Hard Irish

by Jennifer Saints

  Rocky expected that only Jesse’s guard would be with her father. She hurried down the corridor, shoving anything to do with Jared away from the forefront of her mind. She also ignored Mulligan and Jesse who were shadowing her every step.

  Before she could open the door to her father’s room, Jesse put his hand on the knob and spoke low. “Let Mulligan check the room out first while we pretend to be having a conversation in the hall.”

  She nodded and stepped back. Mulligan went into the room. Jesse brushed her hand with his. “I’ll always be first in line to kick my brothers’ asses when they need it, but before you judge Jared too harshly keep two things in mind. He may have stepped up to the plate with the wrong foot, but he did step up to the plate. And Weldons have a tendency to do stupid things when it comes to women they really care about. If you need references on that, I can name two.”

  “You’re offering to give me stupidity references?”

  “Something like that.”

  Rocky shook her head. She wasn’t drinking Jesse’s Kool-aid. Deceit and stupidity were two different ballgames.

  Mulligan came to the doorway. “Harvard is here. We’re good.”

  She turned away from Jesse and entered her father’s room. Mack, Maggie, and Alice were all there. They looked up anxiously and seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief when they saw her. They all spoke at once, rushing her way.

  “I’ve been trying to call you since the Stonebrook called us! Why haven’t you answered your cell?” Mack said.

  “What’s going on, luv?” Maggie asked.

  “Who are these men with Rory and with you?” Alice glared at Jesse and his guards with her hands on her hips. Her fifties style hair and plump figure made her a cross between Betty Crocker and the Pillsbury Dough Boy. One with red rimmed eyes. She’d been crying recently. A lot.

  Patrick Brady’s death had likely hit Alice hard as it would have it Collin. Rocky had sometimes wondered if the woman was secretly in love with him. Not that Patrick would have noticed. His wife and a pint were the loves of Uncle Pat’s life.

  Rocky drew a deep breath and tried to ease the pain inside. So much had happened so fast she didn’t know what to say. And how much should she say? Was it possible that one of these trusted friends was trying to kill her?

  Jesse stepped up. “We’re with Sheridan and Weldon Solutions and we’re here to provide protection for both Ms. McKenna and her father. Recent events indicate this is necessary.”

  Mack grunted. “Good. The planter falling. The fire at the hotel. I agree. Something is really rotten in Denmark. Where’s your rescuer? He’s been glued to your side for days.”

  “Jared is outside,” Jesse said.

  Rocky bit down in the inside of her cheek. Her rescuer? Her wolf in sheep’s clothing? Well, maybe that was going too far. From the start, Jared had been focused on two things. Keeping her from harm and getting her into the sack. That he’d done both while lying about who he was pissed her off.

  She unstuck her tongue and followed Jesse’s lead. No reason she needed to give the details about anything. The bomb, her mother’s history, or her gullibility. “How is Da doing?” She moved over to her father’s bedside, quickly checking him out. His heart rate and level of oxygen saturation appeared on a digital screen above his bed. “Why is he being monitored again? Did anything go wrong?”

  Jesse’s man, Harvard, cleared his throat. “No. Ma’am. I was told they are monitoring all of the transferred patients for the first twenty-four hours.”

  “Good.” She clasped her father’s hand and bent closer to him. “Hear you’ve had some excitement, Da. Don’t worry though. Everything will be all right.”

  Her father gripped her hand, and like before, looked at her with desperate intensity. This time the monitor registered his racing heart.

  “Da? What is it? What are you wanting to tell me?”

  He didn’t say anything though and soon his grip went slack and his heart rate returned to normal.

  Mack, Maggie, and Alice joined her at Rory’s side.

  “You’re right,” Mack said. “He’s trying to tell you something. And only you. We’ve been with him for a while and he’s done nothing like that. Did you every figure out what he meant the last time?”

  “No,” Rocky said.

  Alice gasped. “Rory spoke before. Why didn’t someone tell me? That’s great news. When?”

  “Sunday afternoon,” Rocky answered.

