The dead Senator was good, or seemed to be, but given what went down in his house, at his party, he kept bad company. What did that say about him? Maybe nothing, or maybe she should do herself a favor and keep her guard up until she knows she doesn’t have to.
Carter took a seat across from Daisy on the matching club chair while the woman – Sheridan he’d called her – sat on a wooden barstool at the nearby wet bar. With that friendly smile back in place, she couldn’t help but feel safe with him. He had that big brother vibe going for him…not that she had her own brother to compare – but if she did, she was sure it would be like that.
“Where are we?” Daisy asked. “Why am I here?”
“We’re in a small town on the Mississippi River, about six hours from Nashville.” Carter paused to see how she handled the information, given the hysterics the previous night. “You’re officially off the grid and under our protection.”
“I’m in the witness protection program?” Daisy questioned.
“Pffft. The goal is to keep you alive, sweetheart. Not feed you to the lions.” Sheridan chuckled.
Daisy’s brow furrowed. “But…witness protection. It’s…government, right? Like FBI or something?”
Sheridan nodded with a dramatic eyeroll. “Exactly.”
Confused for a moment, Daisy stalled before what Sheridan was suggesting dawned on her: a corrupt government. “Oh. Ohhh.”
“Senator Martinez was just another high-profile casualty of something bigger than we understand at the moment,” Carter began. “It seems each of the witnesses who have been put in protection, somehow turn up dead or missing. The Senator had information for me – information we’ll never get now.”
“This time, we’re doing things our way,” Sheridan said. “There is something dirty in Washington, and we aren’t risking another eye witness. You’re with us until this is over – the feds don’t even know about you.”
Daisy was shocked, to say the least. Her simple life of odd jobs and music was suddenly very complicated. “You…grabbed me right away. You weren’t inside the mansion, so how did you know the Senator was murdered and I was there to see it so quickly?”
The sliding door suddenly opened, and a man walked in – a man she recognized. On instinct, she grabbed the closest thing she could use as a weapon and stood in defense. “Oh my God. He…he found me! He…he was there…in the hallway! He chased me.”
“Freeze, asshole!” Sheridan jumped to her feet, pulling a weapon from the holster at her waist and aiming at the man in question. “Are you sure that’s the guy, Daisy? He’s the one who killed the Senator? Say the word, and I’ll save everyone some trouble and put a bullet in his head right now!”
“Knock it off, Sheridan. You put a bullet in my head and Ma will have your ass,” the man said before turning his attention back to Daisy. “I’m Ryker O’Reilly. I wasn’t chasing you to hurt you, I was trying to protect you. Put the…banana down, and we can talk this out.”
Daisy looked at her chosen weapon, then the bowl of plastic fruit it came from. She lowered her arm, disappointed with her faux weapon. When a second man entered through the same door, her banana went back up, ready to strike. The man laughed, and she nearly lost it until she saw who walked in beside him.
“Do you want me to shoot that one too?” Sheridan asked. “He probably deserves it more than the other one.”
“Jesus, Sher, put the gun away already,” Ryker said. “Meet my kid brother, Ronan.”
“His twin brother. He’s only a half hour older,” Ronan said. “He likes to hold it over my head. And our sister over there is always trying to shoot both of us. Ignore them. They’re both assholes.”
“Twin? You two look…nothing alike,” Daisy replied.
Sheridan holstered her weapon and offered her two cents. “They act just alike though – sometimes they even get that twin ghost pain thing and have simultaneous thoughts. They’re…weird.”
“And you,” Daisy began, “you don’t look like you’re related to either of them. They’re so…big. And you’re so…well, not big?”
“What Sheridan lacks in size, she makes up for in attitude,” Carter added, locked in a near awkward stare with Sheridan. “She grew up an O’Reilly, surrounded by big O’Reilly boys. She can hold her own.”
“Oh, so you’re the older brother?” Daisy asked of Carter.
Ronan and Ryker laughed as if they were in on some sort of joke, but the heated stare between Carter and Sheridan remained. “Oh. I see.”
