Chapter 25

Twenty-Five

C illian

Pulling up to the abandoned port, we drove as close as our vehicles would allow before learning we'd be rowing the rest of the way. I tried to distract myself, but in this moment, my mind was as one track as a man's could be. They had taken my wife, isolated her, and was doing God knows what to her.

Queenie was too sweet and good to be in the middle of a feuding family war. She must have been terrified. She probably would never forgive me for putting her through all of this.

Sandwiched between Paddy and a scoundrel, I mindlessly spun the cylinder of my revolver, trying to focus on anything but the worse outcome. But once we left the car, I was finding it challenging to put a hammer to my emotions.

"Seems like they've got everything prepared," Bellamy gestured, his chin pointing towards the castoff rowboats waiting by the coast.

"Looks like everyone's about to get wet," Paddy joked, slapping me on the chest before climbing into one of the rowboats. There weren't enough for all of us, which I'm sure was intentional. They didn't want our numbers to match what they had on their end.

Smart.

"Take a bag," Tadhg instructed, handing off a duffel bag to Bellamy.

"Hopefully we won't have to use them, but it's better than going in unarmed. Cillian, it might be better if you stayed behind."

"Look, I ain't going nowhere without my wife. My wife's first image ain't gonna be of one of my brother's getting her out of there, it's gonna be me . I don't fight you on a lot of things, Tadhg. I'm the youngest and you always shoot me down. But you have to give me this, Tadhg. I don't even feel like a man if I'm not willing to die for my woman." Tadhg, for all his peculiarities, was still intimidating, standing his ground that I was too much of a liability to bring along because I was impulsive.

"Let the kid go, Tadhg. It's his wife ," Bellamy defended, which appeared to be the only thing that got through to him. Hopping into the back of the rowboat next to Paddy, I whispered,

"Did you bring what I asked?"

"Quiet you eejit! Gonna get us both chewed out," he said through gritted teeth, as he and others cast the row of the boats into the bay's murky depths. I let Paddy do all the rowing, because I was saving my strength for something bigger. There had been no set plan of what I'd do, but what I wouldn't do, was nothing.

By the time we did reach Lovell's Island, many had opted to strip off their coats in response to the time-consuming row. Up ahead were destroyed staircases, much in line with what you'd expect from an abandoned military reserve. Enclaves with fences on top mimicked a Cave of Wonders, as cautiously but eagerly, our group of twelve marched to what may have just been an open tomb.

"Not gonna lie, I don't like it," Paddy scoped the place out, his ability to measure risk useful in the moment.

"Tell me what you see, Paddy," Tadhg asked, reminding us to stay calm and collected meeting face to face with our foe.

"I see stone walls, fortifications. Poor lighting. Goons could be hiding in corners. They likely know the layout better. Sight and prior knowledge are their best advantage," Paddy stated.

"We stick to the plan and we avoid the bloodshed," Tadhg reminded.

"Plans go array in the presence of injudicious men in," Bellamy countered.

"Look who's using ten-pound words all of a sudden," Paddy joked, before Tadhg advised us keep it all together. We were entering the lion's den, but they didn't know they'd be facing a stag, a raven, and a bear. And last but not least, they'd be confronting a wolf.

It had been a long time long since I encountered a Callahan. It had never been a curiosity of mine to learn the nature of our falling out with them until now. Our fathers had been close, but that was a legacy left behind. Stooping low enough to kidnap a scoundrels' wife, that made you an enemy for life. A fusion of shrub and stone surrounded us on all sides, as Paddy murmured at the corner of his mouth.

"Sniper in the right pocket, perhaps even the left." His skillset making us aware at any moment we could be taken out from above if we weren't careful.

A formation of well-suited men scattered across the resource, which I assumed to be armed but out of power. The Callahan's had been Boston's gunrunners. But apparently when we took over, we took their business with us, so there would be no shortage of them here.

A tall, long haired, burly bearded man stood at their center but there was no recognition on my end, or maybe I was too young to remember his face before I got locked up. Tadhg stepped forward, the looming silence finally broken when he spoke.

"You wanted to talk, so talk."

"Such warm introductions. Is deas an béal tostach a chloisteáil." My Gaelic was shit. Something about silent mouth, as I prayed they didn't spend the whole time speaking Gaelic.

"And yet I hear no talking," Tadhg countered.

"You look well, Tadhg. It's been a while. Twenty-five, maybe thirty years?" The man questioned, though I was sure I never seen this man before. Or maybe things got blurry spending a few years away. He was about Tadhg's age, give or take a few years. His accent sounded like he had never left the old country.

"The O'Sullivan's and Callahan's have always been allies. Always looked out for one another. Helped each other build empires in a new world. That's why it's hard to admit this but truthfully, we as a business, as a name, the Callahans have never truly recovered from you icing us out. Our fathers took the city together, and now no one will do business with us. We'll have to start over in another city." Tadhg shrugged.

"I don't see how that's our problem, lad. You broke a cardinal sin that cannot stand."

Anger streaked the speaker's face red as he replied with an energy you could feel.

"See, that's the thing that's been bothering me. We make one tiny slip up. One bad decision, and that's it. We're just out. But you take over after Oisín and you cut the fucking blacks in. People who wouldn't spit on you if you were on fire. We grew up together, which is why it pains me knowing you're so quick to put foreigners over your own. There has to be some kind of retribution. You have to make this right off the strength of our father's friendship," he said, and frankly, I was getting tired of the two of them going back and forth offering no solutions. I needed to see my wife.

