Walker had found Brendan's completely out of the blue declaration of love hilarious. No-way would he believe he is serious. He was sure that Brendan had only said it to get him in bed. He obviously thought that's all it would take, but that's where he is so wrong. It would take a lot more than that. What had Brendan been thinking?
Brendan was sat in his car waiting for Walker to join him. After what he had said in the restaurant, he simply rose to his feet, saw the lust on Walker's face, and strutted off leaving his mate sat at the table fighting his want and desire. Now sat in the car, still working his way through the large bag of M&M's he began to get impatient. What was taking Walker so long?
The passenger door opened and Walker slid in beside a smirking Brendan. Walker slammed the door shut. 'You're a fucking arsehole.' he spat at Brendan. Brendan sniggered. Walker turned to look at him, his eyes burning. 'Why did you do that?' he was beyond furious. 'Because I could.' Brendan was more arrogant than ever. He turned the ignition on and drove off the ferry, confident in the damage he was doing to Walker's mentality. He didn't love him, not really, he was just playing mind games, wasn't he? For a second doubt crept into his mind. Was he really just playing mind games? He had played it so well, looking all serious when he declared his love, then why did he feel conflicted, like he was actually feeling something, something more than lust.
Brendan drove through the streets of Dublin, he knew them like the back of his hand, this was home. He real home. Walker was stewing in the seat next to him, his face unreadable. He was still angry about the restaurant. Brendan had meant every word of what he said, he really did want to fuck him, but now that chance was most definitely gone. Walker wouldn't let him anywhere near him now. Brendan's spirit fell, there was his fun gone. But out of nowhere he felt an uneasy feeling forming in his stomach. He remembered the mood that hung over him like a dark cloud when Walker had vanished, the lengths he had gone to just to find him, to know he was ok. He had called every drug dealing, no mark he knew and there were a few. His mind was drifting, he was developing feelings for Walker, the sudden realisation of this caused Brendan to loose concentration.
'Brendan!' Walker shouted, grabbing hold of the steering wheel, panic on his face. Brendan blinked and saw that he had begun to veer his car towards a railing. Walker had noticed just in time. 'Sorry.' Brendan muttered, taking hold of the steering wheel, adjusting in his seat and not even looking at the man next to him. He carried on driving, the silence deepened between them. He pulled up to the entrance of an underground car park. He opened the window and pressed a buzzer. He didn't wait for anyone to answer, he just said 'In the name of Simon Walker.' Walker's brows furrowed, why was Brendan using his name and why were they pulling into an underground car park? The barrier shuddered into life and lifted, Brendan manoeuvred the car into the darkness and into a space not to far from the entrance. He turned the ignition off, but didn't make any other move. It was dark inside the car, apart from the faint glow of the light on the wall in front of them.
Walker was not about to sit around in the dark with Brendan. He opened the door and climbed out, he opened the back passenger door and grabbed his bag. He didn't know where they were going, but he needed to get away from Brendan. He needed some time on his own. He walked up the ramp and out into the street, bag slung over his shoulder. Brendan watched Walker strut away in the rear view, Anguish written on his face, now this was confusing.
Walker had made his way to the River Liffey, he was leaning on some railings, watching the river run slowly past, hearing the chatter of the locals mixed with the tourists. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. What was going on? He needed answers. He grabbed his bag from the floor and walked back the way he came, determined to get the real truth from Brendan.
Brendan was leaning against the car, arms crossed, his bag over resting on the ground by the boot. He had faith that Walker would come back. When he saw him striding down the ramp, he smiled to himself, just as he thought. 'We need to talk.' Walker said, clearly in no mood for games. Brendan stood up and took a deep breath. 'Go on.' he said slowly. 'You need to talk. What is going on Brendan? Why are we here? And what the fuck was with all the love bullshit?' Walker was enraged, he stood facing Brendan, hands on hips. Brendan raised his eyebrows as he contemplated the answer. He swallowed 'I have a deal, that's why we're here. Simple. Nothing else. And as for the …..' he drifted off, unable to say it, he hadn't meant it, of course he didn't mean it. He felt something, but not that. He didn't even want to mention it not after the way Walker had reacted. He looked over at Walker, his eyes searching Brendan's face for some sort of an answer. Walker was growing frustrated, his jaw clenched.
