A/N: Thank you to IrishSaints, wolfchick11 and Jade Opan for reviewing and thank you for reading! I'd have to say that I still love writing this story even though "Even in Heaven" is more popular. I'll try to work on this as much as I can, but seeing that the reviews are much better for the Murphy/OC, I'm going to concentrate on that. I hope you still like this story, though! xx IFHD
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Chapter 19: Shattered Pieces
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"What I've Done"
By: Linkin Park
In this
farewell
There's no blood
There's no alibi
'Cause I've
drawn regret
From the truth
Of a thousand lies
So let
mercy come
And wash away
What I've done
I'll face
myself
To cross out what I've become
Erase myself
And let
go of what I've done
Put to rest
What you thought of
me
While I clean this slate
With the hands of uncertainty
For what
I've done
I start again
And whatever pain may come
Today
this ends
I'm forgiving what I've done!
What I've
done
Forgiving what I've done
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"Ye guys alright in there?" Connor hissed as quietly as he could as he spotted Sean coming from a side exit of the warehouse. Lowering his gun to his side, he signaled to Murphy, who began to slyly jog to their side.
In hasty strides, Sean joined his cousins in the dim moonlight, slightly alarmed. "Aye." He answered quickly, lowering his gun as well. "We're makin' it convincin', but Malley heard the last few shots."
"Fuckin' pricks." Murphy finally appeared at their side, holding his smoking Desert Eagle .50 in hand. Removing his sweaty and bloodied black mask, he hissed through gritted teeth, "There were probably fuckin' ten of O'Sullivan's men walkin' 'round the harbour, all havin' weapons on 'em. Lourdes would've been surrounded and theirs for the killin'."
"Good thing we didn't trust the bastard." Sean attentively eyed their surroundings once more, making sure the coast was entirely clear. "He has her, Isolde and Braden in a room just in there. I slid her a gun just in case right before I left."
Just as Sean had finished his sentence, they heard a gun discharge from inside the warehouse.
Flashback
Sean continued to walk casually through Sin Bin, keeping his hands in his pockets as he confidently made his way towards Keiran O'Sullivan and Craig Malley in an adjacent booth. The two didn't immediately look up upon his arrival, so he cleared his throat once, twice, then thrice, finally gaining their attention through the blaring music. Upon seeing him, Craig instantly tensed, placing a hand on the gun that hung from his belt. Sean caught this gesture and quickly held his hand up. "I know everything, Craig. I could rightly take yer ass to jail, but that's not why I'm here." His face hardened. "I want in."
At this bold, unmitigated statement, Keiran and Craig gave each other a look, seemingly unconvinced at Sean's proposal. "What exactly do ye want in on, Flannagan?" Craig raised a skeptical eyebrow, closely scrutinizing him. "We're just two men having a couple of drinks at a strip club."
"I want in on everything." Sean placed his hands upon the booth table, turning his gaze on both men alternately. "Drinks, money, drugs, hits…anythin' the Unionists can give me. I just want in, and I want in now."
"Who is this fucker that speaks in my humble presence?" Keiran piped up in a mockingly cordial tone. "Craig, tell him to fuck off. I would like to enjoy my night, if that is at all possible."
"Boss, I…" Craig began hesitantly, leaning his head closer to Keiran's ear. "He's an agent on my team, boss. I can't just fuckin' send him out if he knows somethin'. If I kill him right here, right now, there'll be tons of witnesses."
Understanding their predicament, Keiran threw him a nod. "How the fuck can we trust ye?" It was Keiran's turn to speak, pointing a large, ringed finger at him. "For all we know ye could stab our backs in a second."
"I haven't reported ye to my boss, or her boss, have I?" With the same confidence evident with his arrival, Sean crossed his arms. "Ye fuckin' know that we can get backup here in minutes, so don't ye fuckin' think that I couldn't do it. I just didn't. Malley here knows this." Even with a cocky smirk, Sean still felt as though he didn't convince them enough. He tried once more. "Look, if ye want to put me on some trial test, then let me work with Agent Craig Malley over here on whatever he's doin'." He patted the agent on the back, promptly receiving a dirty look from him. Sean instantly retrieved his hand. "If ye want more IRA member names, we have 'em. And what's better than one fine agent than two? Besides, Craig knows me. He knows the connections that I have."
After being under Craig's critical microscope, the dirty agent finally gave a conceding nod, turning his attention back to Keiran. "He's right, boss. If he had wanted to, he would've ratted us out already, and the An Garda Síochána would've been on our asses right now."
