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

disappear,” I snapped angrily. “Whatever you’re hiding, we’ll figure it out.”

O’Callaghan glared down and at me, then stooped so that he was at my eye level.

“You should be mindful of what you say, miss,” he sneered. “You have no idea what we’re capable of making disappear.”

With that, he turned and grabbed the young man roughly by the arm before dragging him inside and slamming the door shut behind him.

“Well,” Naomi huffed. “That didn’t go very well.”

“No kidding.” I sighed as I stared at the door the two had disappeared through. “We know one thing for certain, though. They definitely have something to do with this. They wouldn’t be going through such lengths to hide this if they didn’t.”

The thought stayed with me as we walked back to the car. There was more to learn here, but there wasn’t much that we could do without a warrant at the moment. I felt frustrated at the thought of having been stopped once again when we were so close to the truth.

26

Charlie

I sighed as I fell back onto the same metal bench I’d fallen asleep on earlier that morning. It was a hard, unyielding, and uncomfortable piece of furniture, but it felt amazing to just sit and rest my legs right now.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the cool metal as I went over the events of the day in my head again.

I’d managed to make it back onto the platform and behind a wall just as the bomb went off. Thankfully, no one was injured in the explosion, though the station itself sustained some pretty severe damage. The tracks had been completely obliterated and, obviously, rendered useless, and a large chunk of the tunnel itself had collapsed, along with the roof above it. The roof of that tunnel was also the floor of the main lobby above it, which meant that had the station been open and full of people at the time, dozens of innocent people would have been seriously injured or killed.

I opened my eyes and reached into the pocket of my jacket, feeling around for the thin slip of paper I’d tucked there earlier. I pulled it free with my fingers and held it up to my face to examine it again.

Gallagher

28 Fleet St, Dublin 2,

DO2, H950

The words were scrawled onto the small scrap of paper in quick, messy handwriting. I’d shown the address to Seamus, and he’d told me that it wasn’t far at all from here, but that actually heading there would have to wait. We needed to develop a plan and deal with the fallout of the bomb going off first.

“Here,” Junior prompted as he suddenly plopped down next to me and held a hot beverage out to me. I could detect the strong scent of coffee coming from the cup, along with something else I couldn’t readily identify. Whatever it was had me feeling more awake just from smelling it.

“Thanks.” I nodded gratefully as I took the proffered cup from him. The fatigue of not getting enough sleep for several days was starting to wear on me, and we still needed to search that address.

I brought the cup up to my lips and nearly flinched as a taste that was both sweet and burning slid down my throat. I coughed in surprise and blinked tears out of my eyes, suddenly feeling extremely awake.

“Traditional Irish Coffee,” Junior explained as he took a sip from his own cup. “It’s got whiskey in it. I figured we could both use something a bit stronger right now.”

I cleared my throat as I got over the initial shock and took another sip. The drink was actually perfect, and while I usually wouldn’t drink on the job, I had a hunch the pick-me-up might actually benefit in this case.

“You could have warned me,” I grumbled as I took another long sip of coffee.

“Sorry,” Junior snickered in a way that made it evident that he wasn’t sorry about his little prank at all. “Has Seamus gotten back to you yet?”

“No.” I sighed as I took a look around the police station. Everyone was rushing about, and there was frenetic energy buzzing throughout the entire building. It made sense, considering we’d narrowly avoided a major tragedy. The bomb had still gone off, though, which would no doubt cost the city a fortune in repairs. People were panicking as well, wondering if there would be more explosions. The police had a lot on their plates.

“Why do you think he set the bomb off?” Junior frowned at me. “You said you saw a tablet with a camera, right? So someone was probably watching you.”

“Yeah.” I nodded bitterly as I remembered what had happened. “I can’t stand thinking that we’re playing right into his hands. He was in control the entire time, and he made sure we knew that by setting the bomb off before our time limit was up.”

“What’s the end game, though?” Junior asked. “He’s jerking us around all over Ireland, but what is he trying to accomplish?”

“Maybe he’s just nuts,” I spat. “Some lunatic who gets off on causing destruction and toying with other people.” I couldn’t keep the anger out of my voice as I responded. I couldn’t figure it out either, and the idea of someone messing with people’s lives just for fun made my blood boil.

“Agents, there you are,” a familiar rumbling voice called out, and I looked up to see Seamus approaching us. “I’ve been looking for you. We’re about ready to move out.”

“Already?” I asked. “I thought you guys were all busy dealing with the aftermath of the explosion.”

“Aye, we are,” Seamus nodded. “But we also don’t want to waste too much time, either. Whoever this Gallagher is, he probably knows about what’s happened already. Heck, he might be long gone by now, so we haven’t got time to lose.”

“Right,” I agreed as I stood up from the bench. My legs ached in protest. I’d only been sitting for a few minutes,