“I, um… borrowed a car from the garage and I told the guards at the gate that you had ordered me to go to the nearest safehouse.”
“And they believed you?” he asks incredulously.
It’s hard not to rein in my sense of accomplishment when I answer him. “Well, I had the name of the safehouse.”
“How?” he asks.
“I overheard your brother talking,” I admit. “I figured names of safehouses weren’t divulged to just anyone. If I gave them a name, they’d be forced to believe me.”
“Damn, woman,” Cillian says, clearly impressed.
I smile. “It worked. They let me leave, and I tailed your men to the Cave.”
“Cavern.”
“Whatever.”
He chuckles softly. “And then what?”
“I had to park away from the compound so that no one would notice me,” I explain. “Thankfully, the trees provided me with coverage and I—”
I stutter a little at the strangled expression on Cillian’s face.
“What?”
“You were outside a known enemy compound by yourself... without any protection?” he seethes.
“I hadn’t exactly planned ahead. I like to wing it. Isn’t that what you always say?”
“Jesus, Saoirse.”
“You say that a lot.”
“You earn it every time.”
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
He runs a frustrated hand through his hair. “By walking in there unarmed and unprepared?”
“I know it was short-sighted—”
“Not to mention colossally stupid.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “If I remember correctly, I did end up helping out, you know.”
He stops short and fixes me with a searching glance. Then he sighs and relents.
“How about you tell me the rest of your story?” he suggests.
I have a feeling he’s not done yelling at me, but I go on anyway.
“Well… I saw your men race out of the compound and then I watched the Kinahans and the cops drive up and give chase. I ran back down the road, taking cover behind the trees. Not that I really needed it anyway. No one was looking for me.”
He watches silently, stoically.
“I saw your jeep crash into a tree and I wasn’t sure which way the fight was gonna go. So I ran back to the car I’d driven over here and… came to get you.”
I gulp past my dry throat before continuing.