Page 68 of Dublin Charmer
“Put this over yer head.” Donal hands me a small black bag and the butterflies in my stomach make a valiant effort to fly up my throat. His expression doesn’t leave any room for objection, so I take the bag and pull it over my head.
The moment it’s in place my world is blacked out and I lose any chance I have at seeing an attack coming.
Dropping my gaze to my lap, I shift my arms to check the time on my Fitbit. The glowing display reads the same time I entered the diner.
What’s that about? Why isn’t the time syncing up?
The reality of that problem makes me nauseous. My watch isn’t able to sync up because Donal must have a signal jammer.
That means Finn’s little anarchy pin is of no use to me. It’s been rendered into nothing but a decorative piece of metal. It also means Finn won’t realize I was taken straight out the back of the diner.
And because I made him swear not to storm inside, he won’t know something’s wrong for at least another ten or fifteen minutes when I fail to come out. By then, I’ll be gone, vanished into whatever trap Billy has laid for me, with no digital breadcrumbs to follow.
Wherever we’re going, I’m on my own.
Finn
I check my watch for the tenth time in three minutes, the second hand mocking me with its deliberate crawl around the dial. The moment Nyx stepped inside, I lost transmission from the anarchy pin. And though I promised her I wouldn’t hit the panic button and send a team in there, I can’t take it.
She’s been inside too long. She said these meetings last fifteen to twenty minutes. It’s been twenty-seven minutes, to be exact.
Not that I’m clock-watching obsessively or anything.
“Something’s wrong. I’ve got a bad feeling.” I drum my fingers against the leather arm rest in a nervous rhythm that matches the erratic pounding in my chest.
The persistent rain pelts the windshield in waves, transforming the diner’s cheerful neon sign into watery streaks of color that bleed together like a watercolor left out in a storm.
Through the blurry glass, the diner looks deceptively normal—just another late-night refuge from Dublin’s perpetual dampness.
My gut twists with that familiar Quinn instinct for trouble. We’re born with it, Da always said. The same instinct that’s kept my brothers alive through countless situations where the odds said otherwise.
I grab my phone, my thumb already finding Kieran’s contact before my brain fully commits to the decision. The screen illuminates the interior of the darkened car as I press call. It rings exactly twice before he picks up.
“Yeah, boss?”
“I need eyes inside that diner.” I’m proud that my voice remains steady despite the anxiety churning in my gut. “Send Petey. Tell the kid to play it cool. The private room is down the back hall past the jacks. All I need to know is that she’s safe without showing my face or exposing our connection.”
“On it.” No questions asked—that’s what I love about Kieran.
Through the rain-streaked window, I watch a lanky teenager in a puffy coat bail out of the other vehicle. He pulls the hood up over his head and hustles toward the diner, his hands buried deep in his pockets. He looks like any other kid seeking shelter from the storm.
“Come on, Petey. Don’t let me down.” The kid’s been running errands for the Dublin Devils since he was fifteen. He’s small enough to go unnoticed, smart enough to remember everythinghe sees. He took a bullet meant for Nora back in the fall, so we set him and his buddy up in one of our exposed safe houses.
A few minutes pass and the kid is back and climbing into Kieran’s vehicle. That was fast. Too fast. My adrenaline starts pumping in my veins.
My phone buzzes. “Tell me.”
“Petey says she’s gone. Escorted out the back the minute she arrived. Big guy, scarred face.”
My stomach drops. “Donal Reese.”
“That’s the one.”
I slam my fist sideways against the door. “Fuck!”
Was last night just a play? All those whispered confessions between the sheets…the things she shared…was she feeding me exactly what I wanted to hear or is she in trouble?
“That vehicle is long gone by now. What do you want us to do?” Kieran asks.
