We had finally made it to El Paso, bordering Mexico, and we were practically a mile from crossing the border. Once in Mexico we would travel to Brazil where Fergus would be waiting for us. Alana did not know this, but I had known all along. I felt like a dog for not telling her where her dad was, but I couldn’t. If she got into the wrong hands, they would have pulled that information from her without even trying.

“So from here we’ll travel to Brazil?” she asked curiously as she clutched my hand.

I nodded and smiled down at her, “That’s the plan.”

“Then what?” she asked.

“I don’t know yet, we’ll just have to play it by ear.”

She bit her bottom lip and glanced around, and I pulled her tightly against my side, “You need to relax, if you look nervous they will suspect something.”

She took a deep breath and plastered on a smile, and I winked at her, “That’s my girl.”

We carried on into the building at the Immigration Check point and I took out our passports. I had to give it to Goose, he was a master at fake ID’s and before we knew it we were cleared for entry into Mexico. Now I could finally breathe.

But my relief was short lived. As we exited the building to the bus terminals, a man walked up to us and addressed us as Mr and Mrs. Muller. No one was supposed to know about us.

“What do you want?” I asked frowning and Alana clung to my side.

The tall lank Mexican shrugged and then gestured towards the Limo parked on the opposite side of the street. This cannot be good, I thought as I looked towards the car with the tinted windows. Running now would put Alana’s life in more danger, and it would alert the authorities. We simply had no choice but to follow the instructions of the Mexican who met us.

“Is it Shamrock?” Alana asked nervously.

“I don’t know.”

“Let’s just run,” she urged me on, but I patted her hand and continued straight ahead.

The Mexican came running past us and then stopped at the Limo and opened the back door for us to get in.

This was it, today we were both going to meet our maker, and I would have failed Alana. I looked down at her and she met my eyes with her big green ones. Between the two of us, we made peace with what happens next. She gave my hand a gentle squeeze, and I smiled at her.

“It was a good ride while it lasted lass,” I whispered and then I slipped into the car with her following closely.

“Fergus?!” I exclaimed

“Dad!?” Alana said in shock, “What, I mean why are you… I thought… FBI.”

She made no sense, and I gently touched her hand.

“Irish, you’re a man of your word, I knew you would keep my daughter safe,” Fergus said in his monotone voice, “I was counting down the days to see you Alana, I really thought that Shamrock would get his grubby hands on you.”

I looked at Alana where she sat with her mouth gaping.

“I told you I’ll keep her safe Fergus,” I said and cleared my throat. If he got to know what I got up to with his little princess, I could kiss my Irish arse goodbye.

Fergus moved closer and leaned over to take Alana’s hand, “If there’s one thing I will regret for the rest of my life, is keeping you in the dark. I just didn’t want you exposed to the dangers of being in my line of business…” he started.

“What? You kept it from me, my whole life, and when the shit hits the fan, suddenly I have to just except it?” she blurted out and I cringed.

One thing about Fergus, no-one spoke to him with disrespect, “Alana,” I warned and looked at her.

“What? So now I must just roll over and pretend that none of this mattered?”

“Alana,” Fergus started, “I don’t expect you to forgive me, but I wanted you to know that I only did this to protect you, and in doing that, I put your life in great danger. If it wasn’t for Irish…”

“Leave Irish out of this daddy dearest, this is about betrayal, and you betrayed me.”

Fergus pulled and rubbed his forehead, “I know, and there’s nothing I can do or say that will justify my actions. Right now, I can only ask you to forgive me.”

“Never!” Alana cried and reached for the door, but I pulled her back.

“Hang on, just hear your father out,” I pleaded.

“Irish, it’s fine; I expected this to happen. But the thing is, I can’t protect her anymore. McCleary was found dead in the parking garage at the New York FBI office and Sully was taken out by Shamrock. There is no way to clear my name even if I could. Without their testimonies and the proof, which McCleary had with him, I’m a sitting duck.”

I frowned and looked at Fergus, “What are you trying to say?”

“I’m done, the FBI has already dispatched a team to come and take me, and to be honest I’m tired of running.”

“But Fergus, you can’t just give up!”

Fergus shook his head and then looked at Alana, “She cares for you Irish, and you care for her, I could see it the moment you walked through customs. Goose also told me how taken she was with you.”

“Wait, a minute…” I tried to interrupt, but Fergus held up his hand.

“You’re the only one I can trust to make sure she’s out of danger. I’ve transferred the last of my funds into an off-shore account for Alana. You need to take it and move on as Mr and Mrs Muller. You have no choice.”

I was shocked to the core, Fergus was actually handing his daughter to me, just like that? Shocked I shook my head, “I don’t think it’s a good idea,” I started and then I looked at Alana and my heart cramped in my chest. How could I just turn away from her now?

“Dad?” she whispered, “Where are you going to go?”

He smiled at her and took her hand in his, “I’m not running this time,” he said and closed his eyes, “You two best be on your way before the suits get here. Keep her safe Irish, make her happy.”

I nodded and then reached for Alana’s hand, “Come, we have to move.”

She pulled her hand out and flung her arms around her dad’s neck, “Dad please! You can’t just give up!” she cried.

“Alana, sweetheart…” I begged, “We don’t have much time.”

Her dad pried her hands loose and nodded, “Be happy love, someday we’ll meet again.”

* * *

Irish tugged me by my hand, practically dragging me out of my dad’s arms. Although I hated him for keeping his life a secret, he was still my dad. And seeing him so down and out broke my heart.

Tugged along by Irish’s fast pace, I kept looking back to where the Limo still stood, half expecting to see a SWAT team storming his car, but nothing like that happened.

“Alana!” Irish shouted and shook me by my shoulders, “I need you to stay with me. I swear to you, your dad will be back one day. Right now, we need to think about us.”

Us? Did Irish just say us? I blinked a few times and looked up at him, “By us, you mean you and me?”

He smirked as he pulled me into one of the phone booths, and then rested his forehead against mine, “We are Mr and Mrs Muller, might as well embrace it.”

A bubble of laughter pushed up from within me, and regardless of the circumstances, there was still a silver lining around the storm of my life, and having Irish by my side to brave the storm, I really didn’t need anything else.

* * *