Brendan began mumbling incoherently, nothing he was saying made any sense, he was rambling. Walker shook his head and took a step forward. 'What the fuck Brendan?' he snapped. Brendan could feel his cheeks growing hot. 'I, um, shut up Walker.' Brendan hissed, grabbed his bag and then stormed off, pushing Walker out of the way as he went. Walker was seething. He grabbed his bag and followed Brendan over to the lift. Brendan stepped inside and was pressing the button for the ground floor furiously, wanting some distance, but Walker managed to slip into the lift just was the doors were closing. Walker stood next to Brendan, he didn't face him, instead he chose to look straight ahead. Neither spoke a word, the unanswered questions danced around them like a sudden fog. The lift stopped and the doors opened, Brendan was the first to step outside. Walker followed casually. They were in the reception of a hotel. Brendan sauntered over to the reception desk and smiled at the young girl in the smart uniform. 'Hello Sir, do you have a reservation?' she beamed at him as he leaned against the desk, tapping his fingers in no particular rhythm. 'In the name of Simon Walker, Evelyn.' he said her name slowly. Walker rolled his eyes as he watched Brendan from a few foot away. The young girl smiled back at him as she handed him a small envelope with the key card inside. 'Room 30. Third floor on the right.' she smiled at Brendan. 'Room 30.' Brendan copied her. He stood up and moved away from the desk and headed back over to the lifts, brushing past Walker as he walked.
Walker followed Brendan, who pressed the call button for the lifts. 'Let me guess, I don't get my own room?' he asked with sarcasm, trying to lighten the mood. He was stuck with this, so he might as well make the best of it, he thought to himself. 'I'm not made of money Walker.' Brendan replied seriously, as the doors to the lift opened. Walker scoffed. They stepped inside. 'Why are we in a hotel, I thought you had a place here?' Walker was interested. 'I do.' that was all Brendan said causing Walker to shake his head, it was like talking to a brick wall. The lift came to a halt on the third floor. Brendan was once again ahead of Walker, striding towards their room. 'I hope it's not a double.' Walker said aloud, Brendan's pace faltered for a second before regaining it as he arrived at room 30. He pulled the envelope from his pocket and opened it, pulled out a white key card, he opened the door and stepped inside. Unlucky Walker he told himself as he saw the double bed in the centre of the room, a gleeful smile on his lips. Walker stepped in behind him. Brendan could hear the intake of breath as Walker saw the double bed and let a smile dance on his lips. Walker pushed past Brendan and dumped his bag on the floor at the foot of the bed before sitting on the edge.
'What's the deal then?' he asked, needing to take this strange situation back to why they were there in the first place. Brendan realised this too, they both needed to be focused. 'There's a shipment of coke coming in tonight for a dealer called Connor. We're going to get to it first and then sell it to him.' Brendan put it so simply that Walker had to scoff. 'You think that just me and you can intercept a shipment for a known dealer and get away with it to the point of holding it ransom?' he was surprised at Brendan's plan. Brendan simply nodded his head as he placed his bag on the chair. 'And how are we going to get the shipment?' 'Hold them up.' Brendan was so calm, just as if this is every day business - well for him it may well be. 'Right.' Walker muttered.
Brendan and Walker had shared a rather awkward meal in the bar, neither spoke much, preferring to eat in silence. They had gone over the plan over and over until they both knew it off by heart before they had even left the room. It was getting late. The shipment was coming in at 00.30, being driven to a set location, transferred and then it was going to be driven through Dublin in a black van. Walker had reservations about Brendan's plan, it wasn't going to be at all easy or straight forward. Brendan glanced at his watch and saw it was 00.28, they were sat in the bar, each of them nursing a pint of Guinness.
