. We already told them that we’re on the way.”
“Yes, we are on the way,” she said.
“Let me call the detective,” Eagle said. He took a few steps away and filled him in on the latest info. They talked for at least ten minutes, while Hawk and Issa waited. When Eagle joined them, he said, “He’s getting a team together. He needs at least twenty minutes.”
“They’ve got ten.” She snorted. “We’ll head out but will take our time. They can catch up.”
The men grinned.
“Too many people are involved,” Hawk complained. “It’s hard to keep any of them straight.”
“And yet most are accounted for.”
“Except the girls. No one made mention of the missing girls. The sex slave industry is alive and well in France unfortunately,” Eagle said. “It’s a huge market, and a huge issue for the police over there. The detective is also getting a team to track down the house here in Belfast.”
“That was twenty years ago. They probably move the girls around,” Issa said. Still it warmed her heart to think they might find these poor women.
“Yes. It was twenty years ago for you too. Those women still have a right to some kind of a life if they haven’t already gained their freedom. You also have to consider they might no longer be alive.”
She nodded. “I hope the police can find them—and maybe have already. At the very least they might shut down the trafficking ring.”
“The police will try. They’ll have to backtrack the case to France and see if they can find records of the girls over there. Also where did the women go when everything blew up?”
“Don’t forget not everyone died. For all anyone knows, the remaining smugglers who delivered them took charge of the cargo again and left.”
“We won’t ever know the details, will we?” she asked in a forlorn voice.
“No way to know at this moment.”
The drive back was unsettling. The men discussed multiple options. They pretty much decided the kidnapper had to have been the man injured and spirited away. Too many people were involved, but so few had actual stakes in the process. Families of all the loved ones, yes, they would have an interest as well. But twenty years later it was hard to imagine the drive for revenge was quite the same.
“Any way I can get into the pub without being seen?” Issa asked.
“What good would that do? You were already there. As far as the pub owners know, you’re still there. We paid for several nights, remember?”
She settled back. “Right, they don’t know we left in the middle of the night.”
“And it’s not that late now. We could still be in our rooms.”
“Jesus.” She wrapped her arms around her belly and stared outside the car window. It was hard to stop the fear from taking over her senses. They were still a good fifteen minutes away from the pub when a vehicle pulled off a side street in front of them. At the same time, another one pulled up behind them. Hawk slowed down. She listened to Eagle swear. She glanced in front of them and behind.
“I gather this is a kidnapper’s welcoming party?” She was proud her voice held no tremor. “The detective does understand how important it is to get here fast, right?”
“Oh, yeah. Hawk just texted him to let him know we’re in a standard pincher move. With no place for us to get off the road. We have to go straight in with the escort.”
And, sure enough, the vehicles stayed with them as they drove right to the pub. As they entered the parking lot, the first car drove to the far side exit and parked so they couldn’t get out. Hawk drove in and took a spot as the vehicle behind them blocked their entrance too.
“Well, that answers that,” she said, letting out her breath. “I guess it’s showtime.”
She got out of the vehicle and stopped for a long moment, staring up at the sky. Then she closed her eyes and sent out a call. In her mind her words were a whisper, but she added all the power she could, and she told the wind that they were in trouble and needed help. When she opened her eyes, the clouds moved closer. She had no idea if it had anything to do with her request. It was a game she’d played as a child. Something fun to make the evenings less lonely. She’d talked to the clouds, played with the wind, and laughed as she brought in clouds and wind and rays of sunshine at will. With the men, one on either side of her, she walked toward the back door of the pub.
The drivers of the other vehicles got out, leaning against the vehicles they had driven in. She smiled at them and waved. She felt Eagle start in surprise.
“What was that for?” he asked.
“There is nothing wrong with being friendly. You don’t know what circumstance we’re walking into.”
They walked straight through to the pub, finding a man blocking every other option of exit. They were shepherded toward the main room. As she walked in, she pounded the bar gently and said, “It’s mighty cold out there today. May I have a coffee please?” and she kept on walking, searching the room.
On the far side, her gaze landed on a bloody Panther and Tiger, seated at a large table, their backs to the wall. They were both pinned between two large men, seated on either side of them, surrounded by another six seated on the opposite side of the table before them. After the hot coffee was delivered to her, she walked straight over to the eight guards, her gaze going from one to the other, fury burning in her heart.
“Which one of you removed Panther’s tooth?” she asked in a harsh voice.
The man nearest to Panther snorted and said, “What’s it to you, bitch?”
Issa threw the hot coffee full in his face. He roared and bounded to his feet. He tried to flip the table to get at her, but the other men jumped up from the table to stop him.
She rocked on her heels, crossed her arms, and said, “So this is your code?”
She didn’t know where her bravery came from, but she remembered the words. Whenever her dad had been angry at the men, he’d asked that question.
All around her a hush fell.
Wiping his face, the man glared at her and sat back down.
