Page 170 of Three Irish Kings
Cillian leads me to Dare’s PC, showing me the camera feed.
Isla appears to be sleeping now, tossing and turning in a big bed at Cormac’s mansion.
“Is she hurt?"
“I don't know. The quality isn’t great. Cormac cheaped out on his cameras, apparently.”
“I’m not surprised. He’s always been a stingy bastard.”
“Liam, what the hell are we going to do?” Cillian looks haggard, hasn’t shaved, his eyes haunted.
I’ve been thinking about this ever since Isla was taken. “I have a plan.”
Dare comes out of the shower, wearing a pair of sweats and no shirt. He rubs a hand across his face. “What’s the plan?”
I look at him, taking in his exhausted eyes, the way his shoulders slump. “First, you’re going to eat and get at least four hours of sleep.”
Dare scoffs. “How much haveyoubeen sleeping?”
My mouth clicks closed.
“That's what I thought. I’ll take a nap, but first, I want to know what we’re thinking.”
I nod. “I’ve been preparing since we got home empty-handed when she was taken. I just had to know where she was to hammer the final details.”
Cillian nods, and Dare just stares at me expectantly.
“Since she is at the mansion, the idea is to set up a meeting with Cormac. I’ll tell him it’s about us raiding the warehouse and taking the drugs. He has no idea that Isla means anything to us.”
I’m pacing as I speak, the final pieces of the rescue puzzle clicking into place. “Dare will rig the camera feeds. We need the feed to loop long enough that Cill can jump over the back fence and look for Isla without being made.”
I turn to my brother. “I’ll text you when the coast is clear. I need you to remember, though the cameras won’t be a problem, I’ll be stuck in the office, and Dare is the tech support; he’ll stay in the van, so you’re on your own. And there’ll still be guards. You’ll have to fight.”
Cillian grins and cracks his knuckles. It’s a dark look that promises nothing good. “Back to my roots.”
I nod, pacing again. “Cillian will grab Isla while I distract Cormac in the meeting. As soon as one of you texts me that she is safe and in the van, I’ll walk out the front door with him none the wiser. As soon as you have her, you take off, and I’ll leave in my car. We’ll meet up at the safehouse.”
“You know this means war, right?” Dare asks incredulously.
I run a hand through my hair. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Right now, we need to bring our girl and our baby home.”
They both fall silent. This will be an all-out war, and we all know it, but Isla’s worth it, and we all agree on that.
I look at my watch, and it’s past dinner time. As much as it pains me, the call needs to wait until morning, so Dare orders pizza for all of us on his phone and we eat in veritable silence, all of us lost in our own thoughts.
By the time Dare lies down to nap, it’s close to midnight.
Cillian heads home to sleep himself, and I do, too.
But as soon as my head hits the pillow, I end up just staring at the ceiling.
She’s alone and scared, and I should have been there for her.
As soon as Dare told us where she was, I should have remembered Cormac sometimes has business in Culver, and I knew he would think she was Maggie Sullivan, too.
Fuck, as much as I deserve to spend the rest of my life beating myself up about this, I need to rest, even if just for an hour. I need to be on top of my game for everything to go smoothly on my end.
I need to have the chance to grovel to Isla every day for the rest of my life. I know I don’t deserve forgiveness, but I’ll do everything in my power to show her how I really feel about her from now on.
