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“Relax,” he said to me.
With a frown, I leaned back into my seat. “I am relaxed.”
“You seem nervous.”
“I’m not nervous. You’re the one butchering the crossword puzzle,” I replied.
He glanced at me, eyebrow raised. “Well excuse me, Mr. Know-It-All, why don’t you fix it then?” He handed it to me.
Taking the pen and the newspaper, I shook my head at some of his answers. “A fourteen letter word for a silent killer is Carbon Monoxide. Hundred and eight stories belong to what eleven-letter word— the answer is Willis Tower. The answer to four down is Buckingham Fountain, not Palaces, that is why you couldn’t fill the space—”
“Show off,” he grumbled, as he snatched the paper from me just as we came to a stop. “Move it, we’re here.”
Jumping out, I brushed my hair back, in an effort to keep it out of my eyes. He put his hat on, and handed his briefcase to the driver. His face became serious again as he glared down at me.
“I promised you for your fourteenth birthday that I would show you what I do. You are not to look away. You will stand there and make me proud, or I will not waste anymore time with you, are we clear?”
“Yeah,” I said. Then, as his eyes narrowed at me, “I mean, yes, sir.”
With a nod, he walked forward into a bar with flashing neon green lights above the entrance. The place went silent and everyone moved out of his way as he strode forward. Some even got up out of their seats and moved away from the bar and into the corner as we made our way to the back, while others nodded out of respect. I always knew my father was respected, and I had come to understand that the things he did weren’t always good. But that was the nature of the family business. If I proved myself, he said I would do great things and I wanted that. I wanted people to respect me, to fear me, to stand when I walked into a room.
We went into basement, and there I saw a man, dripping with sweat and blood, and tied to a chair in the center of the room. The men around him took a step back when they saw my father. He took off his hat and handed it one of the men before doing the same with his jacket. He spent a long time rolling up his sleeves and I knew that he was enjoying this.
“So you're a cop, O’Neil?” he finally asked. “Usually we’d rough you up before putting a bullet in your brain. I really hate wasting my time on filth. But today is my son’s birthday and before we go hunting tomorrow, I’d like to give him some practice.”
One of his men handed him a bow and an a few arrows, which my father tested with the tip of his fingers before he walked to the other side of the basement. O’Neil was pulled to the other end where a glass of beer was balanced on his head.
“Liam, stand in front of him.”
What?
My mouth fell open but I didn’t argue, I simply obeyed and took a step in front of him.
“Turn and face him,” he directed and I did as I was told. The moment I stood still, an arrow went past my ear and into the man’s shoulder. I heard it slice through air before it hit him. I stayed as still as possible as Dad shot another, and another, and another, and each time he’d hit a different point on the man’s body. The bottle of beer now shattered on the ground
“The last one is yours, son,” he said to me, and I turned to find him handing me the bow.
I took it slowly as I looked back up to him.
“I’m all out of arrows, so you're going to have to pull them out of him, just like you do when we go deer hunting.”
I didn’t want to go anywhere near the bleeding man, but I refused to let my dad down. Moving towards O’Neil, I grabbed the arrow in his arm and pushed it through completely. The man cried and screamed, but what bothered me more was the fact that he was moving.
“Move if you want to, but it’s only going to hurt more,” I said to him before I began to remove the others. Then I went to stand in my father’s place at the end of the room.
“Elbow down,” he said to me as I positioned myself. “Pull back gently and just let it fly.”
And I did. The first one hit him in the thigh, the next in the arm, and the other in his stomach.
“Stop,” Dad said, as he took the bow and arrow out of my hands. “I’m growing tired of this, but at least you’ve hit him.”
With that, he took the last three arrows and shot them into both of O’Neil’s eyes, and the last into his heart before he looked back at me.
“You still need practice,” he stated, before he turned to speak with his men.
I watched as they pulled the man out of his chair and lay him on the ground. The blood that flowed from him slowly crept across the floor as it made its way towards me.
“Liam.”
“Yes, Father?”
He washed his hands and undid his sleeves before he put his jacket and hat back on. “We’re heading home.”
“What happens to the cop now?”
With his lips pursed he looked me over. “What do you mean ‘what happens to him?’”
“What do you do with his body, you can’t just dump it in the lake…can you?”
“That depends.” He and his men snickered as he placed his hand on my shoulder and led me back to the bar.
I waited until we were both seated before I turned to him. “Depends on what?”
“On what the clean-up crew decides to do with his body. One thing you will always need is a good clean-up crew. Monetary expenses shouldn’t be a problem, inspect them personally. Make sure anyone close to you does not get involved with the product we provide. Do you understand?”
I nodded as I leaned back. Then I remembered something important. “Are we really going camping tomorrow?”
“Yep. Maybe we can get your mother to not drown you in bug repellent again,” he snickered.
“I wouldn’t bet on it.”
PRESENT
“Liam? Liam?” Mel whispered.
I open my eyes to find her right above me, smiling. I loved waking up to her voice. I reached up and brushed the side of her face. “Hey, you.”
She gave me a sad smile and touched my cheek. “We’ve landed. We have to go.”
I paused as everything came back. I’d had a moment of reprieve, a moment where I’d thought it was just a nightmare, but it was real…and it hurt even more.
“I know,” Mel whispered as if she could read my mind. “I know, but we need to get off the plane, Liam.”
Nodding, I got up and grabbed my jacket and bag. I noticed that Jinx was holding Ethan, and for some reason, it bothered me. Taking my son out of his arms, I turned and exited the jet without another word.
I walked out to see Declan and Coraline hugging my mother, who for the very first time in all my life, was wearing sweatpants and a hoodie. She looked broken. And just the sight of her made my heart ache and my blood boil.
Coraline helped mom into her car before she entered, leaving Declan, Neal and I alone. Ethan tapped my face as if to remind me of his presence, before Mel came and took him from me. Part of me didn’t want to let him go, but I knew that it would be better for my brothers and me to have this conversation alone.
Declan and I both drew in a deep breath as Fedel, Kain, and Jinx removed our father from the cargo hold of the jet. My father was now cargo. I wasn’t sure how Mel had pulled it off, or whom she had bribed or threatened, but his body had been taken out of the morgue, cleaned, dressed and placed on our jet without issue.
