a Touch of Revenge (Romantic Mystery - book 6): The Everly Gray Adventures (25 page)

Not only had Connor and Grady murdered my parents, and recruited Mitch to spy on me, now they’d hurt Tynan Pierce and were a threat to his family and the purity of the Tuatha Dé Danann community. My need for revenge beat strong.

I concentrated on feeling the ground before I stepped, turned my ESP senses on to high, and considered how best to approach Grady and Connor. If they were still in the living room, I’d enter through Cait’s bedroom window. It would give me an excellent vantage point to listen, see if I could pick up any answers—just in case I had to shoot either or both of them before I had a chance to ask questions.

The bushes in front of me and to the left rustled.

Adrenaline spiked.

I ducked behind a tree, molding my body to the scratchy bark, and the scent of plastic assaulted my nose. Plastic? Why hadn’t the goddesses gifted me with Pierce’s super vision in addition to ESP fingers? It was so dark, I wouldn’t have been able to see at all without the faint light that reached the thicket from Grady’s living room, and that only gave me visibility for a few feet in any direction.

The plastic sounded thick, heavy, and there had to be at least two people, because whispers rode on the breeze.

And then I heard it, the faint sound of a zipper.

TWENTY-SEVEN

IT WAS A BODY BAG.
Had to be. What else would be zipping out here in the dark? How had they arrived so quickly? Lorcán only called a few minutes ago. I hadn’t paid attention to the time, but it was possible whoever had packaged Murchadh in his plastic travel gear wasn’t a part of Pierce’s team. I inched closer, listening.

Clouds gathered and the air was heavy with the scent of impending rain. At least whoever was on cleanup detail would be done before the rain hit. Now if I could just get a little closer. I shifted, moved a foot, then leaned toward the low-level voices.

“Pierce.” Yep, I’d heard someone say his name. They had to be his people, which meant I could maybe recruit them for backup.

Except…there was still the question about how the hell they’d gotten here so quickly? Did he have people on retainer all over the world? Possibly. Probably, knowing Pierce. And his people, unlike me, were undoubtedly trained to follow orders without hesitation and a bunch of explanations.

I crept closer.

Three men and one woman surrounded the black bag. The woman appeared to be giving orders, pointing toward a pickup truck that had been outfitted with a dull gray bed cover. They were all busy with their task, so I inched a few feet closer, but still couldn’t make out any distinct words.

I was itching to get inside. Fion and Connor had been alone for far too long, might even have left as soon as they heard the bomb explode. I angled around some bushes for a better view of the driveway. Fion’s car was still there, and it was a sure thing they hadn’t noticed any activity in the far yard, not with how well Pierce’s team had been trained. I wouldn’t have noticed them if I hadn’t known the location of Murchadh’s body.

My foot slipped.

A branch cracked.

The woman looked up, stared in my direction, and then smiled.

Well, damn. It was Annie!

I started to run, managed to stop myself before I’d made a complete mess of the situation. By the time I reached her, the body had been loaded and two of the guys had taken off in the truck. I hugged Annie, and yeah, if anyone had asked, I’d have been forced to admit there was a hefty dose of desperation in the way I glommed onto my best friend. “What are you doing here? How—”

She backed away, signaled to the man, and he crept toward the house, closing in on Cait’s bedroom window. He was inside before I realized what had happened. I pointed. “Pierce trained him.”

Annie caught my arm, led me farther from the house, and with a firm tug yanked me behind the hedges. “Last to first. Pierce trains everyone who works for him. I hopped a military flight. I’m here at Pierce’s request.”

There was an edge of anger in her words, and my ears filled with a warning roar. “You’re pissed at me.”

“Yes. Do you know how long it’s been since you bothered to check in with me? If it weren’t for Pierce—”

“I was
trying
to protect you. One of my friends involved in this mess was more than enough, and…” My voice hitched.

“And?” Damn, but Annie had her Mother Voice perfected.

