Logan POV


I didn't want to put my gun away, but I also didn't want to have a shootout right here in the pub. And one of the guys at the bar was pointing his piece at Carolyn. I put my gun down and the others followed suit.

"There. Much better," the man said. "If you four will follow me, we can talk in my office."

I looked at Goren for confirmation that this was a good idea. He shrugged, clearly baffled as much as I was by this latest turn of events.

"Let's hear him out, Mike," Carolyn said quietly, putting a hand on my back. "If he wanted to kill us, we'd be dead already."

She had a point. We followed him up the stairs and into a large office. Our host waved his hand at the chairs that were placed around the room.

"Please, have a seat." We kept standing. This guy wanted to act like everything was fine, but I still wasn't about to relax.

"So you're the infamous Alexandra Eames," he said, turning to Alex. She tensed and nodded, and Goren moved a little closer to her, but before she could say anything, he rounded on me.

"And you're Mike Logan, right?"

"Yeah…" I answered hesitantly. It hit me that he had used Eames' formal name but not mine. The man broke into a grin.

"He told me the name Logan, but I didn't make the connection until I saw your face. I'm Ryan Mullins. My old man is Patrick Mullins."

"The Westie?" Mullins started nodding enthusiastically and for the first time since we'd entered the pub, the knot in my stomach started to loosen.

"He told me about you," he continued. "I've seen pictures. He said you were a rare breed."

"What does that mean?"

"You're an honest cop," he said with a laugh. "He said you saved his life a time or two. And you're lucky I recognized you or you'd all be dead right now. You've gotten yourself in a bit of trouble, have you?"

"Looks like," I answered wryly. I remembered his old man. And I had helped him out of a jam he'd gotten into years ago. And before that, we'd grown up together in the neighborhood. I couldn't believe the dumb luck.

"So what's this whole thing about? Masarro's got every Irishman in Boston looking for you guys. And it's a huge price he's got on your heads. I don't think he'd go through so much trouble for just anybody."

I finally sat down and so the others did, too. From the looks on their faces, they were in just as much shock as I was, but we all recovered nicely and managed to recount the events that had led us to Boston.

"And you know he killed a couple of guards in New York, right? He's a fugitive, a cop-killer, and I don't think that's O'Connor's style," I said, hoping to appeal to their sense of fairness. Mullins didn't react.

"Masarro's saying that Alexandra here shot his niece in the back. He's got everyone fired up about it, thinking a cop did such a cowardly thing. I'm guessing that's a lie?"

"Damn straight," Eames told him. "And I've got the scar to prove it. She shot at me, and I fired back."

"And so did I," Goren said, again moving impossibly closer to Eames. "I'm the one who killed her."

Mullins waved off Goren's statement.

"Doesn't matter," he said. "Masarro has the story in his head how he wants to see it. And he's passed that on to O'Connor."

"Masarro has something else planned here," Carolyn spoke up. "This isn't just about avenging a death. He's trying to muscle his way into Boston."

She filled him in on the warehouse murders, and the live-round calling card.

"Now that's something my boss will be interested in hearing. He's going along with this hit because Masarro painted you three as dirty."

"Hey, I'm in this just as much as they are," Carolyn interrupted. "And none of us are dirty." I shook my head at her indignation. Leave it to my Carolyn to insist on being included on a hit list.

"I'm just repeating what Masarro told us. You're not on the list, darlin'," he told her with an apologetic grin. "But if this is all a cover for an attempted takeover, then me and my brothers have got bigger problems. I need to call O'Connor and set up a meeting."

Without further discussion, Mullins picked up his phone and made the call. He spoke in a hushed tone for a minute and then hung up.

"Tomorrow morning at nine. Back here. O'Connor will meet with you and hear what you have to say."

"How do we know it's not a set-up?" Eames asked.

"Like I said, darlin'. If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead."


My mind was reeling. We'd come so close to death so many times in the past twenty-four hours. If I was a cat, I'd be on about life number seven right now. We track a number to a bar where the owner is under orders to kill us if he sees us and yet it turned out to be the son of an old friend. What are the odds?

We decided to go back to the hotel. It was still early, but the stress of our situation had wiped us all out.

"Let's rest for a bit," Eames said when we approached our rooms. She looked at her watch. "It's four o'clock now. Let's meet up at seven. We can get some dinner and talk about tomorrow."

I opened our room door for Carolyn and then locked it up behind us. I was still pretty sure our hotel was safe, but that didn't mean I was going to leave the deadbolt undone.

"How's your face?" she asked me when I turned around. She stepped up close to me and delicately touched my cheek.

"Hurts like a sonofabitch."

"I can get you some ice from the machine," she offered.

"I just want to get some rest," I sighed. I ached in places I didn't know existed.

"Okay. Come on, let's get in the bed." I let her lead me over to the bed and then I stood still while she unbuttoned my shirt. She took it off and then rubbed her hands softly over the discolored skin that covered my midsection. Her touch was a welcome change from the pain I'd been feeling all day.

She unfastened my jeans and pulled them down my legs so that I could step out of them and then she coaxed me onto the bed. I laid back and watched while she got down to her underwear before climbing in next to me. I held out my arm to her, but she shook her head.

