Irish Throwdown (What Happens In Vegas Book 4) by Matt Lincoln (short books for teens .TXT) 📕

“Should we head straight to the hotel?” I asked as we made our way toward the transportation area where buses and taxis were stationed and waiting to transport people from the airport and into the city. Part of me wanted to explore and maybe get something to eat, but it was late, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tired.

“Yeah,” Charlie nodded. “We’re meeting with the police tomorrow morning, so we should try to get as much sleep as we can. Don’t want to deal with jetlag while we’re investigating.”

“Good point,” I replied. It was a little disappointing, but I’d probably have time to have a look around Dublin later.

We boarded a shuttle destined for downtown Dublin. Since we knew we’d be arriving quite late at night, Wallace had opted to book us a hotel room in Dublin, at least for the first night. That way, we’d be able to set out early and head to the location in the countryside first thing in the morning.

The shuttle was crammed full of people, and as I watched other passengers struggle to hoist their luggage onto the shuttle, I was glad that I only had my work bag and a travel backpack to contend with. A family was sitting at the back of the shuttle with two fussy children. One was a baby who was openly crying, and the other was a small boy who seemed irritated by the noise his sister was making. I felt a pang of sympathy as I watched them. If I was cranky and sore after sitting in a plane seat for thirteen hours, I couldn’t imagine how a kid must feel.

The baby continued to cry the entire time the shuttle was in motion, and I could tell from the faces of a few other passengers that they were annoyed. It didn’t really bother me. Compared to the sound of gunshots, a baby’s crying was a lot easier to tune out. She stopped sobbing right as we pulled into the bus terminal in Dublin, and I could tell that one passenger seemed particularly aggravated by this.

“Seriously?” The man muttered lowly. “Now she shuts up?”

I frowned at the man but didn’t say anything. It didn’t seem like the mother had heard him, and it probably wouldn’t do any good to argue with someone like him.

I looked around as I got off the shuttle. Dublin was beautiful, with tall, brick buildings sandwiched closely together and bisected by wide, cobblestone streets. I was just about to suggest we walk to our hotel so we’d have an opportunity to take in the sights when I spied a large blue double-decker bus.

“Let’s ride that,” I requested immediately. I felt a little childish for getting so excited over something so trivial, but I brushed the feeling aside. Double-decker buses didn’t really exist in the United States, primarily because our city architecture generally didn’t allow for it. They were almost entirely exclusive to Northern Europe, and I didn’t want to miss my chance to ride in one.

“Okay,” Charlie shrugged, sounding totally indifferent. “Does that even go in the direction of our hotel, though?”

“I’m sure it does,” I lied as I headed for the tram. Even if it didn’t, it probably wouldn’t go very far in the opposite direction. Double-deckers were more often used for short, usually scenic routes. I paid our fare and then pulled my phone out of my pocket to check the bus routes.

“The fourth stop is near our hotel,” I informed Charlie as I climbed the stairs to the upper level, secretly glad that this tram actually was heading in the right direction. I would have felt like an idiot if I’d caused us to end up in the middle of nowhere.

“Great,” he replied as he took a seat near the front of the bus. I noticed as I sat down next to him that the family with the crying baby was on the tram as well. The little boy seemed less grumpy than before and was excitedly pointing out the window.

The bus took off a few minutes later. There was a large, wide window at the front that gave us a beautiful view of the city as we passed by. Just a few minutes after setting off, the bus rolled to the next stop.

“Do you see that?” Charlie asked seriously.

I glanced down to where he was pointing. From this vantage point, I could see a man standing behind a few others waiting in line at the bus stop. He had his hand shoved into his coat and kept glancing around nervously.

“Crap,” I hissed. I moved to stand up, and just as I did, the man pulled a gun from his coat and rushed onto the bus. I heard screaming from the lower deck and what sounded like a man’s voice commanding the bus driver to drive. “What do we do?”

We weren’t cops, and this definitely wasn’t our jurisdiction, but we couldn’t just stand aside while an armed man took a bus full of people hostage.

“I have a plan,” Charlie whispered. “I’m going to need you to distract the gunman.”

15

Miranda

I gulped my soda down with relish. It had been a long and tiring day, and it was still barely noon. Naomi and I had been rushing all over Las Vegas dealing with attacks that the police suspected might be involved with our current case. Most of them had turned out to be unrelated acts of violence, but a few had turned out to be connected to the mysterious new drug found in the fake bottles of cough syrup. We’d finally stopped to take a break for lunch, and I hadn’t realized just how ravenous I was until my food was in front of me. Now we were sitting in the parking lot of a fast-food chain while we waited for a new call.

“I can’t believe how many assaults happen in this city every day!” I exclaimed as I took a bite of my burger. “Most