As if my body recognized it as an order, my eyelids drooped and I slipped into sleep.
The next threedays were filled with more sleep than I’d ever had. My twins and Penn pretty much velcroed themselves to my side. I just needed to look up, and he was there with medicine, food, a beverage, or a laugh.
On day four, Rita managed to distract the kids enough for me to meet with my guys in my office. Penn invited himself by plopping on the sofa and grinning.
“Barry’s and Lync’s families have been taken care of,” Danny said before we began.
Between them and the men I’d lost at Kaleidoscopes, it was too many funerals. And for safety reasons, I couldn’t go to them. It was likely better that way—if I were at any of them, I was sure Lorcan would use that as an opportunity to take me out.
“Good.”
“Parker got in touch with me.” Alex sighed. “Lorcan did a number on him, Boss. Beat the shit out of him. He’s in the hospital.”
“Shit.”
“He’s as unhinged as his brother was.” Danny leaned forward in his chair. “We need something unexpected. Anywhere you show up, he will act.”
“I’m open to suggestions.” I looked at both Alex and Danny.
Alex cleared his throat. “Problem is, we can’t get close to him, and he’s being smart and not showing his face. So, our only option is to find where he is and take out the entire place. There’ll be casualties but it’ll be over.”
“Kill innocent people?” Penn interrupted. “How is that supposed to get anyone in this town to support Gideon in the aftermath?”
“Not if he’s at his house,” Danny suggested.
“You think I can get any of my guys anywhere near his home? They’ll be shot before they enter the gate.”
“What about turning one of his guys?” Alex shrugged.
“Unreliable. The guy could and likely would flip as soon as he entered the house.”
Silence descended, everyone thinking of the best way to get to Lorcan. Ideally, I could wait until he slipped up and take him out, but who knew how long that would take? Lorcan was a cancer, and I needed to cut him out.
“Me.”
Alex, Danny, and I all turned to Penn.
“You?”
He nodded. “I don’t think if he got his hands on me, he’d kill me. You said yourself he’d torture me first, right? Well, what if I make him believe I’m on his side?”
I stood, and my desk chair crashed against the wall. “And what, Penn? You walk up to him and kill him? You’re not a killer.”
“No, I’m not but if he keeps living, you, me, your family, Danny, Alex—he’ll take everyone out.” He rubbed his hand along his buzzed head. “It’s pretty much self-defense at this point.”
“And what if he shoots you the second you’re in front of him?” I argued.
“Do you really think he’ll do that?”
I didn’t. Lorcan would use Penn as leverage. Plus, I was sure he knew he was here. He might want to extract information from him first.
“No.”
“So it’s a good plan.”
I slammed my fists on my desk.Fuck. Another keyboard broken…and my hand was bleeding through the gauze. “Absolutely not, Penn.”
“It’s a great plan, Boss. Best we got.” Alex wasn’t helping.