"Rory, let me make it simple, lad. We would do business with the Jews. We would do business with the Italians, the fucking Chinese and a million more Blacks before we ever break bread with traders who make their profit in dealing people," Tadhg admitted, answering my question to why the others had cut them off. Even gangsters had to have a code, and ours was that we didn't traffic people.

"You think I knew about that? The distributor was giving me a deal of a lifetime. Said if I was smart, I wasn't going to ask any questions." This time I stepped in, irritation and disgust fueling my temperament.

"You mean to tell me that you didn't know that you were buying human beings?"

"And women, no less," Bellamy added, which only infuriated me more. What if they had done something like that with Queenie?

"Control your lap dog," Rory warned as Paddy calmed me down with a soft, "easy." But I didn't know how long I would last before I rained hell on this place. I needed to see my fucking wife.

"We weren't informed until the last minute what the shipment was. We found out just moments before you," He admitted, as I paced back and forth trying to regulate my emotions.

"Yeah, but you still tried to sell us on it. Even after I expressed how sick to my stomach I was. People's daughters, people's sisters. Ain't none of us saints, but that is where we draw the line. There's no bond worth keeping once you enter that level of corruption." I eased my gun out of the holster, scratching the side of my head with its muzzle.

"All this talking and neither one of you has mentioned my wife. I don't want to have to use this thing today. But if I don't get a sign that she's all right, I'm gonna light this whole place up." Tadhg touched my shoulder, his calm demeanor doing little to ease my turbulent emotions.

"Let me handle this, Cilly." He stepped forward, advocating for me with a disposition in this moment that I wasn't capable of.

"My brother is young, and he's anxious. Just assure to him that his wife is well, and then perhaps we can come to some sort of agreement. Something that we can both live with." The head Callaghan, Rory, made a hand signal to his flunkies to reveal where they were hosting her but to my horror, one opened a steel trapdoor situated underneath us. She had been below ground the whole time.

It was dark, damp and filthy where they held her captive. Tears streamed down her cheeks in rivulets, and the fear in her eyes tore a dark hole in my soul. I hated myself for putting her through this. They probably haven't even given her food or water. And her hair and clothes looked tattered and unkempt. They weren't even treating her with dignity or respect. Like they saw her as nothing, when in contrast, she was everything. My everything.

I swear, the second they closed the door and her screams filled my ears, something inside me just snapped, and before I knew it, nothing but blinding lights and heavy smoke filled the air, shots firing and bodies taking hits. A storm of gunfire erupted, fast and fierce, and with all the fumes, I couldn't see where any of it was coming from. I popped off a few quick shots for the targets I could make out, but was yanked down for cover, grateful to see it was Paddy by my side.

"You reckless bastard. Look what you went and made me do. Now I can't see for shit."

The smoke. The blinding lights. I should have known Paddy would approach this over prepared. I peeked over our cover snarling as I pulled the trigger, catching one of the Callahan men in the stomach.

"Yeah, well, it means they can't bloody see either." With quickness and expert aim, Paddy took out two snipers from above before crouching back down to dodge a shot.

"Shit, shit, shit! This couldn't be any more fucked. I've got my eyes on Tadhg and I'm almost certain Bell took a hit."

"Shit." I banged my head against stone, knowing that if I didn't act fast, none of this shit was going matter anyways. I had to get to her, even if it cost me my life. "I'm gonna make a run for it. Cover me!"

"Cillian, don't! My line of fire is too fuzzy, you'll be mostly on your own out there. Dammit Cilly," He slapped the cover's surface as I leaped over, straight into the gates of fire.

The barrel of my gun was a hungry cyclops. Ruthless, starving and ready for war. The glaring anger I felt me made me ferocious, fearing nothing, not even death itself. Bullets ate the steps around me as with the call from a higher power, I had managed to take out three goons in my way until finally, my trigger clicked empty. The one guarding the door pointed his gun at me, and me with no more ammo had no choice but to fall back.

"You made a huge mistake today, boy. When I'm done killing you and your dumbfuck brothers, I'm gonna have fun torturing and fucking that pretty girl of yours until the bitch forgets her own name," he threatened, as I charged toward him, with fury as my only fuel. I tackled him to the ground, wrestling and struggling to get the gun out of his hand.

We tussled, fists meeting faces, elbows meeting jaws, until finally I gained the advantage when I reached for a brick and swung it across his repulsive face. He crawled away from me clutching the mangled ruins of his face with an attempt to put distance between us. I caught my breath, taking the same brick as I yanked him by the foot back to me. Smash! His face disappeared with the first slam of my wrath. The second sputtered brains and blood everywhere.

By the sixth, I was on auto-pilot, tapping into suppressed fury at the thought of anyone bringing harm to my Queenie.

"Don't you ever, ever threaten my wife!" I roared, staggering to stand as I went to open the door. Racing down the steps, her crying and praying filled the space, as she let out a scream when I went to cut the ropes that kept her bound.

"Baby, it's me, Cillian. It's me, sweetheart," I said, as she went silent and I proceeded freeing her of her restraints. To my surprise, she embraced me, gripping me tighter than I ever thought was possible.

"I was so scared," she whimpered.

"I know, Queenie, I know. But remember what I told you. That I'm not ever going to let anything happen to you. I meant that." In a grip that seemed to hold me tighter, she latched onto me, her sobs muffled against my chest.

"Cill," a voice from above called out to me. It sounded like Bell. "You better get up here."