Law of the Irish

by Ezra Dawn

  Snapping the cufflinks in place, I open the door and hold up my arm. “Grim reapers? Really?”

  “I could’ve given you the poop emoji ones.”

  “Tell me you don’t actually have a set like that.”

  He snorts and grins. “Of course not. I’m just yanking your chain.”

  “Thank god.”

  “I do have candy cane ones though. I wear them with my red suit at Christmas.”

  Seeing his smirk, I narrow my eyes at him. “You’re joking right?”

  “Not in the slightest.”

  “So, should I call you Santa Mouse then?”

  “Only if you’re volunteering to be Blondie Claus.”

  Grinning at him, I raise an eyebrow and say, “Oh, so it’s like that, huh?”

  His eyes twinkle with amusement when he says, “Yeah it’s like that. Santa needs his missus.”

  “If you haven’t noticed, I don’t have the right equipment to be a missus.”

  “Oh, I noticed. That’s why you’ll be my mister.”

  “Keep dreaming, mouse.”

  “Not dreaming, blondie. It’ll happen. Trust me. You can’t resist forever.”

  “I can try.”

  “You’ll fail. Now, let’s get going. We don’t want to be late.”

  “Of course. Do you have everything you need?”

  “Yes.”

  “Alright then, let’s go.”

  I step around Mickey, putting myself in front of him as we walk out of the apartment. When his fingertips brush across my ass, I shoot him a glare over my shoulder causing him to laugh. Damn… he’s beautiful when he laughs… Focus Justice. You can moon over him later when no one is around to see it. Shaking my head, I press the button for the elevator and wait. When the doors open, I lead Mickey inside and press the button for the garage.

  The trip down is quick and when the doors open, I take a cursory look around to make sure no one is waiting to ambush us. When I’m sure it’s clear, I lead Mickey from the elevator. As soon as I reach the car, I check it for tracking devices and bombs again before opening the door to the backseat, so Mickey can slide in. As soon as he’s situated, I climb in the driver’s seat and say, “Where to?”

  “Defonte’s.”

  “Which one? The one on Fifth and Main or the one on Redbrook Avenue.”

  “Fifth and Main.”

  “How much time do we have?”

  “Half an hour. Callahan is meeting us there.”

  “Let’s get going then. Wouldn’t want to keep the Italians waiting.”

  “That would be bad for business.”

  Nodding, I back out of the space and pray that traffic isn’t too bad because we’ll never arrive on time if it is.

  It’s only a thirty-minute drive to the restaurant, and after leaving the SUV in the hands of the valet, I escort Mickey inside. Callahan is waiting just inside the door and takes the lead by putting Mickey between us when the hostess escorts us to a table. It’s towards the back of the restaurant and relatively private so there’s no risk of being overheard. An older man dressed in an Armani suit rises from the table when we approach. He holds out his hand and says, “Mickey. Good to see you again.”

  Mickey shakes his hand and says, “You too, Lorenzo.”

  They both sit, while Callahan and I take position behind Mickey. After Lorenzo and Mickey place an order for dinner, Lorenzo leans forward on his elbows and steeples his fingers. “Let’s talk business.”

  “You have the funds?”

  Lorenzo nods. “It’s been wired directly to your account.”

  Mickey holds out his hand, and Callahan passes him a tablet. Mickey turns it on and types something in on the screen. It only takes a minute for him to verify Lorenzo’s statement. With a nod, he hands the tablet back to Callahan who places an envelope in his hand. Mickey slides the envelope across the table and says, “There’s a key, an address, and a number in that envelope. You’ll find your package there.”

  “Great. Now, I’m having a party at my mansion in a few weeks. Think you could provide a couple girls to entertain?”

  “My girls aren’t prostitutes Lorenzo. They’re classy and have standards. If I send any to your party, they will come with their own security just to make sure nothing happens that they don’t agree to.”

  “Of course. I really only want them to serve drinks and food alongside the caterers. Give my men a little eye candy. If anything should happen, you have my word that I’ll protect your girls before my men.”

  “That’s all I ask.”

  At that moment, the waitress brings their food and it marks the end of the business discussion. While they eat, the topic switches to idle chitchat. They discuss everything from Lorenzo’s children to the game of golf he lost last week. When they finish eating, Lorenzo stands and says, “Until next time Mickey.”

  “See you soon.”

  Lorenzo grabs the check, says, “You can pay next time,” and walks toward the front of the restaurant.

  Mickey finishes his drink before standing himself.

  He turns to me and says, “Callahan will take me back to the apartment. You go home.”

  “With all due respect, I’d feel better about your safety if I stayed with you. I know you say your place is secure, but I’d rather not take the chance that it isn’t.”

  With a sigh, he shakes his head and says, “You’re relentless. Fine… go home and pack whatever you need. We’ll go shopping tomorrow and get you some suits to wear. You can stay in the spare room. Since you have the codes to the door you can let yourself in.”

  “I’ll try to be quick.”

  He nods and says, “See you in a bit then.”

  When we exit the restaurant, I stay with them until Mickey is safe inside Callahan’s vehicle. Once they drive away, I have the valet bring my SUV around and head towards the house I was set up with. Instead of going inside right away when I get there, I pull out my phone and send a message to my contact.

