“Hae patience,” Hugh said from his hospital bed. He’d been admitted for observation following his surgery, but hoped to be released soon. His stay provided them a private place to meet and discuss their plans. “The lockdown will end as soon as they clear everyone inside of wrongdoing, then they will turn their attentions elsewhere.”
Claire watched the news report without the same impatience as the rest of them. “Why don’t you just tell the authorities you know where Jameson is? Let them take care of him?”
They all cast varying levels of malevolence upon Jack Prescott who sat in the corner. His expression spoke of regret, however Laird wasn’t prepared to forgive the lad for his part in all this. Unknowing or not. Ignorance was no excuse. They kept him close though, not wanting the police to know where to find Jameson before they could get to him. This was Laird’s fight and he meant to see it through.
“Claire has a point,” Emmy agreed. “Why not let the police get him? He’ll get life in prison for what he’s done.”
“Aye, but he’d still hae his life,” Laird contended. “A mon such as he deserves a harsher sentence.”
“But you would also have your lives,” Emmy maintained. “I saw more blood today than I can ever remember. I don’t want to see more from any of you. Scarlett? Come on, help me out.”
Scarlett was ensconced in the only chair in the room with both their children in her arms. She’d hardly let them go since the attack. Her eyes were still rimmed in red from crying, but anger simmered deep within, Laird wagered. Emmy would get no support from his wife.
After the losses of the day, she surely wanted blood as much as he.
“Hae ye been able to wrest any information from that infernal machine yet?” Laird asked Claire, who was Googling—whatever that was—the location of the address Jack had given them.
“I’m working on it,” she retorted. “Although a part of me says not to.”
Hugh cast her a stern look. “If ye dinnae, I will. I agree wi’ Laird. We need to finish this once and for all. I wager Connor would concur.”
Connor had been locked out of the hospital and waited outside for the moment he could rejoin them. Once he did, they would do as Hugh said and finish this.
Finish it man to man. On equal footing. There would be no bairn to shield Jameson this time. Fury boiled up in Laird again at the thought of his daughter’s life hanging upon the whim of a madman. Her fears had taken hours to soothe. For that alone, Jameson would suffer.
At Laird’s hands.
“We maun hae a plan in place,” Laird told them. “I will be the one to go after him. If more harm is to be done, I willnae risk yer lives when ye still have a role to play.”
“How can you be so cavalier?” Scarlett roused from her dazed state. “Acting as if your life doesn’t matter anymore? It does. We need you.”
“Nae one else’s life can be put at risk, lass,” he argued. “I told ye before, my hand has already been played. It maun be me.”
“I hae nae role in this,” Rhys objected. “I will go wi’ ye. Dinnae e’en think to argue wi’ me. Ye may be my brother but ye’re nae my master.”
The thought of Rhys being harmed left a sore ache in his heart but Laird didn’t refuse him. His brother’s regret for failing to capture Jameson earlier and for Jack Prescott’s role in all of this was obvious. Whether merited or not, he deserved a role in the final confrontation with Jameson.
“Ye’re no’ the only one whose purpose in this farce has been completed,” Hugh chided him. “Mine is done as well.”
Laird frowned at his descendant in confusion. “What do ye mean?”
“Sorcha carries my bairn, aye?” Hugh told them and amid the varied reactions, Claire’s hands covered her belly protectively. “That is Donell’s endgame in all this. He’s pushed us all around his chessboard to do his bidding. Now he has all he needs from us. From me.”
“How can you be so sure?” Emmy asked.
“He all but told me,” Hugh responded. “’Tis this bairn he’s aimed for all along.”
“W-why?” Claire stuttered. “What does he want with my baby?”
Laird looked back to Hugh. It was a bloody excellent question but Hugh had no satisfactory answer for him.
“I dinnae ken Donell’s future plans, however I ken this is what he wanted all along. What he is ultimately protecting. For what purpose, we may ne’er know. Nevertheless he means to keep our bairn safe and I’ll hold onto that for the time being. We are fortunate Jameson is still unaware Sorcha is wi’ child or he would’ve come for her straightaway.” Hugh’s lips set in a grim line. Dire promise laced his next words. “I would face him wi’oot him using yer bairn as a shield and beat him to a bluidy pulp for all he’s done. All he would do if he had the chance. Bugger it, I want another go at him.”
Laird understood Hugh’s need for revenge. To a man, they all four had a thirst for it.
Claire’s feelings on the matter were clear by her expression and she didn’t hesitate in adding her protest. “You cannot, Hugh. You’ll be using a cane for weeks. Once you’re able to stand on that leg at all.”
She did have a point, Laird knew. Even Hugh appeared disgruntled but resigned by the reminder. A great deal of the thigh muscles and bone had been damaged by the bullet he’d taken to the leg, to say nothing of the injury to his back and side.
