A/N: Hey guys! A big thank you to my faithful reviewers Jade Opal, wolfchick11 and IrishSaints. You guys are awesome. Thank you for reading as well! I hope you enjoy this next one. Alas, I am getting very busy, since I'm preparing to work in Dublin this summer! I'm so excited! But aye, I'll try to work as hard as I can on this story, as well as "Even in Heaven". Don't forget to review!

xx

IFHD

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Chapter 15: Sin Bin

Lourdes surveyed herself in the mirror, making the finishing touches on her hair and make-up. She was still unable to fathom how she got into this particular situation, even though she obviously outranked Sean. Though, she had to admit that his idea for her to pose as an exotic dancer was the most inconspicuous way for her to do her investigation at Sin Bin. After she had protested and argued with her fellow agent (much to the twins' amusement, of course), she had finally agreed, though making it clear that she would not go on stage and that she would only show as much skin as needed so as to be convincing. Now, she was at Il Duce's home, preparing for the long-awaited stakeout.

She was caught off-guard by a soft rap on the door, followed by the turning of the doorknob. As Murphy casually walked in, Lourdes had just finished placing on a white, silk negligee, which somewhat managed to cover her up. "Whoa, hey!" he immediately placed a hand above his eyes, holding the other up in surrender. "I didn't see anythin', I swear."

"Don't worry, Murphy, it's alright." She replied, tying the front strings into a bow. "This thing isn't as uncomfortable as I thought it would be."

Cautiously, the twin peeked through his fingers first, then slowly lowered his hand from his face when he saw her smile. Upon fully seeing her, he immediately gave out a low, unabashed whistle. "Whoa. Conn's gonna love this." He mumbled more to himself than to Lourdes. Peering out of the doorway, he shouted, "Hey, Con, ye gotta come see this!"

Lourdes was utterly horrified. "Murphy!" she hissed, ready to slap him upside the head, arm held out to her side. Though, just as she reached the centre of the room, Connor suddenly appeared at the doorway. This caused Lourdes to stop cold in her tracks, holding her breath in the process. Connor's eyes seemed to scrutinize every inch of her in a slow manner, staring at her from her toes, then up to her eyes. To her own surprise, Lourdes actually felt embarrassed. Crossing her arms and clearing her throat, she finally managed to gain Connor's attention. Well, eye-to-eye contact, at least. Murphy only giggled to himself before patting Connor on the back and swiftly leaving the room. Almost identical to his brother, the only thing that Connor had managed to articulate at that moment was,

"Whoa."

"Alright, enough with the gawking!" Lourdes scoldingly slapped Connor on the arm. "You look like you haven't seen a woman in skanky clothing before."

No, it's just that I haven't seen you in skanky clothing before, Connor mused to himself, a smirk finally tugging at his lips. He didn't know how he had managed it, but it took all of his self-control and will-power not to rightly pounce on her. She could've seen him fidgeting in his socks if she had looked closely enough. But thankfully able to somehow find his voice he explained, "Sorry, Lourdes, but I have to admit that I think you'd make a more convincing stripper than Smecker."

Lourdes rolled her eyes warily. "Thanks for the well-thought compliment."

"Anytime."

"You Irishmen almost ready? It's been at least two hours." Lourdes quickly placed her coat on, clearing her belongings from the bedroom before she exited.

"Almost." Connor tilted his head towards the stairs, grinning. "Da and Sean are still gettin' acquainted."

At his motion, Lourdes peered down the stair railings, seeing Il Duce and Sean standing face to face below her.

"Sean Flannagan, I still can't believe it's really ye." Il Duce really didn't seem to believe his eyes, examining Sean as though here were a mere apparition. "Last time I saw ye, I was holdin' ye in me arms when ye were a wee bairn, just six months old." He added after a few moments, "Almost dropped ye, too."

"Ye probably did." Murphy countered quick-wittedly with a booming laugh, managing to gain a slap upside the head from Sean. He only laughed gleefully, flicking his fingers at Sean's ear in retaliation.

Sean then noticed Lourdes and Connor on the second floor, still watching the exchange between the three Irishmen. Folding his arms, he called out, raising his eyebrows repeatedly, "So…which outfit did you come up with?"

Connor stepped forward at this, barking, "Hey, she ain't here to give ye a show, alright?" Lourdes looked astonishingly at Connor as he continued, jogging down the stairs, "Look, we've spent enough time here. Everything's in the cars, so let's get this shit started."