“And Pierce has been hurt.”

Annie tapped the phone attached to her belt. “Got that message.
He’s
kept me in the loop.”

She didn’t sound even a tiny bit concerned, and it ticked me off. “You need to leave. Get back to Hawaii and Maddie—”

“I don’t think so. I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet. I’m one of Pierce’s employees, do jobs for him now and again, and this one has been on my roster from the beginning. We’ve always had your back.
Both
of us, and Whitney Boulay is on call in Glanmire. The trust shared in our kind of friendship is something you’re still learning, and it’s probably our fault for not letting you know how closely we’ve monitored your situation since Mitch was killed.” She shrugged. “Before that, even, but we’ve been extra-diligent since then. You’re not alone, have never been alone, and never will be. Everly, you saved my life, saved my daughter’s life, and now you need help. Where else would I be?”

Tears ran freely down my cheeks. Annie was right. Since I’d lost Mitch, I’d shut down so completely and had only started to come out of cold storage when I began this journey of revenge. “Thank you. I…you’re right. Thanks. Honestly, ever since we got to Ireland I’ve been on unsteady ground, not sure how to…”

Annie grabbed her phone, read the screen. “Heads up. Connor is moving. Wants to check on the bomb damage. We’ll follow. Grant will hold his position here.”

I swiped at my cheeks with my sleeve, and got back in the game. “Grant? The man who went inside?” I was so far behind in this mission I might never catch up, and it was
my
mission. “This is what happens when you turn a novice loose in a pro-only situation.”

I couldn’t see Annie’s smile since she was in front of me, but I felt it. “You’re a well-trained novice, and about to get better.”

Fion Connor appeared on the stoop, and we went silent. She didn’t have her cane. I pantomimed the change to Annie, and she smiled, not surprised. A fresh blast of anger—no, that was too strong—annoyance lodged in my brain. There was stuff they’d kept from me, things I needed to know. How long had Annie known that Fion Connor was capable of healing herself? If I’d suspected that earlier, so many things might have been different. But now wasn’t about sorting through the details of my screwed-up emotions, it was about clear, cold, concentration. I aimed it at Connor. Her gait was strong, no sign of a limp, and not so much as a stumble when she walked down the wheelchair ramp.

Annie held me back, letting Connor get well ahead before we followed her.

By the time we cleared the thicket, the crowd had disappeared, and, aside from a light in the kitchen, all appeared to be quiet in the Pierce household—except for Lorcán sitting on the back stoop.

The scent of impending rain had grown stronger. I scanned the sky, found the cloud cover heavy with only a few sporadic breaks. There was no trace of moonlight. Could we use the weather to our advantage? If it rained hard enough, the sound would cover our movements, so maybe.

Fion Connor had obviously aced the stealthy class in spy school. She’d dropped to a crouch, crab-walked, and came up on the cottage without Lorcán so much as twitching. ’Course that didn’t mean he was unaware of her presence. Sharply honed senses seemed to run in the Pierce family.

There was still enough distance between us and Connor that she shouldn’t notice our tail, but my nape was going prickle crazy. I leaned forward, touched Annie’s hand, then rubbed my neck. She nodded, and signaled for us to hold our position.

Lorcán stood, called out. “You, there.”

Fion jumped to her full height like it was normal to be skulking through the bushes, and flashed him a sexy smile. Who knew a smile could have the same effect as batting eyelashes?

“What’s your business?” Lorcán moved a few feet closer to Connor, his six foot-plus frame dominating the night. I’d have been making an emergency trip to Walmart to stock up on adult diapers if he challenged me with that tone. It didn’t intimidate Connor at all, but then she was insane.

“There was a loud noise, didn’t you hear it? I thought someone might need help.”

She lied well.

It left a sour taste in my mouth.

“Slight miscalculation. Nothing to be concerned about.” Lorcán dismissed her, settling back into his chair on the stoop.

