Copper slides his hand up my thigh, giving it a squeeze.
“Okay, Eade is holed up near the Scottish border.” Cahir waits for an aerial map to appear on the screen showing a large house surrounded by forest. “He has neighbours, but we’re in luck because they’re out of the country right now. He’s tightened his security, so getting to him won’t be easy. The property is protected by a ram-proof steel gate and concrete walls and is monitored 24/7. There are approximately twenty security guards, accompanied by five guard dogs. Guard rotation is every four hours.”
I lean forward to get a better look, thinking and discarding ideas as they flip through my mind, when I suddenly hit on one. “Food delivery,” I suggest, then slap my hand over my mouth, forgetting that I’m not at my family Church. “Sorry.”
Coal chuckles, “You can talk, Bee. There’s no standing on formality here. Go ahead and elaborate.”
“Thank you, Coal.” I smile, then continue now that I’ve been given the floor. “We can arm a food delivery with a bomb. If we can get it inside the guards’ hut and detonate it, that will take care of one problem. If we position a sniper up there”—I point at the hill at the rear of the property—“he’ll have a perfect view of the entire property. The rest of us can park down the road and approach using the forest for cover. We’ll need to drug the dogs, but I’m sure we can incapacitate them without hurting them. I can call Josie if you don’t have a contact?”
I look at Cahir, who nods.
“We do have contacts. We can use the drones that Thea built to drop small explosives on the roof of the property to draw him out.”
“What about the police?” Cross asks. “I know you’ve had that covered so far, but do you have the same pull in Scotland?”
The Cursed Skulls’ grin and it’s a little intimidating. If I didn’t know them as well as I do, I’d be worried about the look in their eyes.
“Cross, my friend,” Ramzi says, “one thing you never have to worry about is the police. We handle high-level jobs for people around the world, and they know the deal—if they want us to keep doing their dirty work and cleaning up the filth they can’t touch, they know they need to cover us when we call it in. Once Cahir gives me the go-ahead, I’ll deal with that side of things and put the cleaners on standby.”
“Good to know.” Cross leans back in his chair, relaxed now that he knows his brothers aren’t likely to be put in prison.
“Right, let’s go over what Bee has suggested and finalise everything so we can put this filth in the ground,” Copper growls. “I want to officially make my woman my Old Lady, and this fucker has stolen too much of our time already. I vote we go the easy route and drop a bomb on his house, blow the fucker up, and call it a day.”
The others laugh, and I join in, pressing my forehead to Copper’s shoulder. I have to agree, and I wish it were that easy.
“I love you, Cop. And I’d love to be your Old Lady. I want to blow up that piece of shit as much as you do, but sadly, we need information from him.”
“Fine,” Copper grumbles, but he’s smiling. “Let’s plan.”
It takes us hours, and I’m exhausted by the time we’re done, but we expand on my idea and put a plan in place. We leave early tomorrow morning. Thea and Jeanie are staying behind this time.
The Queens Wraith and Cursed Skulls will go after Eade. It’ll take most of the day to get there, so we’ll leave at four in the morning and catch some sleep at the motel before the operation. Then, we’ll drive back to the O’Sheas with that piece of filth to utilise their ‘hospitality.’ It was brought up that the club needed its own torture chamber. We’ll sort that out once this is all over, because I have a feeling we’ll be using it more often than not.
“If you’re all happy with your roles in the operation, I’ll call an end to Church,” Coals says, looking around the table.
“All good, Pres.” Blue nods. The other brothers follow suit.
Coal bangs the gavel on the table. “Church dismissed. Be safe out there, brothers.”
Church empties quickly, and as the door opens, the scent of food permeates the room.
“Come on, Spice. Let’s make this official,” Copper says as he helps me to my feet. He picks up the box from the table and tucks it under his arm as we walk out the door.
I smile, knowing I’m walking towards my future, my past finally laid to rest.
Later that evening, with my mum and dad watching, Copper slips my property cut over my shoulders. I look down and see the name he gave me on my breast—Spice. Emotions I didn’t realise I was holding back spill over as a sense of rightness surges through me. It’s not simply the knowledge that I belong; it’sabout coming home to a place without memories, a place I hope to one day fill with beautiful and happy memories.
CHAPTER 26
COPPER
I gaze at the woman sleeping beside me as we ride in the back the following morning—head on my shoulder, arm thrown over my waist, blonde hair in a braid down her back.
I still can’t believe she’s mine. There’s no going back now. She accepted my cut last night, in front of her parents, my family, and my brothers. She agreed to be mine.
Am I worried about taking down this Eades piece of shit? I am. There’s always the chance we won’t make it home. I saw the worry on the faces of all we left behind. The way Thea and Jeanie clung to Coal and Bolt. And how Dog and Maggie huggedBee a little longer. I can only imagine how they must be feeling. They’ve only just got their daughter back, and now she’s putting herself in danger again. Although they were slightly mollified when she told them she’d be in the communications van with Ramzi, piloting the drones that Thea had made.
I can’t lie. Even though I know how capable she is, I’m glad she agreed to take a back seat for this operation. Bee isn’t healed enough to kick ass and take names. Although I have no doubt she would if necessary.