Sean leaned backwards towards Murphy as he watched Connor leave the house, saying from the corner of his lips, "What's up his arse?"

"Ye." Giving Sean another slap upside the head with a snicker, Murphy quickly turned and ran towards the cars, with Sean in pursuit not far behind him.

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Lourdes and Sean zigzagged through the busy Boston streets. The city never seemed to sleep, even if it was nearing midnight. Not far away from them, Connor and Murphy drove in another car, following closely behind.

Lourdes winded down Sean's radio as she questioned, "Where's your uncle?"

"Gone to the Police Station." He replied, checking the rearview mirror for his cousins. "He's letting Smecker in on what we're doin' tonight and is probably goin' to do more investigatin'. The more of these bastards we can identify and find the better."

"The sooner the better," Lourdes added as she gave out a long exhale, placing her fingers upon her temples. "I just can't believe that either Isolde, Braden or Craig ratted us out. What could they have to gain from any of this?"

"I reckon it's Craig. Never liked him in the first place," snorted Sean, giving his shoulders a quick shrug. "But who knows? The only thing I'm thinkin' is that if they're helping O'Sullivan, they'll probably get a cut of his profits. Get rid o' us, get some cash." He scoffed, "Never knew we were worth that much, eh?"

"I know it isn't Isolde." Lourdes wrinkled her face in doubt. "Or at least I have faith that it's not her. I know her well enough to know that she wouldn't do something like this."

"I guess we might find out tonight. That'll rest our minds, somewhat." Turning the wheel, Sean shot her a glance, a thought flashing through his mind. Hesitating for a moment, he finally asked, "So what's up between ye and my cousin?"

"What? Who?"

"Connor."

"Nothing." Lourdes didn't find it difficult to keep a straight face, though her heart involuntarily leapt at the question. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, it's so fuckin' obvious that the bloke fancies ye! He might as well wear a bleedin' sign on his forehead and walk around Boston." Sean answered exasperatedly, though managing a tiny smirk. "I know ye've noticed. Yer too good of an agent not to have had."

Lourdes gulped. She tried again, "Nothing is going on, Sean. We're merely working together." She looked out the window, attempting to escape Sean's prying eyes. "Besides, he's already involved."

He scoffed, "Yeah, remind me again, will ye." He then shook his head in humour. "Con and I, well, we share a history of fightin' over girls. That's just how it is between us." He gave his shoulders a shrug. "He was always a ladies' man, as ye can probably tell, so it wasn't hard for him to get a woman. Even mine."

Lourdes frowned, noticing the slump in Sean's shoulders. "He meant to do it?"

"Nah." Sean gave her a flippant gesture, half-smiling. "Aileen and I, we were almost done. Guess she decided to lean on Connor's shoulder, and he decided to offer it to her, so to speak. Seems like they're still seein' each other."

"Yeah." Lourdes replied weakly, keeping her eyes fixed to the twinkling city lights outside. She said inwardly, That's just too bad.

"Alright, we're here." Looking at the rearview mirror, Sean motioned his hand for the MacManus brothers to keep driving. Their plan had been to go in separately, lest they were discovered. As their car passed by, Sean turned his attention to Lourdes once more. "Alright boss, I'm the pimp now. Gonna talk to the bouncer so that he'll let us in."

Sean exited the vehicle first. Confidently strutting towards the massive bouncers in the front, he began to speak with them. As Lourdes stepped out, he motioned his hand towards her, still reasoning with the men. Their eyes then landed on her, accepting smirks appearing on their faces. With acceding nods, they stepped out of Sean's way, making a clear path for the two to enter. At Sean's beckon, Lourdes joined him. Slinking her arm around him, they entered the club side by side.

"Alright Lourdes, I got ye in. It's up to ye from this point." Sean hissed, pulling her in closer as he leaned into her ear, "I'll go find the twins."

With a nod, Lourdes began to walk backstage, trying to find the dressing area. Walking further into the club, she followed the chorus of voices that sounded from several rooms. Peeking into one of the white rooms, she saw eight exotic dancers before her, sitting in front of vanities. Cautiously walking in, she immediately caught their attentions.

"Look what the cat dragged in." A woman with long, blonde hair (and very think eyelashes, in Lourdes' opinion), greeted her good-humouredly, giving her a smile. "New around here, suga?"

"Just got in tonight." Lourdes continued to stand awkwardly at the doorway, once again being scrutinized from head to toe. "What's the procedure at this joint?"