Another few moments of deliberation. Sean was getting anxious, leg ticking as he waited. After what lingered for what seemed like ages, Keiran finally said, "Alright, Agent Flannagan. How about we do a simple trial run? If ye fail, yer dead."
"Sold!" Sean held out a congenial hand for him to shake, though receiving nothing. He held up an index finger instead. "But first, we have to make this 'attempted arrest' convincing, just to get the other agents off our backs."
Craig raised a skeptical eyebrow, crossing his arms. "What are ye suggesting, then?"
Sean beamed, as though he were so pleased to inform the two men. "A firefight."
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"…and that's how I first met Keiran and Craig together at Sin Bin." Sean sat in the MacManus kitchen in between Il Duce and Murphy, fully explaining to them what had transpired a few days earlier. "I finally managed to convince 'em that I was wholeheartedly dirty, and then we started the whole shooting thing at Sin Bin. I shot my gun in the air first, warning everyone to get the fuck out. Of course, I didn't want anyone to get hurt during this lil' scheme of mine - which, by the way, was not approved by Lourdes, so she'll be on my ass for this one.." He winced, necking a shot. Exhaling, he continued, "I even lied to her about what really happened at Sin Bin since I didn't really know how she would handle the situation or how I was gonna go on with my plan. But I didn't know the fucker was goin' to take it as far as to take me as a fuckin' hostage, so, I made it a lil' more than convincin' when I kicked the shit out o' him. Really, I wanted ye all to shoot 'im down, but that would've left me with no clue where to find Isolde and Braden. Kinda good that he got away in that respect."
"So ye have contact with him at all times, even when he's with O'Sullivan?" Murphy questioned, leaning forward as he rested his elbows on his knees, "Ye got a plan to get yer agents back?"
"Aye. And of course I have a plan. I've had it even before I met the motherfuckers. I'm just glad things are workin' out the way I planned 'em to." Sean leant back on his seat, pursing his lips. "Never thought they were gonna go take Isolde and Braden as hostage, though. Craig just told me about it yesterday and I convinced him to use 'em as bait for Lourdes. That'll keep 'em alive for now. But as to get 'em back, I'm still workin' on how to precisely execute it, but I have a plan."
"So that's why he only asked for Lourdes, aye?" Il Duce remarked, unweaving his nephew's tale. "Yer gonna be right beside the bastard when he meets with her."
With a wide grin molded on his face, Sean snapped his fingers contentedly, then pointed at both men. "Precisely what I had in mind. I've got the in with Craig, so no worries about that. Now, I'm gonna get Lourdes and ye MacManuses in."
"Great." Murphy anxiously leaned forward, clasping his hands together. "What's yer big plan?"
"We act."
Murphy wrinkled his nose. "Act?"
"We'll let Connor and Lourdes in on everything that's happened." Sean began to explain, standing up as though overtaken by utter excitement. He began to pace, the gears in his brain on overdrive. "Lourdes goes to meet with Craig on her own. She doesn't know that I've 'betrayed' her. I come out of nowhere and then she pretends to get pissed. She screams, yells, cries, whatever she wants to do to make it convincing. Then, to make it even more convincing, I'll shoot her…"
"Fuck off, Flannagan, ye ain't shootin' her!" Murphy cried out in protest, throwing an empty beer can at his cousin. "Ye out of her fuckin' mind?!"
"Nooo, ye fuck, that's why I specifically said acting!" He barked in response, throwing the can back at Murphy. "Fake guns, fake blood, ye know, all that Hollywood special effects shit." At this, Murphy's lips slowly shaped into an 'o' as he completely understood. Sean let out an exasperated sigh. "Now do ye get me, Murph? I ain't gonna really shoot her, ye dumb fuck!"
"Sounds much better." Murphy replied calmly.
"Why thank ye." Sean took a much needed breath. "Alright, once we're in ye three do yer thing and kill whoever is guardin' the place. Do it as discreetly as possible, cuz even I don't know where Craig has Isolde and Braden right now. We might all get fucked if Craig finds out we brought backup. So, once that's done, ye wait for Lourdes and me to get out. When that's all worked out, we'll get rid of Craig somehow, then take Isolde and Braden back to the Embassy to explain all the shit that went down."
End Flashback
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A/N: Sean's a good guy after all! lol Tricked ya? xx IFHD