"Let me hold you," she said. Ah, what a woman. She raised her arm and I eased my head down onto her chest. Then she began running her fingers through my hair.

"I want to kill that man, Mike," she told me in a quiet voice that was in stark contrast to her words.

"Masarro?" I asked unnecessarily.

"Yeah. I can't help it. I don't think I've ever felt so strongly about something before. Ever since I realized he had taken you yesterday, it's all I can think about. When I find him, I'm going to kill him."

"You can't do that, sweetheart. If we find him, we have to take him in." I knew I was saying the right words, but on the inside, I agreed with her. I wanted him dead, too. Not just for what he had done to me, but for what he wanted to do to Eames.

Carolyn didn't argue with me, but I knew what she was thinking. She's a strong-willed woman, and I wasn't going to change her mind. Her feelings were what they were. And when it came down to crunch time, I would just do whatever was in my power to protect her.

My body relaxed slowly as she continued her ministrations and I felt myself starting to drift. But then I had a thought. Actually it was a thought that had been dancing around my head for months now, but this time it hit me so strong that I had to say the words out loud.

"Hey," I whispered.

"Yeah?"

"You know, I'd never had a woman partner until Deakins put me together with you," I said, suddenly changing direction.

"I know. You told me."

"I was never very good with women. I mean, I was good with women, but…"

"I know what you mean, Mike," she chuckled.

"Did I ever tell you how much I resented you at first? I mean, here you were, this drop-dead gorgeous woman and you were so damn smart it was scary. You could read me like a book and I didn't know what to think about that. I mean me…I was the mutt of the department. I always wondered who you'd pissed off to get stuck with me."

"I asked for you."

"What?"

"When Deakins brought me in, he gave me a few choices for a partner. And he talked you up, told me you had great instincts. I didn't get stuck with you, Mike. I picked you."

"How come you never told me that before?"

"You never asked," she replied easily. "What makes you ask now?"

And now I was back to it. That question.

"Do you want to get married?" Her hand froze and I stopped breathing. I couldn't see her face from my treasured position, nestled against her chest.

"What?" she said finally. I couldn't wait any longer. I pushed up from her so that I could look into her eyes.

"Do you want to get married?" It wasn't the most suave proposal, but it was sincere. Her eyes glistened and she slowly shook her head.

"Do you?"

"I'm asking, aren't I?"

"Oh, Mike. I love you, love you so very much. But I don't want to get married."

"You don't?" I felt like I was going to be sick. Isn't this what was supposed to come next?

"No, but I will if you want to."

"That's not a reason to get married."

"Mike," she said. And then she waited for me to meet her eyes again. "I've just never had any desire to get married. But that doesn't mean I don't plan to spend every day for the rest of my life with you. A piece of paper or a ceremony is not going to make me more committed than I already am."

"But if you want it," she continued. "If you want that symbolism of forever, then we'll do it. But don't ask me because you think I need the validation. I already have everything I want. I have you."

I reached for her and ignored the pain as I brought her tightly into my arms.

"I just want to make you happy," I whispered.

"You do." She pulled back and kissed me fiercely, throwing all of her passion into it and before long, we disposed of our remaining clothes. I had to let her do most of the work, but she didn't seem to mind.

Afterwards, sweaty and breathless, she laid across my chest.

"I can't believe you asked me to marry you. You are just the sweetest guy ever."

"I can't believe you said no," I laughed. "I thought women liked that kind of thing?"

"Oh, Mike. You know I'm not most women."

"No, you are definitely not. You are one of a kind."

We slept for a couple of hours and then cleaned up and went to Goren and Eames' room.

"I called Ross again," Goren told us.

"Three times in one day. That has got to be a record," I quipped.

"Yeah, well, he needed to know about this meeting tomorrow. And we needed to know what information he uncovered." Goren was clearly not in a playful mood. He had practically worn a path in the carpet.

"And?"

"Antonio Gallo just happened to be in Rikers. He was in there on some kind of trumped up racketeering charges. Or at least that's his story. He was awaiting trial."

"Was?" Goren nodded. Gallo was the Don of the second largest crime family in New York.

"Masarro hooked up with him?" Carolyn asked in surprise.

"It looks like they were cellies," Alex said.

"And?" I waited for the knockout punch that I knew was coming.

"Gallo was on the transport bus. He broke out with Masarro. So now Gallo owes him a debt."

"And we're just hearing about this now?" I asked loudly. Eames nodded her agreement.

"He's going to help him muscle out O'Connor. It'll be a win-win for him. Masarro moves out of the New York racket and takes over Boston."

"Right," Goren said. His pace around the room kept increasing until finally Eames stood up and blocked his path. She put both hands on his chest and whispered something to him. I don't know what she said, but he calmed immediately.

"Masarro's plan is to trick O'Connor into taking us out, and then leave O'Connor holding the bag. If he goes down for the murder of cops, it'll leave his territory vulnerable and then Masarro will swoop in." Eames said all this matter-of-factly as though it didn't change the dynamic, didn't mean we were in even more danger than we thought. If that was even possible. She was a cool cat, that Eames.

"So this meeting tomorrow…" I began and then trailed off. Now there were going to be two mafia Dons telling O'Connor a story, and all we had on our side was the truth and the son of a childhood friend.

"It's going to be a tougher sell than we thought."

TBC...