standing here until you make me move
"Connor!" Murphy cries through the wall.
"Murph, go! Get the fuck out of here!" Connor screams, banging a flat hand against the steel. He hits the wall again, silent rage building in his core. He grits his teeth as he and Elena search the room for a way out.
The immediacy of their situation sinks in, and Connor and Elena look around with wide, desperate eyes. The timer keeps ticking, each beep telling them how much time they have left to live. Connor thinks of his brother, knowing that while Murphy can take care of himself, Connor can't leave him all alone in this world. Their family prayer fills his mind, stuck in his throat, as his eyes dart around, looking for an answer.
"I'm so sorry, Connor," Elena says, her voice strained with growing fear.
He blinks and looks at her, turning to face her completely. The ominous beeping accelerates, and they both jerk their heads to see the final few seconds on the timer tick away. They quickly look back at each other, eyes still wide and incredibly frightened.
Tears pool beneath Elena's green irises, and her voice is calm.
"Sláinte mo chara." Cheers my friend.
The moment the words leave her lips, Connor grabs her face and kisses her. He feels the shock in her skin, but she tangles her tongue around his, kissing him back. He moves his hands fast to grab her back, like he'll never let her go again. And Elena pulls at his coat collar with a tight grip, her heart beating fast against his own. This might be the last thing they ever do, tasting each other, holding each other tightly.
But as they slow the kiss and steady their breathing, they realize that something happened. Nothing happened, actually. The beeping had stopped without them realizing it, leaving the timer frozen with only 3 seconds left. And they are still alive, eyes wide and frightened for different reasons now.
Elena slowly lowers her heels back to the floor, releasing her grip on Connor's coat as he steps back. They stare at each other, still trying to catch their breath.
Suddenly, the mechanical sound of the wall moving snaps their attention, and Connor guides Elena to move behind him. He holds up the gun that he's sure—he hopes—has one bullet left, aimed at the steel and whatever awaits them on the other side.
And there stands Murphy, like fucking Rambo, with his obscenely large knife in his right hand. Connor lowers his gun and pulls the slide back out of combined curiosity and anxiety. One bullet left. Fuck.
Murphy moves his eyes between Connor and Elena, raising an eyebrow as he fights a smile. "Ye two alright?"
"Aye," Connor exhales slowly and nods, feeling Elena move from behind him. He can still taste the salt of her skin on his lips, but he blinks hard, narrowing his eyes toward his brother. "The fuck did ye do there?"
"Oh, I cut the red wire," Murphy says with naive confidence, holding the knife up proudly. Connor rubs his hand over his face while Elena mumbles a few curse words under her breath. The twin smiles, though confused by the reactions he's getting. "What? Just like in the movies, yeah?"
"Jesus fucking Christ, Murph," Connor scowls. "Didn't ye think ye might be wrong?"
"Well, it fucking worked, didn't it?" Murphy exclaims, looking incredibly annoyed.
"Divine intervention or luck of the Irish?" Elena asks, a hint of sarcasm coating her voice.
Murphy squints at her, biting back with his own snark. "You choose, lass."
"Shut it, both of ye," Connor interjects, careful not to raise his voice as the adrenaline seeps back in. "We need to get the fuck out of here before something else happens."
Somehow, Elena doesn't look too concerned. Connor feels his pulse quicken while he watches her brow furrow, a sign he now knows means she's thinking fast about something. He gives her a moment, but his impatience (fear) crawls up his throat, forcing him to say her name. "Elena?"
She blinks, shifting her eyes between the twins. "Why would they rig explosives here?"
The question settles in Connor's brain, and he realizes the puzzle they need to solve. "Ye think they're hiding something here?"
Murphy catches on, too. "And they wanted to make sure no one would find it if something happened."
Elena nods. They each look around, inspecting every corner of the office.
An emblem in the corner catches Connor's eye. "Murph, go check Lombardo's wrist for a watch."
His twin gives that look like they're talking to each other on a wavelength made only for them. Within seconds, Murphy runs back to the slain crime lord, the move coaxing Elena closer to Connor.
"What's going on?" she asks, clearly confused.
He swallows hard and points to the geometric design etched into the wall. "I've seen this before."
Elena leans in closer, studying the design with that furrowed brow. "Back in Boston?"
"Well, aye. I didn't want to worry ye, but one of those guys in yer apartment was wearing a watch with this symbol on the back."
He anticipates anger and frustration to pour out of her mouth, but curiosity coats her voice instead. "Do you still have it?"
"I do, back at the church."
Murphy runs in and hands Connor a similar watch. He holds it up to the markings on the wall for comparison, and sure enough, that same design is engraved on the back of the watch.
"Holy shit," Murphy says under his breath.
Connor gives the watch to Elena, and she promptly drops it to the floor, smashing it under her boot. His eyes widen as he looks up at her, and she shakes her head. "Can't risk it. I'm pretty sure he used it to trigger that bomb."
He exhales quickly and asks Murphy for the Rambo knife. As he runs his other hand across the metal, Connor feels a narrow crevice drawing a box around the emblem. Carefully sticking the tip of the knife into the crevice, he pries the facing off to reveal a hidden hard drive.
Encased in black aluminum, three blue LED lights flicker in the center as the drive hums. Elena cautiously pulls the device out, finding several thick ethernet cables and a power cord attached to the back. She looks to Connor and asks, "Think we should take this?"
Fuck, she must be rattled if she sounds that uncertain. Connor twists his lips up one side of his face, considering both the risks and the benefits of stealing that drive. Surely, the risks are nowhere near what they've just been through. "Aye, we should," he confirms, nodding as Elena removes the cables. The lights on the drive fade off as she pulls the power cord, the absence of the humming sound replaced by Connor's heartbeat echoing in his ears.
Elena takes off her jacket, wrapping it around the drive and hugging it close to her chest as Connor slides another loaded magazine into his gun. Murphy stows his knife, and the three of them make their way back through the building. Lombardo has already been positioned with his arms crossed, as Murphy took care of that when he grabbed the watch off the dead man's wrist. Connor and Murphy then quickly yet carefully finish ritualizing all of the slain gangsters, sidestepping the pooling blood as they place the pennies over their eyes.
The trio runs back to the van, where Dolly and Duffy are sitting up front with the engine running. Just as Connor slams the door shut, Dolly shifts the vehicle into gear and drives away from the curb.
"All of the girls made it to the church," Duffy confirms. "What took you guys so long?"
"Bit of a snag in the plan, Duff," Murphy answers before Connor can open his mouth. "Didn't count on disarming a fucking bomb."
Duffy turns his face back toward them, and Connor can see Dolly's eyebrows rise in the rearview mirror. "No shit!" they say simultaneously, sounding a lot like the twins.
As Murphy explains what happened, Connor glances over to Elena. The hard drive is still wrapped in her jacket, sitting on her lap. She noticeably shivers, though her hands hold the drive steady with each turn the van makes. Connor takes off his coat and hands it to Elena. "Here, I'll trade ye," he offers softly, taking the drive as she hesitantly takes his coat. She slips her arms into the sleeves, smiling modestly at Connor and mouthing, "Thank you."
God, her mouth…it's all he can see, all he can taste.