32
AIDAN
CHANGE (IN THE HOUSE OF FLIES) - DEFTONES
A COUPLE HOURS LATER
"Remember,Jonesy, you make one wrong move, Lucas has his orders."
Jonesy staggered up the staircase to the security door and pressed the intercom. Within seconds, the door buzzed and he pushed it open.
He could have rushed inside and locked us out, but he didn't.
Brennan, noticing this, muttered, "He was right when he said Da would never have threatened a kid. Why doesn't he know that you wouldn't hurt a baby either?"
"Because he would and if he's capable of it, then everyone is."
Weighing into the conversation, Declan grunted. "Sick fuck."
"Not going to argue," I murmured as I climbed the staircase to the building’s entrance and moved inside the foyer.
I got my bearings as Jonesy led us to an elevator, and we all packed inside as we raced to Keegan's floor.
"Just show your face, and we'll deal with the rest," I told Jonesy.
"I know what I have to do," he snapped, glowering at each of my brothers and me. "Do I have your fucking word that you'll never touch Richie?"
"If you do as you're told. The moment you're about to get a lethal injection, my man, is the moment you have my promise no harm will come to Richie."
He gritted his teeth and turned his face away from us.
The elevator doors opened, and he stepped out into the hall. This was another part of today’s play that could go belly up, but I had high hopes. Jonesy’s concern for Richie was palpable, and I wasn’t above using that against him. Just like he’d have used my pressure points against me.
I knew men like Jonesy. Savannah would have been raped, assaulted, and abused, all to get to me.
But what Jonesy didn’t understand, and what I hadn’t either until last night, was that Savannah wasn’t my weakness. My vulnerability. She was a source of strength. A solid counsel that I’d need in the days ahead.
In my ear, Conor broke into my thoughts by murmuring, "Got eyes on Keegan through the window. He's acting naturally."
"Good," I said under my breath.
Keegan opened the door when Jonesy knocked on it, and when we surged in behind him, his reaction time was impressive. The door hadn’t even closed before he’d grabbed a hold of Jonesy and had his throat tucked into the bend of his arm.
A man like Keegan knew how to go for the jugular too.
"You fucking traitor," he spat in Jonesy's ear while the bastard squawked and groaned as his oxygen supply was slowly cut off from him.
With the snap of the door closing, and with each of my brothers now in the room with us, I remarked, "You don't want to kill him, Keegan."
"I don’t? The fucker betrayed me."
Keegan, for all Eoghan had painted the renowned ‘Dagda’ as a legend, wasn’t as impressive as I’d imagined. He was a man. A resourceful one, a clever one, but not unstoppable.
"He's betrayed a lot of people," was my answer. "He tried to kidnap my wife and me, so I think if anyone has the bigger grudge, it's me, and I let the bastard live."
"Well, you and me ain't the same person," Keegan sneered, his arm turning white from the force he exerted upon Jonesy's throat.
"No, we're not, but I'm here to talk. I'm not here to fight. I'm not here to kill you. I'm here to make a deal."