  “Patrick will be ecstat-” Alice’s voice died and she burst into tears. “I’m sorry. I just can’t get over it. Patrick can’t be dead. He never would have taken his own life. I just know it. He was catholic to his core and his dearest wish was to be buried next to Cissy in the church cemetery. Once a month we’d have dinner and he’d talk about his Cissy and I’d talk about my Harold. You probably don’t understand devoted love these days with everyone hopping in the sack with whoever, never forgiving or working out problems, just moving on to the next. But there are those of us who loved once and will never love again.”

  Maggie put her arm around Alice’s shoulders and hugged her.

  Rocky blinked, barely able to draw a breath. She started to go comfort Alice, too, but Mack moved in to help. Though Alice had her face buried in her hands and was too grieved to be chastising anyone, Rocky still felt the sting of her words and a wash of sadness as well. She’d always thought a love that deep and abiding would be hers one day. More than ever before, she believed that Uncle Pat had been killed and the reason lay in her mother’s past.

  “Rocky,” Maggie said leaving Alice for Mack to comfort. “Is there is anything we can do to help you right now?”

  Rocky shook her head and squeezed her friend’s hand. She was at a loss for words. She didn’t know who to trust. Even Jared had easily deceived her in some ways...a sharp ache sucker punched her heart and she scrambled for something to say. Tears stung here eyes. “You’ve done so much already. All of you have. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

  “Just glad we could come,” Maggie said. “We were all at the office when Stonebrook called about the fire. What a nightmare.”

  Mack’s cell rang, but he ignored the call.

  After a few moments, Alice brushed at her tears and patted Mack’s shoulder. “Thank you, dear.”

  “It’s a hard time for us all,” Mack said.

  Maggie gasped, drawing everyone’s attention. She held up her phone. “With everything that has been happening, I forgot, I had an appointment. I’ll reschedule for next week.” She stepped from the room.

  Rocky felt her pockets for her phone, then realized again that she had zippo. No truck, no license, no money, no phone. She didn’t like how vulnerable that left her feeling.

  Jesse’s plan was to take her and Jared to her house. After Rocky picked up a couple of needed items, she and Jared were supposed to make use of the bug planted in her truck. While driving to Jesse’s office in Savannah, they were going to make plans to spend the night at a special place. This is where Jesse would set a trap to catch the person trying to kill her.

  She didn’t feel as if it was doing what needed to be done fast enough. They’d have to wait until dark and that was hours away. It was a bad as waiting for word on Chief Inspector David McNall’s arrival from Ireland.

  And would Jesse’s plan still work? Could she still pretend well enough? She was livid with Jared for playing her like a fool. All of the hurt from Collin’s betrayal and her parents’ secrets tangled up with Jared’s deceit and mushroomed larger and larger. Where was he? She really needed to give him another piece of her mind.

  Jared couldn’t bring himself to leave Rocky, but he did need some air. A monstrous emotional vise had him by the throat. He went back downstairs and outside to the parking lot next to the bullet-proof car they’d arrived in. He didn’t care if Rocky or Jesse liked it or not. He wasn’t going anywhere until they caught the killer after her.

  The hot southern sun beat down on him. Sweat tric
kled along his spine and he shivered as he replayed last night’s bombing of her house.

  Screeching brakes wiped the memory of the flames from the back of his lids. He snapped his eyes open in time to see the edges of a black sack close over his head and throat. Resisting the urge to grab at the sack, he went for the Glock, but something slammed against the side of his head and his legs buckled. He struggled to stay upright, trying to keep the bag from choking him as he grappled for a foothold. Instead of gaining any edge in the fight, he fell back off the curb and lost the expensive, Italian loafer he was wearing, just before the world went completely black.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Rocky was just finishing the last of the papers at the hospital’s admission office when Jesse stepped away to answer his phone. Mulligan stood reassuring and silent at her other side. She kept her ear tuned to Jesse’s conversation, hoping that it was Jared calling. Whether she wanted to or not, she kept wondering where in the hell he was. She wasn’t through giving him a piece of her mind.

  “Calm down, bro and say that over again. What do you mean something is wrong with Jared?” Jesse moved a step closer to the wall as he switched the phone to his other ear.