Breaking the awkward silence, Daisy tossed her plastic banana aside and made her way to where Ronan stood with her dog. Kneeling, she wrapped her arms around the mess of a dog’s neck and hugged it while scratching its back. “You brought Gibson. How did you know…?”
Her words trailed off when she remembered exactly how they knew she had a dog. She’d let that question go unanswered and forget her hysterical behavior the night before ever happened. “Were you scared, Gibson? I bet you were.”
“He didn’t want to be found, but he also didn’t hide to well – under a blanket on the couch,” Ronan said, patting the dog’s head. “What happened to his fur? Some kind of rash or something? He sure likes to run.”
“Actually, he’s a she,” Daisy corrected with a giggle. “She’s a licker. Nervous. Just licks patches of fur off. She looks so much better than when I adopted her.”
“Didn’t you call him – her Gibson?” Ronan asked.
“Sure did. Gibson, like the guitar. It suits her.” Sitting on the floor with her legs crossed, the dog laid down, as much of her on Daisy’s lap that would fit. “I used to call her Dolly, like Dolly Parton. But she never responded. She was having a panic attack one night, so I played a soft song with my guitar and sang to her. Calmed right down. So, Gibson it was. She prefers it.”
With tears in her eyes, Daisy looked up at the two men towering over her. “Thank you for bringing her. We are all each other has besides Gran.”
“Wait—” Daisy hurried to her feet, “my gran, she’ll worry if I’m not there to visit every day. I have to tell her I’m safe and…”
“You can’t tell her anything, Daisy,” Carter interrupted, his tone near menacing. “You can’t tell anyone anything. No calls, no emails, no texts, no…anything. Understood? It’s your life on the line, and the people we are dealing with will go to any lengths to get to you. Reaching out to someone puts them in danger.”
Daisy’s face paled, and for the first time since meeting them, she was speechless. Sheridan stepped in with a rare display of kindness. “Your grandmother is safe. The boys had her moved last night to a place where no one will find her, and she’s under an assumed name, just to be extra cautious. We have people posted in the area too, just to watch over her.”
Daisy nodded her head and gave a weak smile. “Thank you. When…when can I see her?”
“You can’t. In fact, you can’t know where she is either. It’s safer for you both this way.” Somewhat out of character, Sheridan shared a semblance of a smile. “You have to trust us, Daisy. The only way you both survive this is if you trust us and do everything we say without question. Can you do that?”
Running her hands through her wild, honey-colored curls, Daisy stared at the floor for a moment, as if the answers were laying there, waiting for her. With a quick nod, and a lone tear trailing her face, she agreed. She’d do whatever she had to to stay alive…for Gran.
“Okay. We all have places to be and things to do,” Carter ordered. “Grab a quick shower, change your clothes, and let’s hit the road. I need to keep you moving.”
“Clothes. I…don’t…”
“There’s a bag in your room on the chair. The boys brought it in with them this morning,” Carter informed.
A look of surprise flooded her expression. “My…clothes?”
“Don’t worry. Ryker is really good at matching up bras and panties,” Ronan teased.
Eyes wide and jaw dropped, Daisy gasped. “You went through
my…uh, you went through…those?”
“Relax. I didn’t look,” Ryker ribbed.
Ronan waggled his eyebrows, chuckling. “But I did.”
In a bit of shock, and clearly overwhelmed, Daisy left the room with flushed cheeks and her dog. It was time to get ready for the road.
Hair still damp, Daisy wandered outside with her dog and small bag when she didn’t find anyone inside. There were two different SUV’s in the driveway with escorts standing around, waiting for her.
“Where’s the flower truck?” she asked.
“Gone. And don’t get used to this truck, we have four more vehicle switches along the way. Can’t be too careful,” Carter explained.
“Why don’t we fly?” If they were in a hurry and trying to get as far from Nashville as quickly as they could, driving didn’t seem logical to Daisy.