"You just missed the special tonight, honey." Another woman replied, pulling back her wavy, brown hair into a think ponytail. "You gotta wait to dance till tomorrow night. It's Ladies' Night now."

Lourdes' face scrunched up in utter confusion. "Ladies' Night?"

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"Murph, where the fuck are ye goin'?"

"Shut up, I fuckin' hear people down here."

"Fuckin' idiot, why'd we come through the back door?"

"Ye wanted to be incon-fucking-spicuous, so we used the back door!"

With a grunt of annoyance, Connor continued to creep his way through the back rooms of Sin Bin, having no idea where he was going. With Murphy just a few paces in front of him, they made their way blindly through the establishment, with minimal light guiding them and no knowledge of the layout of this particular area of the club.

Without warning, Murphy shot his arm out, stopping his brother mid-step. "Wait, ye hear somethin'?"

Before Connor could even get a word out, the stage curtains flew wide open. What it revealed to the MacManus brothers were something that they never would have expected: dozens of screaming women, all standing and eagerly waiting, in front of the stage. Needless to say, the two resembled twin deer caught in headlights. Frozen at the middle of the stage, they merely stared at the restless crowd in front of them. The host, who stood just a few feet in front of them, turned impatiently. Covering his microphone with a hand, he hissed, "You two dancin' or what?"

"Uh…" Connor croaked weakly.

"Of course we are!" Murphy cried out, bobbing his head to the music. Walking towards the front of the stage in confident strides, he held out his arms and pursed his lips, much to the adoration of the screeching women.

"Allllright!" The host regained his smile as he began to speak into the microphone once more. He turned his attention back to the audience, holding an arm out. "Looks like we have our first two dancers…" he squinted his eyes in an attempt to read his cue card in the flashing, rainbow lights, "…Sir Sexalot and Mr. Woody!"

Another chorus of cheers followed. Connor was horrified.

Murphy was having the time of his life.

Lourdes returned from the dressing room, removing a handful of jewelry as she searched for the twins and Sean in the crowd. Pushing her way through as politely as possible, she spotted Sean at the back corner of the club. His eyes were glued to the stage, his expression stunned. Following his gaze, Lourdes' eyes landed on…

…Murphy swinging his t-shirt wildly above his head and Connor doing an awkward dance, something resembling a hip thrust.

"Fuck!" she cursed out loud, panic coursing through her veins. This was supposed to be inconspicuous? Alarmed, she zigzagged her way through the crowd once more towards Sean. Reaching him, she swung him around as she pulled at his arm. "What the hell is going on, Flannagan? What are they doing up there?"

"What are they not doin'?" Sean gave out a low groan, running his hand over his face. "They must've gone through the back door. The fuckin' curtains went up just as they were walkin' by."

"Murphy's trying to save it, but he's only making it worse!" Lourdes closed her eyes, trying to regain her composure. "Whoever the mole is will recognize Connor. We better stop them quickly before…" She abruptly stopped her speech when she saw a familiar face in one of the booths, not far from where she stood. To her disbelief, there sat Keiran O'Sullivan, and right across from him…Agent Craig Malley.

"Oh my God." She felt for Sean's arm, not breaking her stare. "It's Craig."

"What?" Sean followed her stare, eyes landing right on their 'fellow agent'. His blood began to boil. "Fuckin' bastard! I knew it was him!" He felt for the gun in his holster eagerly, baring his teeth in rage. "Get my cousins off the fuckin' stage, boss. I'll make sure these two sons of bitches don't get away."

"Wait." Lourdes held his sleeve tightly, face turning into stone. "Be careful, Sean. Their cronies can be everywhere."

With a nod, Sean disappeared into the crowd, out of Lourdes' sight. Lowering her head, she made her way through the crowd of screaming women, trying to get right into the front. Connor immediately saw her and happily jumped off the stage. The women cried gleefully at this, slinking bills into his trousers.

"We're done!" Connor waved his hands wildly at the host, who nodded in understanding. Taking Lourdes by the hand, much to the disappointment of the sea of women, they made a mad dash through the crowd and ran into the backstage area. Finally alone, they caught their breaths, saying simultaneously,

"The mole is Craig Malley."

With a nod, Connor placed his shirt back on. He muttered to himself, "Ma's going to kill me for this."