  J: Mickey met with an Italian man named Lorenzo tonight. They made a deal of some kind. Cash didn’t change hands but there was mention of a wire transfer and whatever Lorenzo bought is in an unknown location. The only thing Mickey gave him was an envelope with a key, an address, and a number. Lorenzo didn’t open it, so I have no other information.

  Unknown: Good work. We’ll see if any large amounts have been flagged on the accounts we’re monitoring.

  After deleting the messages, I head inside to pack a bag.

  As soon as I got home, I stripped out of my suit and put on a tank top and track pants. Justice arrived about an hour after that and I headed to bed. I’m a light sleeper so it’s not unusual for random noises to wake me up in the middle of the night. Hearing the unmistakable click of a gun being cocked, I grab mine from under my pillow, point it towards the shadow just inside the door and fire. A muffled pop reaches my ears seconds before a searing heat hits my shoulder.

  Flipping on the lights, I roll off the bed as another muffled pop sounds through the room. Pointing my gun at my now well-lit intruder, I aim for his head and fire. Light from the hallway floods the room as Justice runs in only wearing a pair of boxers decorated with the Avengers. Captain America’s shield is right on his package and I can’t stop myself from laughing.

  Justice checks the pulse on the intruder before shooting me a glare. “This isn’t funny. I thought you said this place was secure.”

  “It is. The only way to get in is with a code. Sure, someone could probably hack the system, but they’d have to get through the entire team of security living in this building. There’s always someone watching the surveillance cameras. This shouldn’t have happened.”

  “Well it did. Now, we need to figure out why.”

  He rises from his crouched position and says, “I’m going to get dressed and take a look around the lower floors see what happened to the team. You call someone to clean this place up.”

  Gritting my teeth to keep from saying something childish li
ke ‘you’re not the boss of me,” I walk over to the nightstand and pick up my phone gritting my teeth for an entirely different reason this time. Trying not to wince at the pain in my shoulder, I pull up my contacts to dial Callahan’s number and try not drip blood everywhere since it’s running down my arm.

  “Jesus, you’re hit. Let me see.”

  I feel Justice’s warm hands on my arm as he turns me to face him.

  He leans in to look at the wound and sighs. “Shit, you’re going to need a doctor. The bullet is still in there and I don’t have the training required to dig it out. Not to mention how much blood you’re losing. We have to stop the bleeding.”

  He runs into the bathroom and returns seconds later with a towel that he balls up and presses to my shoulder. “Keep pressure on that.”

  I put my hand over his on the towel, holding it in place while he pulls his hand away. “Are you going to be okay here? I really need to find out what happened to your team.”

  “Yeah. Go. I’ll be fine.”

  He strokes my cheek and says, “Are you sure?”

  Seeing the caring expression on his face, I can’t resist teasing him a little. “Now, blondie, if I knew getting shot would make you give in like this, I’d have done it myself earlier.”

  He rolls his eyes and grins. “Keep dreaming, mouse.”

  “No need for dreaming blondie, I’ll make you mine soon enough. Besides, I’m wounded, you can play the part of my sexy nurse.”

  Stepping into his space, I lean down and whisper, “Just give in blondie, I promise you’ll like it.”

  He growls, “You’re a relentless bastard, mouse.”

  Smirking at him, I throw in a wink and say, “Why thank you.”

  With another growl, he throws up his hands and says, “Fuck it.” Before I can say anything, he grips the back of my neck and pulls me in for a kiss that is bruising in its intensity and it ends too soon, leaving me feeling craving more as if I’ve been stranded in the dessert for days and just discovered an oasis.

  “Make your call mouse.”

  With that, he walks out and I’m left standing there frozen. I’ve never been kissed like that before. Jesus… I felt it all the way to my toes. Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I dial Callahan.

  “What can I do for you, boss?”

  “Send a cleaning crew and the doc to my apartment.”

  “Is everything okay?”

  “No. Someone got in. Justice is checking on the security team and I took out the would-be assassin but not before he shot me in the arm.”

  “I’m coming over. I’ll call the cleaning crew and the doc on the way.”

  “Alright. See you in a bit.”

  Hanging up the phone, I head into the bathroom to look for something to ease the pain a bit until the doc gets here. Finding some aspirin, I pop a couple into my mouth and chase them with a handful of water from the sink. When I raise up, a wave of dizziness hits me, and I have to lean on the sink, so I don’t fall. Keeping one hand on the sink for support, I move to sit on the toilet and rest my head against the wall letting my eyes fall closed.

  I’m not sure how long I’ve been sitting here but it becomes clear when I feel someone gently shaking me. Cracking open an eye, I find Justice hovering over me with a worried expression on his face. Seeing another clean towel in his hand, I move my hand away from the one I’ve been pressing against my wound and let him switch them out. Seeing how blood soaked the first one is, I sigh. No wonder I feel so weak. Bullet must have nicked an artery.

  “Is the doc here yet?”

  “No. How long has it been since you called him?”

  “Not sure. He should be here soon though along with the cleaners.”