“We fly, we’re found,” Carter said sharply, like some kind of warning. “With the kind of technology the government has, we’d be found through facial recognition alone in no time. We stay under the radar. That means no major highways or freeways, toll roads – anything with security cameras that can capture us. Back roads, small towns, and anything…dated won’t have the kind of tech that’s easily hacked.”
“Hacked?” Daisy chuckled. “You sound paranoid. It can’t be that easy to…”
“It is,” he cut her off. “You’re about to see just how easy with where we’re going.”
“Which is?”
Carter smiled. “Portland.”
CHAPTER 3
“Fuck,” Luke said under his breath, hiding behind the bar’s karaoke stage. “They found me.”
With his eyes on the crowd, he backed away from the stage and made his way to the rear exit. “Maybe they didn’t see me?”
Safely in the back hallway leading to the exit he was seeking, he stalled when his name came over the sound system. “Son of a bitch.”
“Big, bad Luke O’Reilly is up next, y’all,” Wylie announced, heavy on the y’all. “Get on up here, boy. Sang for us, brother.”
“Asshole,” Luke said to the bouncer laughing at him before he slammed the door open and left. He didn’t need to stay for the rest. He knew how it ended.
“No? No Luke O’Reilly out there?” Wylie continued to harass, working the crowd for shits and giggles – something he was pretty damn good at. “Well, that’s a damn shame, y’all. I wanted to hear that big boy’s pipes. How about we have a round of drinks on that other big guy right there leaning on the bar?”
When Wylie indicated Declan as the man at the bar, he earned himself a middle finger from his brother. He turned to the bartender, and said, “Put a few pitchers on my tab, Sully. Call it a round.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Wylie said, after joining the rest of his brothers at the bar. “Maybe we can get to the Pub before him and start singing when he walks in – really fuck with him.”
They walked outside, making their way to Declan’s SUV, when Dace warned Wylie, “He’s going to thump your ass if you’re not careful. Maybe not today, but he will get even.”
“Eh, he can try.” Wylie shrugged. “I’ve got weight on him. I’m a pretty big guy too. Just ask the ladies.”
“The ladies?” Liam questioned. “The only lady you talk to is Ma, and if she heard that, she’d smack the back of your head.”
“We all know there are no ladies in your life, except one,” Dace cued in, referring to their associate Eva. “And she won’t give you the time of day.”
“Besides, anyone who has to tell you how big his pecker is and how many ladies he has clearly has a small dick and hasn’t seen a naked woman outside of pictures. And Luke has kicked your ass before, big boy,” Declan added, earning a round of high fives from his brothers.
“I’m a monster. There’s nothing tiny about me, boys,” Wylie said to his brothers as he opened the rear car door. “And I can kick Luke’s ass blindfolded with both hands tied behind my back.”
When the three brothers started laughing, unimpressed by Wylie’s declaration, he followed their gaze to see what was so funny – Luke, sitting in the backseat of the SUV waiting for them.
“Just tell me when, baby brother,” Luke said with a wink to Wylie, the youngest, but biggest of the O’Reilly brothers.
The men piled in and headed back to Watermark Tower, where they lived and worked at Brother’s Keeper Security – a high-end, elite cyber and personal security firm. Their client list went above and beyond Hollywood fame. They worked for the world’s richest and most powerful, including their former employer, the US Government. Each brought something different to the table, from special forces, elite ops secret agent type experience, to technology-based intelligence that challenged the best of the best in the tech field. Brother’s Keeper was the best.
Not one to back down easily, Wylie turned the radio up loud, and began to sing. His brothers followed suit. All but Luke.
“I hate you fuckers,” Luke said.
Liam turned to him, and asked, “Where’s your truck?”
“I didn’t bring it.” Luke shrugged. “Didn’t want you hacking my shit and tracking me.”
“Then how’d you get over here?” Liam could hardly contain the snicker eager to escape.
With a straight face, and eyes fixed forward, Luke replied as matter-of-fact as he could, knowing full well what was coming. “I…Uber’d.”
Laughter filled the space, not because he used Uber, but because they already knew, and the punchline was about to hit.
