Page 41 of Celtic Dragon
“My initial plan was to go alone. It’s a long story, but they both insisted that they go with me. They really didn’t give me much of a choice,” I reply.
Just then, I hear over the intercom, “This is the final boarding call for Aer Lingus flight 3784 to Belfast. All passengers, please board immediately.”
“Hawk, I need to go. They just announced the final boarding call for our flight.”
Before he answers, Honey tugs on my arm and says, “Let me talk to him.”
“Hang on, Honey wants to talk to you.” I hand her the phone.
“Hey,” she says. I can hear faint yelling through the phone and can only guess what he’s saying to her. It’s probably a lot like what he said to me. “Yes, I know better,” she says and then I hear more yelling. “Hawk baby, calm down. I’ll look after them. No worries. I’ve got this,” she says silkily. Surprisingly enough, I don’t hear any more yelling. She hands me the phone, smiling. “He’s better now.”
Taking the phone to my ear, I say, “Hawk, we really need to go. I’ll let you know when we get to Belfast.”
“Be safe,” he says. It’s all he could say; I left him without options. It had to be this way.
“I will.” I disconnect the line.
I look over at Honey and Ari. “That went well,” I say and we all bust out laughing as we proceed to board our plane.
Chapter 15
Caden
We spent the last two days interrogating people for intel on my aunt and uncle. Rebel and his brothers lined up several possible informants. At first, I didn’t think much about it, but as we got deeper into our interrogations, I found it odd that the contacts we’d received from Damon and Patrick always appeared scared, unnerved, and wary of what to say to us. The last one I talked to even had the balls to try to kill me. Obviously, that didn’t go too well for him. It almost seems like Damon and Patrick are purposely trying to sabotage our efforts; especially since the leads that Rebel provided were all solid.
So now we have a Mr. Liam Collins in the basement of Rebel’s family home. We have a table and chairs set up in the center of the room. Liam sits at the table with Rebel and his brothers flanking him. After the last incident, we’ve decided to be on the safe side; his hands and feet are bound to the chair.
“So, Mr. Collins,” I say, “tell me what you do for a living.”
He says shakily, “I’m a prison guard.”
“I see. And what prison do you currently work at?” I ask.
“I’m without work at the moment.”
“And why is that?” Rebel asks as he steps up next to me. Surprisingly, his brothers stay back and keep their traps shut. During the first couple of interrogations, they tried to get more involved. I’d had to set them straight and remind them who was in charge. Since then, they have pretty much remained in the background, which suits me just fine. They haven’t contributed anything of value and I don’t expect them to.
It took them a while to come to terms with the fact that I know what I’m doing. I’m sure that Rebel telling them the story of how we avenged Ace’s death or how I dealt with Grayson contributed to their change of opinion. I’m sure they’ve seen a lot of shit and violence connected with their cause, but they have never seen the Iceman at his worst. Very few have and have lived to tell about it. Rebel is one of them.
“I helped a friend escape,” Liam replies.
“You did? And was the escape successful, or did he eventually get caught again?”
“He’s free,” he says proudly.
“And they didn’t arrest you for aiding and abetting?”
“No, they suspected that I was involved but they couldn’t prove it. So they fired me instead.”
“And where did this great escape happen?”
“Maghaberry.”
Now we’re getting somewhere! That is what I wanted to hear!For the first time in two days, I begin to hope that this mess is coming to an end. I look over at Rebel and nod, indicating that we’re in the home stretch now.
“What if I told you that I want to break someone out of Maghaberry prison? Could you help me?”
“It that why you have me?” I look over at Rebel and Liam’s eyes follow my gaze. Rebel nods. “That’s why I’m here tied to your fucking chair? To help you break someone out of jail?” he asks incredulously.
