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Chapter 4
Former Special Agent Paul Smecker slammed the phone back down into its cradle, his frustration obvious as he ran his fingers through his unruly hair.
"Nothing!" he ranted "It's like they've disappeared off the face of the Earth. No one is admitting to authorising Connor's arrest and no one has seen Murphy at all for the last two days"
He kicked at the table as he paced the small room above the bar in McGinty's, Detectives Greenly and Dolly stepping back to avoid the irate man.
"We have to find those boy's. Can you imagine what will happen if Noah finds out we lost them? He only left because we swore to look out for his sons"
"He'll tear the city apart" Dolly exchanged a worried look with Greenly "Then probably come after us"
The three men jumped as the door opened and Doc entered, carrying a tray piled high with sandwiches and coffee as well as three shots of whiskey.
"Any news?" he asked tiredly
As Smecker shook his head Detective Duffy slammed into the room.
"I found Connor" he yelled "It's bad but I found him" He bent over, gasping to regain his breath from his frantic run up the stairs.
"Care to enlighten us?" Smecker asked snidely, in no mood to wait.
"Well I spent this morning asking around, talking to the boys on the streets, just to see if they'd heard anything at all, you know how cops like to gossip and then …" Duffy started.
"Get on with it!" Smecker snapped impatiently.
Duffy shot him a hurt look and continued.
"Turns out there's a guy in District A-7, down in East Boston bragging about how he's gonna go and put a payment down on an apartment in the suburbs. I got an Aunt lives out there and those places are well out of his pay grade so I went and had a chat with him"
He gazed at the expectant faces around him.
"After a bit of persuasion he said a guy approached him, offered him a lot of cash to tamper with some paperwork, change the prisoner details that sort of thing. Swears he didn't know who it was until after and then it was too late. The guy's having a chat with those nice people from Internal Affairs right now."
Duffy swallowed hard,
"Bad news is Connor's in Hoag, he's been put in General population with all those assholes that think they owe him and his brother for putting them there. We've got to get him out real quick; I don't think he's got much time"
Connor shifted uncomfortably on the narrow bunk in his cell, forcing himself to stay awake. He focused on the pain in his untreated broken wrist, the taste of the blood in his mouth from the various punches he'd received and the aches that radiated from every part of his body, especially his face and broken nose.
He thought about the uncomfortable car ride that bought him to the high security penitentiary and the way the police officers escorting him had handed him over to a couple of burly prison guards without exchanging a word.
Connor had never been in prison before and had no idea of the booking in procedures but he'd seen enough movies to be pretty sure what happened to him wasn't the usual way it was done. He was sure the receiving guards didn't usually take turns in throwing punches at the cuffed inmate before forcing them into the hideous orange jumpsuit then parading them through the rec room in full view of the other prisoners. They'd taken their time, making sure everyone could see him and a silence had fallen over the large open area as realisation set in at who was being marched through. The silence had only lasted a few moments and then the threats had started. Some of these threats were more inventive than others, some fairly obvious and others just downright sick and Connor knew that he would be lucky if he was killed outright, it seemed those he and his brother had helped put away were not a forgiving lot.
He shifted again, not taking his eyes off the open cell door as he forced himself to think of anything but his brother. Not knowing what had happened to Murphy was worse than any beating he could receive. He knew all twins were meant to be close but he and Murphy had a bond that nothing could come between. He couldn't remember the last time they had been apart for more than a couple of hours and even then they knew exactly where the other was.
Murphy was headstrong, impatient and volatile, always rushing into situations without thinking first, always getting himself into trouble whereas Connor knew he was the sensible one, the one with the plan, the one that thought things through before reacting and somehow the two complimented each other, like two parts of a whole. Without his brother by his side Connor felt like a piece of him was missing.
Movement at his cell door caught his attention and he saw three men staring silently at him. He was pretty sure he recognised them as enforcers for the Yakavetta family, vaguely remembering leaving them locked in the back of a van outside a police precinct, along with the evidence of their crime.
After executing a brutal drug dealer and human trafficker and his three closest accomplices in a known Yakavetta safe house the Saints had come across the three thugs in a truck parked outside, dismembering a man's body readying it for disposal and, as they were short on time and low on ammunition, they had managed to slip unseen to the back of the van and slam the doors, locking the men inside. Connor had tied off the door handles with some of the rope he insisted on carrying on every mission. He could still hear Murphy cursing him out for his so called obsession for rope as they drove the van to the nearest precinct leaving it parked outside. With the evidence against them overwhelming the three men had been given long jail sentences and now they were standing in front of a cornered, injured Connor.
The men advanced, slipping into the small cell and Connor's heart sank when the guard on duty quietly closed the door behind them. As they moved closer, trapping him against the narrow bunk he noticed the green flashing light of the camera mounted high on the wall. As he tried to defend himself from their feet and fists his last thought before blacking out was he hoped Murphy never had to see the footage of his death, whilst at the same time praying his twin was still alive to do so.
Angelina smiled as Murphy's head flew up, his eyes angry as he glared at her.
"My Ma's got nothing to do with any of this" he snapped "leave her out of this" His voice was loud and furious but Angelina noticed the hint of fear that edged it.
"Your mother seems to be a wonderful woman" she said softly "her language is somewhat colourful but she clearly loves both of you dearly" She rose from her crouched position and waited, wondering how long it would take for him to realise exactly what she had implied. It took mere seconds.
"What do you mean?" he demanded "You don't know her"
"Not yet" she whispered as she leant down again, her breath ghosting his cheek. "But I will very soon"
She straightened, turning gracefully as he struggled to free himself.
"Once we discovered who the Saints really were it was easy to find your mother. All we had to do was pay someone at the phone company and your calls were monitored. It was simple to find the number you called most often, then trace the address it was registered to, even one in Ireland"
Angelina turned to Dante and Marzio with a smile.
"They're good sons, they call their mother at least twice a week" She spoke in Italian once more.
"That's how it should be. A son should always call his mother" Dante replied. "I don't like this part of the plan; do we have to go through with it?
"It saddens me too, but we have to avenge my father's death. They have to suffer as my mother and I did"
Angelina faced Murphy once more.
"I called your mother. She thinks I'm a good Irish catholic girl called Erin. I told her I had come from Ireland two years ago to work as a live in nanny for a wealthy family in Boston, caring for their two beautiful children. I told her that 8 months ago my sister called me to tell me my father had passed away suddenly. She believes that in my grief I went to a bar and had too much to drink, and there I met the two of you"
Angelina paused, watching Murphy as he fought and cursed, trying to break his bonds.
"As far as she is aware, in my grief stricken, drunken state I made an error of judgement and spent the night with Connor. She was so excited when I told her about the baby, so furious and disappointed in him when I told her he wanted nothing to do with me or his child. She thinks I called her in desperation as I didn't know what else to do. Apparently my employers fired me when they found out I was pregnant and I had nowhere to go. She believes I tracked her number down and called her to ask her to speak to Connor on my behalf. She refused to do that as I expected"
She gave him a beaming smile.
"As we speak your mother is on a plane on her way here, she will be landing in a few hours and Erin will be waiting for her at the airport. It will be time for me to don the green contact lens and red haired wig again and this time with some added well-placed padding. I will bring her here and the two of you will be reunited"
Her smile faded and Murphy froze, her expression sending a chill down his spine
"Then you will learn what it feels like to see your parent slaughtered in front of you as you watch me put a gun to her head and pull the trigger"
.
