“Malachy was able to grab one of the MC members before the motel exploded,” he says, keeping his voice low. And I’m grateful. That’s probably not the kind of thing Lucky needs to overhear.
My brain catches up a half second later, and my head tilts. “I’m sorry. Did you say a motel exploded? Which motel?”
“Jesus,” Cormac mutters, shoving his glasses up with his free hand. “We truly need to get better at communicating which things are meant to be secret. That, or give up on keeping any altogether.” He sighs heavily, shrugging. “Okay, let me see how to explain this. The easiest way to dispose of the last few Jacksonville Demons in Boston was to set up an explosion attheir motel. Don’t worry. Malachy spent most of the afternoon there, setting everything up and making sure no innocent people would get caught in the crossfire.” He smiles tightly. “I thought it might be helpful to gain access to a living member of the MC for informational purposes.”
“Torturing them for information,” I say mindlessly as I try to follow along.
“It can be a slow process,” he says carefully. “In most cases, it takes a few days before they’re miserable enough to even start talking, but it’ll be lies and nothing much of use for a while.”
Okay, well, I have a few days before whoever they’re holding outs my history.
Should I be concerned Cormac knows the torture protocol well enough to understand the stages of torturee grief?
More than that, is it someone I know, or did they snatch someone who joined after I left?
Maybe I should spill my guts before that someone else has the chance to do it for me?
“Do you have a name?”
“McCarthy,” Cormac says, and ice slides down my spine.
“Do you know which one?”
“Which McCarthy?” he asks.
“Yeah, do you have a first name?”
Magnum’s last name is McCarthy.
Technically, his real name is Dylan McCarthy, but his brother and father are also options for members with that last name.
When they mentioned there was a McCarthy in town, I assumed it was his father because he was Blade’s vice president, but now I’m worried I might have made the wrong assumption.
If they have Mag somewhere here on the property… I’ll have to beg them to let him out.
I owe him my life.
“Leonard,” he says, and I exhale in pure relief.
That’s Mag’s dad, and he’s an all-around trash human being.
“You recognize the name,” Cormac says, and it doesn’t feel like a question.
My head shakes, and then nods.
Okay, I just decided I’m a giant hypocrite for getting angry with them for keeping secrets about Vanessa when I’ve got a huge one of my own.
All I can focus on is how grateful I am that Magnum isn’t the person they’re going to be torturing for information. I really do owe him, but I’m also not sure it would have been safe to let him out.
He let me go all those years ago…
This is totally different, though.
More than a few of his MC brothers have lost their lives here in Boston while looking for me. I don’t think he would thank me for intervening and simply go on his way.
I jump as Lucky runs into the room with a dinosaur tucked under his arm.
“Mommy, I want a drink, and I need to go potty!”
