Page 55 of Destroy Me
But that kiss… He shook his head, willing away the tightening in his groin.
He’d noticed Mack kissing his mam as well, his strong arms making her tall frame seem small as he held her. Fionn couldn’t have imagined Siobhan with anyone but his father, but now…they fit. He was grateful she’d found a man of honor, a man Fionn could respect.
Mack and Deacon passed out equipment while Fionn drove. “I’ve only got the two vests,” Mack said, handing one to Deacon.
“Keep it for Fionn,” Deacon said. “I’ll take sniper position.”
Mack nodded and shrugged into his vest. Fionn watched his eyes go wide in the rearview mirror when Deacon opened the heavy case he’d brought with him.
“Holy feck!”
“Speechless, yeah?” Fionn said. “Nice to go in fully equipped.”
Mack whistled, low and sharp. “Global First takes care of ya well.”
Deacon chuckled. “This is my private collection, actually. I didn’t have time to gather too much from the office.” He leaned closer. “You should see my wife’s.”
“Twice as big,” Fionn threw over his shoulder.
Mack grinned, then sobered as he watched Deacon take out the weapons. “God willing, we won’t need it.”
Fionn and Deacon agreed.
They parked off the road a couple miles out and walked in. The nice thing about Fionn’s homeland was the amount of forest, bisected by tiny roads that barely fit a whole car, much less two. The woods around the abandoned estate they were approaching were thick, dense, which made for slow going but kept unwanted attention away.
About thirty yards out, Deacon went high in an ancient oak so thick Fionn couldn’t have closed his arms around it, giving them a bird’s-eye view of the clearing around the house.
“Watch who you shoot,” Fionn warned him. He kept his wink on the side Mack couldn’t see.
“Hey, I only nicked you once.”
Mack’s eyes narrowed on Deacon’s back as he climbed away from them.
“Okay, twice,” Deacon said in their earpieces, laughter in the words.
Fionn grinned. “Pain in the ass,” he shot back.
Mack, catching on, huffed a laugh as he turned in the direction of the manor house. “He’s like your brother, yeah?” he asked quietly, not using the line that connected them to Deacon.
“No ‘like’ about it. Deacon’s been my brother since the day we met.”
Mack nodded, and Fionn knew he’d probably fought with men he considered family as well. “I’m glad you had someone close. I know your mam struggled with you being out there on your own.”
Fionn shook his head even though Mack, in front of him, couldn’t see it. “She was alone too.”
“She was,” Mack agreed. “But it’s a woman’s nature to worry about her children. And especially for you, after what you’d both gone through. What you were heading into.”
Because he’d always been a fighter. He’d gone straight from garda to mercenary in some of the worst parts of the world. “Comes in handy now, though, yeah? Ferrina had no idea what he was up against when he decided to come here.”
“No idea at all.”
“Watch out for the puppies,” Deacon said in his ear.
He cursed under his breath. That was code forthe guards ahead have dogs with them. “Leashed?”
“Yep.”
At least they had that goin’ for them. Mack paused ahead of him and tested the air, then angled west, staying downwind of the animals. They moved with even more caution now, with the kind of silence only men familiar with hunting woods like these could attain.