I sent a silent plea for him to stay put and let her explore, because I desperately wanted to see what she’d do when she saw the hole in the back wall of the cottage. Annie clamped her hand on my arm. Guess she must have picked up on my need to move closer.

“Patience,” she mouthed.

Connor hesitated when she caught sight of the undamaged front porch, muttered something unintelligible, then kept moving.

I was profoundly grateful for the streetlights highlighting her movements and facial expressions, until I realized there was a huge down side—she could see us just as clearly, which meant we had to stay completely hidden while still keeping her in sight. The prickle in my neck hiked up a notch.

When Fion noticed the hole she grinned, wild, maniacal, and then slipped inside.

Rage exploded, knocking out my common sense. Fion Connor in
my
space, temporary as it was, wasn’t remotely okay. I was on my feet, and had jogged several feet closer to the cottage before Annie stopped me with an arm lock. “Easy.
We
want the upper hand.”

I drew in a breath, chilling my anger. “Yeah? I think we have it. She’s contained, there’s two of us—one well-trained—and Lorcán is on watch.” They were better odds than I’d ever believed possible. From the moment Mitch was killed, I had been convinced it would be me against my parents’ killer, with me in the one-down position. But that was when I’d accepted dying as part of the deal. Not so now.

Annie nodded. “Does she know you’re here?”

“Maybe. Probably. I don’t know what they got out of Cait when Murchadh beat her.” My temper flared again.

Annie sensed it, jabbed her finger toward me. “There’s no place for emotion in this work. Chill, or we’re not going in.”

She was right. I shoved the rage deep into the pit of my stomach, and locked it down tight. There’d be time for a coming-out party later. “I want answers.”

“I understand that, and Pierce and I want them for you.”

I closed my eyes, sucked in a breath, and nodded.

“I’ll go in first,” Annie said. “Could be I might get something out of her if she doesn’t see you.”

It niggled at me, letting Annie face Connor first, and essentially alone, but she was right. Again. “Go. I’ll stay behind you and out of sight.”

“Give me a minute to work my way around to the other side of the hole, then you can—”

“Waltz in the back door like I own the place. It’ll distract her and give you a chance to move into place.”

In agreement, we set off in opposite directions, Annie holding back until I was snug against the wall on the far side of the hole. The first raindrop spattered on my cheek, and, unfortunately, rain in Ireland was nothing to ignore. Not that I cared about getting wet, but I’d brought this disaster into Siofra and Lorcán’s life and didn’t want to be responsible for yet more damage to their property. A whole lot of rain could pound through that oversized hole in the wall.

“Who in the bloody hell are you?” Connor’s voice was shrill, bordering on hysterical.

“I’m A.J.” Annie waved her hand toward the hole in the wall. “I’m visiting, saw this mess and wondered if you needed help covering the open area. It’s started to rain.”

I leaned around the edge of the shattered wood, dared a quick peek into the kitchen. Fion stood in the middle of the room, hands on her hips, fingers moving rhythmically. The cold smacked me in the face before I realized what she was doing. “Run Annie,” I shouted, and then began unraveling the energy Fion had started to weave.

Annie froze.

Fion spun around to face me. “Well, if it isn’t Everly Gray. I wondered when you would show up. We’ve been waiting for you.”

She flung a wall of energy at me.

It would have ripped me in half if I hadn’t been expecting it. “Nothing is stronger than the energy of pure love, Fion. I would’ve thought you’d learned that by now.”

It was taking all of my strength to hold the protective field I’d thrown together just before Connor attacked. I had to do something, or she’d break through. And I wasn’t ready to die. There was Annie, Madigan, Adam, and Whitney to live for. Their friendship to cherish.

And there was Tynan Pierce and his family to protect. And love.

My heart pounded with renewed strength.

Revenge was at my fingertips, but how best to use it?

Annie hadn’t taken time to battle the same moral questions, and had Connor on the floor, arms twisted behind her back. “Handcuffs? Duct tape?” she asked me.