  “The cleaners are already here. They’ve taken care of the body in your bedroom and I sent them to deal with the security team.”

  “They’re dead?”

  “Yeah. Whoever that guy was, he knew a lot about the layout of your security. He took out every member of the team before coming here. Which means, someone close to you leaked the information. I know it wasn’t Callahan but who else knows about your security layout?”

  “More than you’d think.”

  “We need to change that. I’m going to call a buddy of mine. We served together on the same black ops team. When he got out, he started his own private security firm. I’ll have him send a team over. The only ones who will know about the new team and their positions will be you, me, my buddy, and Callahan. I’ll even have them update your security system so, it’s harder to hack. But first, we need to get you all patched up.”

  Hearing Callahan shouting from somewhere in the apartment, I motion Justice closer and say, “Help me up.”

  I put my good arm around his shoulders and let him help me stand. As another wave of dizziness hits, I lean heavily on Justice for support. He leads me into the bedroom just as Callahan enters with the doc.

  Callahan takes one look at me and curses. “Looks like we got here just in time. You look like shit.”

  “I got shot. What, did you expect me to look like a GQ model?”

  He shrugs and a serious expression crosses his face. “I know this is the last thing you want to hear right now but the doc and I were late for a reason.”

  “What is it?”

  “Your mother’s house burned down. The firefighters on scene said it looks to be arson but we won’t know for sure until the investigator finishes.”

  “WHAT?!?”

  “Calm down. Your mother wasn’t at home when the place went up. She was at her book club, which has me thinking she wasn’t really a target. If they wanted her dead they’d have set the house on fire while she was still inside.”

  “So, it’s a message then.”

  “That’s what I think.”

  “What are they trying to say?”

  “If we can’t get you, we’ll get your family instead? Or maybe they mean to say, no one is safe, including you. It could be any number of things really.”

  Turning to Justice, I say, “Think your friend would be willing to send more than one team? I’d like to split one team between my mother and her friends and put another on Father Moreno’s family and the group home he runs. The person after me wants my position so I don’t think they’ll target any business dealings which leaves everyone else wide open to attack. Tell him if he’s willing to send three teams then I’ll pay him triple.”

  “I’m sure he’d do it free since it’ll be a favor.”

  Shaking my head, I say, “No, I’ll pay. If he sends three teams for free, that’s money his company loses and depending on what his going rate is, that could amount to a huge loss and I won’t be part of that. The money will come out of my personal account which no one has access to, so I won’t have to worry about it being caught by the asshole who’s after me.”

  “Okay. I’ll ask him to send three teams. Now, let’s put you on the bed so the doc can fix you up. You’ve lost a lot of blood and will probably pass out from it soon.”

  Nodding, I let him lead me to the bed. As soon as I’ve laid down, the doc comes over and starts pulling things from his bag. After putting on a pair of gloves, he starts two IV’s and says, “What’s your blood type?”

  “AB negative.”

  Looking around the room, the doc says, “Anyone here type O or also AB negative? I’d like to get some blood into him to replace what he lost.”

  Both Callahan and Justice raise their hands.

  “Good. I’ll take a pint from each of you. But first, I have to get this bullet out. Can one of you turn on the overhead light? I need it to be bright in here, so I can see.”

  Justice hits the switch, flooding the room with light.

  The doc pulls out a vial and a syringe. “I’m going to give you some morphine and a local anesthetic. You’ll still feel a bit of what I’m doing but it’s the best I can do since I can’t take you to a hospital.”

  Nodding, I say, “Let’s get this over with.”

  Seein
g Mickey injured like that, awoke something inside of me. While I’ve been trying to resist his advances, I’ve come to enjoy the good-natured teasing between us and seeing him hurt made me realize just how much I’ve come to care for him. Which means, my job just got a whole lot harder. How can I put him in jail when I can barely stand to see him hurt? Putting him behind bars will probably be just as painful. What a dilemma. What I feel for Mickey isn’t love, it’s too soon for it but I’m afraid it could become love in the future if I spend enough time with him. From what I’ve seen and heard, despite him being a criminal he’s not completely heartless. In fact, I’m pretty sure that under the cold exterior lies a heart of gold.

  It would be easy to fall for him, which begs the question, am I willing to throw away the first shot at happiness I’ve had in years for a job I don’t even like anymore? Or is the potential relationship worth switching sides for? Guess I’ll have to wait and see.

  While the doc is busy working on Mickey, I step out into the hall and pull out my phone. Dialing a number, I know by heart, I wait for Gill to answer. While I know bringing him in might blow my cover, at the moment, I can’t bring myself to care.

  “JJ, as I live and breathe. It’s been a long time since I saw your name on my caller ID. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

  “I need your help. I’m working as head of security for this guy and someone just tried to kill him for the second time in two days. They even went so far as to burn his mother’s house down. Thankfully, she wasn’t home.”

  “What do you need from me?”

  “I need you to send me three of your best teams. My boss is willing to pay you triple your rate because he’ll be taking a lot of your men. One team will be split to protect his mother and her friends, another will be split between a priest’s family and the group home he runs and the third will be for my boss alone.”