He got to his feet and slogged the remains of his pint and gave Walker a slight nod that it was time. Walker followed Brendan to the lift. Brendan was now wearing his leather jacket, black t-shirt, jeans and leather shoes. Walker had simply put his coat on over his black jeans and black t-shirt. They stepped out of the lift, neither speaking. Brendan pulled out two pairs of black leather gloves from the back pocket of his jeans and handed a pair to Walker, who hadn't even noticed them there. Walker followed Brendan as he strutted across the car park and straight past his silver Mercedes, as he pulled the gloves on. He pulled a set of keys out of his jacket pocket and pressed the alarm for a black BMW in front of them, with blacked out windows and Irish plates. Brendan climbed into the drivers seat and Walker into the passenger seat. He turned the ignition and quickly exited the space and the car park, the streets were still busy, it was mainly foot traffic, but busy all the same. Brendan drove slowly, Walker looked out of the window and thought to himself how beautiful Dublin looked all lit up against the darkness.
Time was moving quickly. They pulled into a back street. Brendan turned the engine and lights off, they could see a black van parked down the road. He reached behind him and pulled out a sawn off shotgun from a sports holdall placed on the floor. He handed it to Walker and then pulled out another. Walker saw lights approaching behind them. They shrunk in their seats as a black van drove past and then pulled to a stop further down the road, next to the other van. 'This is the exchange. There should be two guys. Another two should join them on foot. How many do you see?' Brendan was whispering. Walker looked and replied 'Two just got out. Two more have just walked over.' Walker said quietly, as he strained his neck to see the men. 'What they like?' Brendan asked as he looked up over the steering wheel, trying to get a view of the task in hand. 'Two average, one skinny, one big.' Walker replied. Brendan nodded. 'You take the big guy and the skinny guy. I'll take the other two.' Brendan said as he rested his hand on the door handle, getting ready to stop all the talking and get on with the action.
Brendan was creeping down the dark road, Walker on the other side of the street. You couldn't hear either of them, not a breath, not a step, nothing. They were only a couple of feet from the men, who were busy taking the drugs from one van and moving it into the other. Brendan indicated to Walker with a nod that it was now on. Brendan swung the sawn off shotgun into the air in front of him. 'Stop where you are.' Brendan said loudly as he held the gun up behind one of the two average built men. The skinny kid next to the average guy sniggered. 'Fuck off.' he laughed at Brendan. Brendan let a wide grin develop on his lips, confusing the skinny kid. 'No.' Brendan answered, the smile disappearing from his face. The skinny kid turned to face Brendan full on, trying to make himself bigger than he clearly was. The kid laughed again. Brendan started to laugh too, the other guy turned to face Brendan too. He sniggered at Brendan. 'Why don't you just fuck off before you end up getting hurt.' he hissed. Brendan tilted his head to the side, his eyes darting between the two.
Walker had snuck down the side of the van they were loading and got the keys from the ignition, there was a testy moment when he knocked the gun against the door, causing him to duck down and hope for the best. Now with the keys safely in his pocket he decided to help Brendan out, he could hear the exchange between him and two of the men. He saw the large guy turn to go and join the confrontation. Walker had to act, he raced around the side of the van and round the back. Using the butt of the shotgun he smacked the big gun in the back, causing him to jolt forward. He span round and saw Walker behind him. He smiled as he flexed his fingers into fists and edged towards Walker. Brendan saw that Walker was being advanced on by the big guy and decided it was time for him to act too. He swung his arm, striking the one guy in the face with the barrel of the gun.
Soon all were involved, ducking and diving, punching and kicking, swinging and swiping. Both Brendan and Walker took some blows, but inflicted their own too. Walker had managed to cause the big guy to knock himself out when he just managed to dodge out of the way when he was charging at him, resulting in him colliding head first with the corner of the van, knocking him straight out. Walker smiled at the sight of this man mountain in a heap on the ground, but was soon winded by the other gun punching him in the side. Brendan had smacked the one guy around the back of the knee with the gun so hard that he was rolling around in tears, and now was currently trading punches with the skinny kid. For a little guy, he sure knew how to take a beating. Brendan caught his footing on the kerb and fell backwards. He dropped the shotgun and looked up, straight down the barrel of a handgun. The skinny kid was on the other end and was pointing it straight at Brendan, finger on the trigger, ready to shoot, ready to kill.