Eye of the Falcon (Psychic Visions #12)(76)

“That’s true for anyone who wouldn’t take painkillers.”

“You promised me bourbon. Who knew the stuff you had was weak as shit. I felt every stitch he put in me.”

Eagle shook his head, a smile on his face. “Those were the good old days.”

“You know what good old days are?” Issa asked beside him. “I used to think my life came in parts. Part five was when I woke up in your house. But somehow it switched into part six. Part six is whatever nightmare this is.”

He turned to study her. “That’s an odd way to look at your life.”

“My life has had very clear stop and start times. That’s all I meant by it.”

“Just so long as part seven is good, none of what happens in part six will ultimately matter.”

“It will matter if somebody gets hurt.” She shook her head and wouldn’t continue.

He gently tucked her up close to him.

They pulled into the small town. Memories stirred in the deep recesses of her mind. She sat up and looked around. “Shouldn’t people be on the roads?”

“It’s seven in the evening here. People are at home or at the pub—where we have rooms for the night.”

“Are we going there now?”

Hawk shook his head. “No. We’re taking a rendezvous down to the address on your mom’s letter. Your old home.”

She winced. “I really wish that woman was alive and here right now.”

“In fact, her death is likely what precipitated all this,” Eagle said.

She twisted in her seat to better look at him. “What are you talking about?”

“Just think about it. Everything was going along like normal until she died.”

“Yes, but how would anybody know?” She stared at him, confusion in her eyes. “Everybody here in Ireland probably thought she was already dead.”

“You don’t know what she might have set up,” Eagle said. “She was married to a smuggler for a long time. She was heavily involved in that side of the business. She might have had other dealings you are unaware of. Other connections she kept in touch with.”





Chapter 24





“Like what?” Issa challenged, not sure she was ready for more family hits.

But Eagle was never somebody to back off. He watched her quietly. “A mother who may very well have had something to do with either her husband’s or her sons’ deaths.”

It was delivered in a flat tone, like he had left no room for frills or niceties. She sank back in her seat, remembering what she’d learned so far, how she had even had these thoughts too, and said, “Oh.”

She turned to stare moodily out the window. It was as if she visited a foreign country, without the joy of being on holiday. Foreboding filled her; resentment rode on her back. She didn’t want to be here. She didn’t want to be dealing with this. But, at the same time, she was incredibly afraid for Panther. If they’d taken his tooth, what else had they taken? And what had they done to Tiger too?

She remembered her father’s men had been nothing if not direct. They had lived by a strong code, and they were just as likely to jump each other if one broke the code. But, in their own way, they were honest. It was hard to believe any one of them would’ve done this to Panther.

If her mother had known the details of the smuggling operation or the men involved, she hadn’t cared to divulge any of those. Issa had tried having those conversations with her mother for years, for decades, but she’d just shut down. “Any time I asked about my history, about my family, about Ireland, my mother wouldn’t talk to me for days.”

“Did she ever tell you about your brothers?”

“She never mentioned them. Like that part of her life was a hundred percent over, never to be reopened.”

Hawk gave a low whistle. “That’s pretty hard to do. If you loved your children, it’s automatic to talk about them. I know they all died at the same time, but it’s almost instinctive to bring them into a conversation. It gives them life, keeps the memories alive.”

“I think that is what she didn’t want,” Issa said. “She didn’t want to remember them. It was as if she was glad they were gone.” Issa shook her head. “For all I know I was supposed to die too.”

“Why do you say that?” Eagle asked.

She turned to look at him. “That night a hell of a storm blew in. She never once came and checked on me. At the time I knew it was because I had a job to do. I was expected to do it no matter what. But it was hard to stay out there in the darkness. If it wasn’t for Hadrid, I don’t think I would’ve survived.”

“As in, you might’ve died out there,” Eagle asked, “or, as in, it was a terrible night, and you were lonely and cold and miserable?”

“The second. I was sitting on the edge of a cliff, and I had to walk home in the dark. Let me just say that, if I ever have a child, I will never let them go alone out on the edge of a cliff in the dark and ugly weather. I don’t think my safety was ever part of my mother’s thoughts.”

They continued for another ten minutes in silence. The country was harsher than she’d expected. Craggy rocks, hilly sides, green on top, brown on the bottom. Water, so much water in this corner of the world. Then she remembered her father had a boat. Used to move goods up and down the coastline. “I wonder what happened to his boat.”