Page 101 of Mob Saint

“I don’t think so. But I believe Vince and Keith do. I don’t have a solid reason, but I have a feeling I can’t shake.”

“I want all three of them.”

“You can play your torture games later. My only priority is finding my daughter.”

“No shite. But we have no idea where to start if we don’t talk to those three. I’m sending Shane to get them. You better be on that plane when we set off. If you don’t come willingly, I’ll fucking drag you. Until I know where Tiera is, I hold everyone affiliated with the O’Briens responsible. Even I can admit my limitations. Nine to three in an ambush didn’t leave me or my dad and brother much chance to overpower them. They burst in shooting.”

“Where was Tiera during all this?”

“Locked in her bathroom. They shot at me and grazed my thigh. When they shot at me again, I slammed into a wall, then someone took the butt of their pistol to the base of my skull. It knocked me out. They broke into the bathroom and took her while all three of us were unconscious.”

“You got shot at twice protecting her?”

“I’d look like a fucking piece of Swiss cheese before I voluntarily let them take my woman.”

That sounds prehistoric. It sounds misogynistic. It sounds patriarchal. It sounds fucking true. She is mine, and someone dared touch her. Now I’m going to kill them.

“How’re you getting the three of them and me to you in New York? You said a plane.”

“Shane’s flying us down.”

Cormac flies helicopters, and Shane flies planes. We have expensive pastimes. An IV and stitches brought my brother back around, and he’s listening to this conversation along with everyone else. But he’s in no condition to go anywhere.

I was about to call Brant when Meridith arrived. She got to work immediately, and with Sean and Shane’s help, Cormac had an IV going while she stitched him up. He came to thrashing and snarling like a bear. It took Dillan and Finn to hold him down while our dad talked to him enough to calm him down. Once he opened his eyes and saw Da and me, he was as docile as a lamb.

“How long till you’re here?”

“Forty-five minutes.”

It’s a twenty-minute flight, but we have to get to the private airport where Shane keeps his planes.” Yes, more than one. He had just a glider, VP-12 two-seater, and a biplane for years. He now has a Cessna that fits ten. A pilot, copilot, and eight passengers. He says he got it for when we have short-distance missions like this when our larger jet takes too long to fuel and get off the ground. I think he got it partly to do something nice for his brothers and our cousin.

A couple weeks ago, the three couples decided to go on a triple date to Hyannis in Massachusetts. But it got cancelled because Shane, Cormac, and I had to make an impromptu trip down to Miami to deal with a shipment—one of the times I disappeared and couldn’t give Tiera specifics. We had to take the jet. Shane bought the plane, so we have a second way for people to get around now that our family’s growing.

“I’ll be ready when you get here.”

“Meet me at Gareth’s.”

“Fine. I’m calling him now.”

I hang up with Brant and dial Gareth’s number on Dillan’s phone. I didn’t need the memorized numbers since my cousin already has them stored in his phone. Unlike most people these days, we all have at least two dozen numbers in our heads. Sometimes it’s because we need to call them, but a lot of times, it’s so we recognize them when we’re tapping phones or coercing people to use them.

“You piece of shite. Where’s my girlfriend?”

“Seamus?”

“Where the fuck is my girlfriend?”

“Tiernan?”

“Fucking hell, Gareth. Where the fuck is Tiera?”

“I—I—Goddamn it. Would you fucking watch what you’re fucking doing? Sorry, Aidan’s stitching me up and has hands like fucking bowling balls.”

“Stitching you up?”

“Yeah. Vince, Keith, and I were in one of my SUVs when we were hit head on. Men swarmed the vehicle and pulled us out. One fucker stabbed me in the left pec. When the knife wouldn’t go deep, he slashed me with it. They took—Motherfucker! I told you to fucking watch what you’re fucking doing.”

I’m trying to be patient, but I’m being sorely tested.

---