"What should we do?" Lourdes knew exactly what she would've done under protocol: calmly face the suspect, show him your badge, and ask them kindly to come with you for questioning. Though in this instance, Lourdes didn't think that Craig would follow any type of protocol. She knew he was more likely to shoot her than to speak to her. So now, she turned to Connor to make a decision. "There are too many people in here."

"I know." Connor pressed his lips into a thin line, looking back behind him to see if anyone else had followed. "Fuck, where the hell is Murphy?"

"Holy shit, that was fuckin' amazin'!" Murphy cried breathlessly, still pulling out the bills from his trousers as he strode to their side. "Did ye see how many…"

Connor pointed a stern finger at his nose, his expression unamused. "Listen, ye get a fuckin' hold of yerself. Craig Malley is the mole. He's in the booth with O'Sullivan."

"Then let's go kill the motherfuckers." Murphy retorted easily with a shrug, feeling for the guns around his ankles. "That's what we came here to do, right?"

Lourdes pressed a hand on his chest, halting him as he began to walk towards the direction of the stage. "We can't endanger the lives of these people, Murphy. If we're going to start a firefight…"

Lourdes didn't have time to finish her sentence, because right then and there, they heard shots being fired, followed by deafening screams. With eyes wide, Lourdes unthinkingly ran into the middle of the club, concern for Sean clouding her judgment. She gasped as bullets ripped through the chairs beside her, missing her only by a few inches. Before she could see who was shooting at her, Connor lunged in her direction, pulling her down with him as he fired his gun. Covering her body with his, he continued to shoot at the men he recognized as O'Sullivan's followers. Lourdes ducked her head, though felt at her ankle for her gun.

"Sean!" she screamed at Connor, her eyes flicking wildly across the club. "Where's Sean?"

"I don't see him!" Connor cried, reloading his gun. He twisted his head back. "Murph, where the fuck are ye?"
"Right behind ye!" Murphy bellowed, shooting with two guns as he dove onto the ground. He landed right beside Lourdes and his brother, the three being shielded by bullet-covered booths. Squinting his eyes in confusion, he yelled through the gunfire, "Who the fuck am I shootin' at?"

"The ones who are shooting at you!" Lourdes yelled in reply, pushing herself from the floor and crawling from underneath Connor. Before he could stop her, she dashed behind another booth, firing her gun. "Sean? Sean, answer me!"

"Hold your fire!" Lourdes heard as she continued to hide behind the booth. The voice continued, "Go, get outta here!" From the corner of her eye, she saw that Murphy and Connor continued to shoot. Peeking her head slightly from the booth, she could see half a dozen of O'Sullivan's men running and ducking, exiting the club from side doors. She screamed in frustration at the thought of them getting away.

When the club was deathly silent, Lourdes looked again, this time seeing only Craig…holding Sean at gunpoint. Bolting out from behind the booth with her gun drawn, she screamed, "Let him go, Craig!"

"Yeah?" Craig jerked Sean around to face her, gun still pointing at his forehead. "And what are ye gonna do? Shoot me?"

"Drop. Your. Gun." Lourdes commanded slowly and firmly, inching her way closer and closer to them with little side-steps. "Why would you do this, Craig?" She then questioned, the pains of betrayal written all over her expression. "We work to protect people, to solve crimes, to bring justice to families. Why would you have us all murdered?"

"For money, you whore, what else?" Craig gritted his teeth, pressing the gun closer to Sean's head. "Ten fuckin' years in this agency, and I get treated like shit."

"You should've joined a union." Lourdes scoffed with a roll of her eyes, still not backing down.

"Little Miss Perfect, eh, Villamor?" Craig threw his head back, giving her a sardonic laugh. "Yer fuckin' blind. Ye have no idea how corrupt this force is."

"Because of people like you!" Lourdes retorted, hands still not budging from their strained position. "Now let him go!"

In a rash, unexpected move, Connor stepped out from behind the booth, gun withdrawn. This gained Craig's attention for a split second. Taking his chance, Sean used this momentary distraction to his advantage. In a flash, he moved from underneath Craig's grasp and out of the gun's path. Elbowing him as hard as he could, Sean disarmed Craig, the gun sliding from them a few meters away. As Sean head-butted him, Craig staggered backwards, fully releasing him. Knowing that he had lost the battle and was a lone fish in a barrel, Craig quickly slipped out of the club from the front doors, barely dodging Lourdes' flying bullets.

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A/N: This was one of my fave chapters to write. What'd you guys think? xx IFHD