  Mulligan snapped to ramrod attention and Rocky paused, her fingers tightening painfully on the pen in her hand as her heart began to race. Something was wrong with Jared? She strained to hear as Jesse lowered his voice.

  “Christ, James. Don’t scare me like that. This premonition crap has me worried that you’re on your way to the loony bin.” Jesse signaled and Mulligan relaxed. Rocky still felt as if she couldn’t breathe.

  “No I’m not making fun of you or dissing your worry. But you can’t let what you think is happening wig you out like this. All of your angst over Jackson and me and nothing has happened, right? So, you’re making a mountain out of a mole hill now, okay?

  “Yeah, I get twins have a thing sometimes. But I’m telling you to calm down. I was with Jared not more than an hour ago. Physically he’s fine, but otherwise he’s up a creek without a paddle by his own doing and he’s going to have to face the music for it.”

  “He can’t answer his cell phone because...well, hell, because he doesn’t have it. It was destroyed last night. Maybe you’re just having a post-premonition here. Last night, Jared had a close call, but all turned out alright.”

  Jesse turned and looked back at her, and Rocky shifted her gaze back to the paper she hadn’t finished. “No. He isn’t at the moment. That’s part of that creek thing I mentioned. I told him to take a hike and let things cool down a bit. Yes. As soon as I talk to him, I’ll have him call. Meanwhile you take a chill pill, bro.”

  Jesse hung up the phone and Rocky blindly scribbled the last few answers then placed the clipboard on the admission desk. Maybe she’d gotten up on the wrong side of the bed after all because she was now irritated with Jesse.

  And maybe wrong side of the bed was the wrong phrase to describe things because all sides of the bed this morning had felt damn good—but she didn’t want to think about that now. She was too pissed off because who she thought she was with wasn’t who she’d been with, right?

  Jared wasn’t Jared. Jared was a liar. Just like Collin had been...

  Rocky stood and narrowed her gaze at Jesse as she crossed her arms. “What right did you have to tell Jared to take a hike?”

  Jesse’s eyes widened in surprise, something she didn’t think happened often. “Because I didn’t think you wanted to see him.”

  “I don’t think I do, but I am the one wronged here so it was my right to tell him to take a hike, not yours.”

  Jesse opened his mouth then shut it, confusion knitting his brow. Mulligan snorted. “She has a point, Weldon. Meanwhile, I have a text from McNall. He just landed in Newark. He’ll be at the Savannah/Hilton Head Airport in about two and half hours.”

  “Good. That gives us just enough time to set things up for tonight.”

  “How? Without Jared how am I supposed to-”

  Jesse held up his phone. “You’ll call and I’ll answer. The rest is up to you.” He looked confident. She wasn’t so sure. They headed for the lobby. Mulligan left to bring the car up to the entrance while Jesse stayed with her. Rocky found herself scanning the crowd. She should have been looking for whoever was out to kill her, but she wasn’t. She was looking for Jared.

  It seemed as if only seconds passed before Mulligan jerked the car to a halt and she and Jesse hurried out and got into the back seat. Jesse shut the door and Mulligan pressed the gas.

  Jesse leaned forward. “Something wrong?”

  Mulligan held up a leather loafer. An expensive leather loafer that Jared had put on this morning. “On the ground by the car. You might want to call James back.”

  “Shit. Later. Call Ringo and have him activate the tracer.”

  Mulligan made the call then hung up. “Ringo’s searching with the satellite now.”

  Rocky grabbed Jared’s shoe, her stomach sinking even as fear lodged a knot in her throat. “What’s going on? What tracer?”

  “My guess is whoever is after you took Jared for leverage. As for the tracer? All of the clothes in the safe penthouse have a tiny tracer placed in them. Added precaution to help us keep track of our clients, especially when, like now, something goes very wrong. Damn, Mulligan, I fucked up bad. From now on you’re in charge of this case. I’m thinking like a brother not a bodyguard. If anything happens to Jared, I’ll—Dear God...”

  “Jared was armed. There wasn’t a glaring reason he couldn’t be left alone,” Mulligan said.

