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

“You should see your face,” he snickered mockingly. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

I just ignored him and hauled him off the ground. Honestly, the float had been really jarring, especially since I hadn’t expected to turn around and find a giant, creepy old man looking down at me.

As I stood, I realized that the entire parade had come to a screeching halt, and several people were yelling at once.

“What on earth is going on here?” a uniformed Garda officer demanded to know as he stepped toward us.

“Agent Hills,” I snapped at him. “With MBLIS. This man was trying to escape custody.”

“I think I’m going to have to see some credentials,” the officer replied skeptically. “You’ve caused a big ruckus here.”

I opened my mouth to retort, but I remembered what Seamus had said about why he’d only let a limited number of people in on the mission to begin with. I wasn’t sure how much I could say to this man.

“He’s telling the truth!” Seamus called out as he pushed through the disquieted crowd. “Officer Seamus O’Connor, with the Armed Support Unit. We were just on our way to the station when the suspect escaped custody and took off. Sorry about the commotion, folks. We’ll let you get back to your celebration now.”

Seamus’s voice was authoritative but still jovial, and the crowd cheered as he apologized and led Finnian away by the arm.

“They sure settled down fast,” I remarked as Seamus pushed Finnian back into the car and this time used an additional set of handcuffs to fasten him to the thin wire cage that separated the back of the vehicle from the front.

“They’re surprisingly easy to convince when they’ve had as much to drink as that crowd has,” he chuckled before getting back into the driver’s side. “I’ll have to ask about getting that door fixed. Something must be wrong with it if it gave way that easily.”

“Don’t bother,” Finnian sighed. “There’s nothing wrong with the door. I jammed it with my phone when you were tossing me back here.”

I turned to stare at him in surprise. Why was he admitting to that so easily?

“Don’t look so shocked,” he shrugged. “I couldn’t just give in without at least trying to make an escape, but it would be rude of me to let you waste your time trying to fix something that isn’t broken.”

The longer I listened to him speak, the more frustrated I got. He was acting like this was all a game. His cavalier attitude was ticking me off, and it was also making me nervous that he still had more up his sleeve. I kept my gaze fixed on him the entire way back to the station. I needed to watch him in case he tried anything else, and I didn’t want him to think that I would back down from him. He glared back at me with just as much furor.

30

Charlie

“I had a bad feeling something would happen,” Junior grumbled. “Every time we need to split up to do anything, something goes wrong.”

“Yeah, I had that feeling too,” I nodded as I fell backward onto the metal bench that had become our unofficial rest point and meeting place for the past few days. Finnian had been dragged away into the depths of the station by Seamus while I’d stayed behind to bring Junior up to speed about what had happened with Finnian at the parade. Since we’d been the last car to leave the port, Junior’s ride hadn’t even noticed anything had gone wrong until they were almost to the station and realized we weren’t behind them anymore.

“I guess it’s just part of the job,” Junior sighed as he took a long swig from a bottle of water he’d pulled from his bag. “Fiona asked me to take some pictures of the parade. Too bad we didn’t get to see any of it.”

“Aside from almost being crushed by one of the floats,” I remarked with a slight chuckle.

“Come on!” Seamus’s booming voice startled me as it interrupted our lighthearted conversation. “Let’s not waste any time. I want to interview this scumbag as soon as possible.”

“Got it,” I replied as I stood from my seat. My muscles were a little sore from chasing Finnian through the street, but I’d have been lying if I’d said I wasn’t also champing at the bit to question him. I could feel the anticipation building as he led us down to the interview room.

“You go ahead,” Junior nodded at me once we finally arrived. “I’ll watch from out here.”

“Are you sure?” I prompted, more out of politeness than anything else. I really wanted to be the one to do most of the talking, anyway.

“Yeah,” Junior nodded. “You chased the guy through a parade. Go ahead. You earned it.”

“Okay,” I agreed before turning to step into the small room on the other side of the two-way glass. I wasn’t sure what approach to use with Finnian since, so far, he’d seemed pretty unperturbed by everything that had happened. He’d even burst out laughing when I’d tackled him to the ground. For the moment, I’d just speak straightforwardly and watch for his reactions.

Finnian was sitting back in his chair as Seamus and I entered the room, seemingly entirely at ease. If he was at all nervous, he wasn’t showing it.

“Ah, hello again, Agent… Charlie Hills, I’m guessing?”

I paused for just a moment as I took a seat in front of him. I glanced over to Seamus, who looked just as confused as I was.

“Yes,” I replied simply. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you know who I am. You have friends within the police here, don’t you?”

“I have friends all over,” Finnian replied coolly. “Would I also be correct in assuming that your arresting me has something to do with that little television broadcast from a few nights ago?”

“It does.” I nodded. “What do you know about that?”

“I know that the person behind it is named Liam