She turned slowly, recognizing some of the faces she’d seen when she had first arrived and others she’d known from the past. “I don’t know what this is all about or why you’ve tortured my friends. I don’t know why you kidnapped me and tortured me. I don’t know why we were shepherded here and given no other choice but to be in this room with you all. I don’t know what you want. But I do know one thing. My dad would’ve been ashamed of each and every one of you.”
Dead silence filled the hall.
*
Eagle let out a silent whistle. He’d never admired her more. When she had said she was a straight shooter, she had meant it. She brought out all the issues right at the moment, so they could deal with this right now. What she’d done to the man who had hurt Panther was something Eagle would never forget.
He’d figured they were all as good as dead right then. He’d seen the shock on Panther’s face when she’d stood up for him. It wasn’t something any of them were accustomed to seeing. They’d been fighting their own battles for a long time. But now they had a pint-size champion with unchartered skills.
Everybody in the room studied her warily. Having invoked her dad, the leader of the smuggling group from twenty years ago, she’d also invoked memories that both haunted and hurt. This could go either way.
Eagle glanced at Hawk to see him staring at Issa with respect. Eagle understood the feeling.
Clouds moved in overhead, making the room even more dark and gloomy.
“Where is he?” she snapped. “Is he not man enough to show his face?”
Several of the men gasped and shuffled uneasily. And then she heard a sound. Eagle watched her face as the color slipped away from her cheeks. She took a deep breath, squared off her shoulders, and crossed her arms. And Eagle realized this was the asshole who’d kidnapped her.
There was a weird click, like a snap of fingers, but not quite. Two men in the hallway stepped out of the way, and slowly a wheelchair wielded its way forward. Behind the boss, pushing the wheelchair was an older man. He looked to be mid-seventies but was probably a decade younger.
Issa stood strong and glared at the newcomers.
Eagle tried to keep watch on the newcomers too. They had eyes for no one else but Issa. When they were halfway across the room and only a few feet from her, the wheelchair-bound man said, “Where is it?”
She threw her arms wide and said, “Where is what? You tortured me for weeks, trying to find that same answer.” She lifted her gaze from his and turned toward the old-timers in the room. “Did you know that’s what he did? Did you know he kidnapped me after I returned home from cleaning out my mother’s house? She had died only five days earlier. He threw me in the back of a truck, carried me to his lair, where he systematically sliced my skin, kicked me over and over in the same places, fractured multiple bones, burned my breasts with lit cigarettes, and withheld food and water for days on end. And left me without a blanket for the cold nights. And then, when I finally outwitted his men and escaped, I was shot twice. But I am here.”
Her voice hardened. “I am here now, and the blood of my father runs through me. And I’ll be damned if I’ll take this kind of abuse anymore.” She glared at the crippled man in front of her. “And, Liam, there is not a goddamn thing from you that I want.”
Eagle straightened. “Liam? Your brother?” There was such a wealth of disgust in his voice that, when he turned to look at all the other men in the pub, at least twenty of them, not one would look him in the face. “This is the type of men you are? You do remember Issa was no more than a six-year-old child when she was here last? That she’d lost all three of her brothers—supposedly—and her father, and, twenty years later, just days after losing her mother, she was tortured for weeks on end. And you protect this man? You tortured my friends for his gains? I’ve walked this earth. I have served with good men. I have faced war, and I have faced assholes like you. How do any of you live with yourselves now?”
Liam opened his mouth and roared, “Stop this drivel.”
“Drivel? Yeah, honor, respect, a code to live by—you would think that was drivel.” Eagle turned his gaze back to Issa and said, “This is your show.”
She tilted her head. “I know some of you were my father’s friends. Some of you were his enemy. You feared him but were loyal as long as he was there to lead you and so long as you profited by his work. Some of you probably didn’t like his stance when everything blew up. And maybe you even turned on him. For all I know maybe you even killed him.”
At that, there was an angry stirring around her.
She snorted. “Don’t bother telling me that you would never do that because, from all I’ve seen in the last few weeks, not one of you has any honor or any sense of morality left. I don’t know what you’re looking for. I never did.” She looked down at Liam. “Did you have something to do with those girls being trafficked in those casks? Did you convince the others the casks were full of gold and jewels?”
He snorted. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
But his gaze shifted.
She smiled a hard cold calculating smile. “In other words, you did. Were you the one who arranged it? Did you do it in Dad’s name? Hoping he’d never find out, or hoping he wouldn’t give a shit? So what were you hoping to find by kidnapping me? The jewels? The money?”
Several men bound to their feet. “She lies.”
“Really? Are you aware that those six casks held young French girls stolen from their families for the sex trade in Ireland? That’s why my dad stood up and put his foot down. He was a smuggler, but he wasn’t a sex trafficker. And he’d have no part in hurting young women. Remember the code? Remember women and children first? That’s why he took the bullet. He died trying to do the right thing.”