“How was that little smart car, anyway? Have enough leg room?” Liam asked.
“It was…” Luke started to answer, until he realized exactly what Liam had just revealed. “How did you know I was in a fucking smart car, asshole? Did you hack the Uber app?”
Liam was as brawny as his brothers, but he had all the brains. Not to say the others weren’t intelligent, Liam just excelled, specifically when it came to technology. Programing was his thing – hacking was his specialty.
“Me? Hack Uber?” Liam said with faux surprise. “That’s illegal…I think.”
“You did. You hacked Uber.” Luke tossed his head back and ran his hands through his hair. “You’re such an ass, man. I’m going to report you one day. You know that, right?”
“No, you won’t,” Liam laughed. “And I might have made sure that when you did your thing on the app looking for a ride, the only guy who would see it was the guy with the smallest car.”
If it had happened to any of the other brothers, Luke would have been amused. “Why would you even do that? I’d barely fit in there. The guy gave me a discount because he felt bad that I had to ride hunched over the whole time.”
Hysterical laughter erupted. If the O’Reilly brothers knew how to do anything, it was how to have a good time.
Dace was breathless, hand clutching his chest from laughter when he asked, “We were watching. Oh my God. It was the funniest shit ever. He had to drive with the passenger seat folded forward, so you’d fit! It was like watching a ridiculous cartoon with half of you hanging out the window.”
“It was hot. Only my arm was out the window,” Luke admitted.
While the brothers cracked a few more jokes at Luke’s expense, he just sat in silence with a blank stare, shaking his head. He loved his brothers, but right now, he didn’t like them all that much.
A buzz and ping drew his attention to his phone – a text. “We have company coming in.”
Company was code for a case, which brought the group to silence while they awaited details. The O’Reilly’s knew how to play hard, but they worked even harder.
“Carter is coming in tonight,” Luke announced. “Text says: see you at dinner, want to catch up with you boys afterward. Taking you up on that guest room offer.”
Liam nodded. “Guestroom, huh? If he’s leaving someone with us to protect, the case must be big since he has endless resources with the feds.”
“Great,” Luke responded after another buzz and ping
, “more babysitting. He says it’s going to be a hot one today, stay cool.”
Hot had nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with the case he was bringing the brothers. As they all knew, through actions of their own, you never knew who was watching or listening – everything was said in a nonchalant chat like manner. Carter often called on the brothers, and Brother’s Keeper Security.
As a Special US Attorney, Carter got the cases that needed more discretion, and flew under the radar. His past military experience and that within secret agencies the government sponsored, but did not claim, landed him that role. His cases were the kind that got dirty, but you never heard about them in the media and they were rarely documented anywhere public. Due to the nature of his cases, and the criminals Carter dealt with, he often relied on people from his own trusted circle versus the resources afforded to him by the United States Government.
That circle of trusted individuals began and ended with the O’Reillys. He’d served alongside a few of the brothers in combat, then later on special missions, and even as far as secret agent stuff worthy of a box office crime movie. They were brothers in arms, and like family, which included the O’Reilly cousins Sheridan, Ronan, and Ryker.
“Better hurry up,” Dace said, breaking the silence. “If we’re late to Ma’s Sunday dinner, she’ll have our asses.”
Luke sat back with his favorite Irish whiskey and a bad attitude. Sunday dinners at O’Reilly’s Pub weren’t optional, but a requirement so long as you lived within a reasonable driving distance – reasonable according to Colleen O’Reilly. It wasn’t the highlight of Luke’s week, but the bottomless booze and organized chaos helped drown his haunting demons. That made the four-plus hour dinner worth it.
He’d do anything for each and every person in that restaurant – anything. Since being honorably discharged from the military because of a career ending combat inflicted injury, he’d been trying to focus on something – anything – as he tried to adjust to a civilian life he just wasn’t meant for. He’d immersed himself in work at Brother’s Keeper Security, jumping on every case, big or small. Hell, he’d take a job in a pre-school full of snot-nosed brats.
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