  “There was every reason,” Jesse said. “Sure he was armed and can shoot the ass off a gnat, but he’s not trained for this and I sent him off in mental duress.”

  Rocky gulped for air. Her whole body was shivering. Jesse wasn’t at fault. She was. She found out in a flash that the pain she felt over Jared’s lying was nothing compared to the agonizing fear stabbing her now.

  Jesse’s phone went off. He answered and his expression twisted in anger. “We have our ransom demand. Ringo tried to trace the call, but it was too short,” Jesse said as he hung up.

  “What? They want me, right?” Rocky was practically ready to give them herself on a silver platter. Anything to save Jared from suffering or dying because of her.

  “No. They want the diamonds.”

  “What diamonds?” Rocky shook her head. This didn’t make any sense.

  “The million in diamonds that disappeared along with General Pearson and his wife in 1983.”

  Jared struggled for consciousness. Every muscle in his body shook and pain stabbed his brain with each pounding thud of his heart. The acrid scents of mold and rotten wood burned his nostrils. He managed to crack and eye opened and then wished he hadn’t. He no longer had a bag over his head. In fact, he no longer had any clothes on. He was buck naked except for the gauze wrapped around his left leg. He was gagged and his feet, hands and chest were tied to a cheap lawn chair that sagged and creaked. A bad enough situation, but the noose snug on his neck and tied to a beam overhead, told Jared more than anything else that his odds of getting out of there alive were slim to none.

  It wasn’t until he got it together enough to look around his surroundings that he shit a brick and panic grabbed his guts. He was in an abandoned sawmill, very similar to the one near the family’s farm that he and James had had serial killer nightmares about when they were ten. He wasn’t alone though. Collin was there and his state sent a chill down Jared’s spine.

  Eye-bulging desperation came close to describing the look on Collin’s face. He too was gagged and tied to a chair, but from his soiled clothes and the stench, he’d been that way for some time. A layer of thick padding appeared to be protecting Collin from getting any rope burns—thus preventing evidence of foul play.

  The bottles of whiskey on the ground and a rubber funnel sitting atop one told another story. Someone was forcibly keeping the man’s alcohol level high.

  The set-up painted a very clea
r picture to Jared. He was about to become the victim and Collin was being set up to be the perpetrator. What he didn’t know was how all of this was related to Rocky’s mother’s past.

  As much as he wanted to smash in Collin’s face, he sure as hell wouldn’t wish what his saw on his worst enemy.

  Jared heard approaching footsteps behind him and braced himself. The gag was shoved painfully down from his mouth.

  “The bitch figure out where the diamonds are at yet?” the man whispered.

  “What diamonds?” Jared asked, searching his mind. Suddenly his ribs exploded with pain as the man swung what must have been a small wrecking ball. Jared shuddered violently, his whole body breaking out in a sickening sweat of fear and horror. The chair wobbled beneath the force of the blow and the noose tightened around his neck.

  Dear God. Dear God. Dear God. Jared could do nothing but pray. He wasn’t even sure what he was praying. For help. For a quick death. For Rocky that she be kept from ever knowing this inhuman evil dogging her.

  Rocky had her hands clenched so hard her short nails cut into her palms, leaving them bloody. Mulligan was at the wheel. Jesse had moved to the front seat and had his laptop open. From the R&D lab, Ringo had picked up the tracer signal from Jared and had directed them from Savannah toward the rural and muddy swamp lands riddling South Carolina’s coast. They were now close enough to pick up the signal on Jesse’s computer.

  Only Jesse spoke, giving Mulligan directions as the man raced fearlessly down the dirt road. The car bounced over ruts and lumps so hard she was sure it would fall apart at any minute. It had been an hour since they discovered Jared had been taken.

  She was still in shock to learn that a million in diamonds was at the root of the death and destruction ruining her life at the moment. Her mother hadn’t had money and neither had her father. They’d always struggled and even more so when her mother had been stricken with cancer. There were several times over the years that McKenna Construction had been on the verge of bankruptcy. This was completely insane and heart-sickening.