Darragh and his crew pulled in first.He got out of his car along with his sons Ronan and Shane.Tadhg stayed behind to run the plant there.
Cillian arrived in the middle of the night with some of his boys, Senan, and Ryan.His other kids again stayed behind to keep their own plant working.
The ones from New York and Boston had a longer drive.More vehicles were pulling into the parking lot just as dawn arrived in the eastern skies.
Seamus was just having his first coffee of the day when his sons Teague and Rory joined them.He recognized several other men he knew in Boston, coming through the door.
He raised his eyebrow when he saw his sons coming over to his table.They dropped down into chairs and looked at their da.
“We’re here,” Teague pointed out the more than obvious fact.
“So I see.”Seamus nodded as he gave him a smirk.
“How is your Uncle Colin?”Rory asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee.He poured Teague one as well and his brother nodded his thanks.
“He’s well enough.Both bullets missed killing him but only by a wee bit and he’s still in the hospital but he’s getting his strength back day by day.”Seamus sipped his coffee.“We got more people coming in this morning with intel.So, we can figure out a plan but we’ve also stumbled into a bigger mess than just Shanon White.”
Teague sat up straighter.“Bigger than Shanon White?What do you mean, Da?”
Seamus explained it, “When we were in Portland we found Ria was operating a smuggling ring.She was housing stolen goods from all over the world and Shay took it all into his custody.Ria herself warned us that now we had a whole operation of some really bad men pissed the hell off and they would be coming after their stolen goods.She claimed that this was bigger than just her.”
Teague looked over at Rory and just shook his head.“This is not good, not good at all.What the bloody hell did we get ourselves involved in?”
Seamus looked at his sons and growled.“We are the Sons of Ireland.We look trouble in the eye and we spit right in that eye.Don’t you ever forget that.We don’t run from trouble coming our way, we fight back and we don’t stop until the last of us falls.That’s just who we are.”
Rory reached out and gripped his arm.“Da, we know that and we will never forget it either.We just don’t know what we’re doing yet.We donna know the details or the plan, give us a minute to see what’s coming.We sure as hell won’t run away from this.It’s too important to us as a family.You don’t need to fear that we’ll fail you.”
Seamus nodded.“Aye ladies, I know that.”He rubbed his face then admitted, “We keep uncovering more deceit and more trouble but like I said we aren’t quitters.We’ll see this through right to the end.”
Just then, the doors opened again and a group of men walked in.
Seamus recognized Timmy and his friends.
Finn moved forward to greet them.
Seamus got up to walk over to the group gathering.He listened to his Uncle Finn introducing the group to his other family members.
“Timmy, these new ones are our other brothers Darragh and Cillian.Darragh’s from New Orleans and Cillian is from Chicago.They are here to help us complete this mission,” Finn assured him.
Timmy shook their hands as he looked a bit surprised.“Man, your family is sure spread out, isn’t it?”
Darragh nodded.“Aye, we are a bit far from the other ones but there is a reason for that.We each hold up the family business and the family name.We are known as the Sons of Ireland and we make and sell good Irish whiskey.”
Timmy licked his lips and nodded.“Yeah, we know about that part.Everyone’s heard about SOI whiskey.We don’t often drink it, but when we can afford it, we sure enough do.It’s very smooth, top shelf all the way.”
Darragh smiled.“We try.”
Timmy looked over at Finn and cleared his throat.“There’s talk on the streets about your brother’s shooting.Most folks around here don’t like it.He’s a man with many people who think highly of him.We’ve been spreading the word and the street people are gearing up to help us.You’re gonna have an army behind you when the confrontation comes.”
The outside doors opened again and a single woman stepped inside.A small woman with her hair all tucked up inside her cap.Dressed in an oversized green jacket and faded looking jeans.With newer looking boots on her feet, she was limping toward them with help from a cane.“Timmy O’Rourke, you were supposed to wait for me,” she called out.
Timmy turned and groaned at the sight of her.“Oh Gret, I’m sorry, I didn’t think you were coming.We waited as long as we could but you never showed up.”
Gretchen made her way through the room and came to a stop next to Seamus.She stared at Timmy and asked, “You didn’t hear?”
“Hear what?”Timmy glanced at his men then looked at Gretchen.“What did I miss?”
Gretchen smiled.“That witch Shanon lost half her men this morning, about an hour ago, they just got into their vehicles and drove off.Scattered.They threw their bags in the back of the cars and trucks and just drove away.All the while Shanon was standing there yelling at them that she was good for their pay and as soon as she freed up some spondoolicks she’d catch up with them.”She laughed.“It was glorious to see her losing her cool.”
