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Ami fuaim mara…”
I feel the cool antiseptic, then sharp pain hits my foot. I draw in a quick breath, and he holds me tighter. His hand in my hair tightens, and he strokes his fingers down the length of it, over and over, still reciting Gaelic. I'm entranced by it. It's beautiful and lonesome and passionate.
“All done,” the man says. It’s over. My foot throbs like it was stuck with a splinter. Torin lets me go. I breathe out a long sigh of relief, feeling like I'm coming down from a high. I'm shaking from head to toe.
“You want the tracker?” the man asks. “Additional fee.”
“Fuck yes, I want the tracker.”
I watch as he douses it with rubbing alcohol, taps it dry with a triangle of cloth, then tapes it to a small card he places inside a plastic container that snaps shut.
“Waterproof. You can bury it at the bottom of the fuckin’ ocean, and they’ll think she’s there. Put it in the black one, and it goes invisible.”
My brows rise. I wonder what Torin’s got planned.
“Do you have anything to drink?” Torin says.
“Yes,” the man says. “Got a nip here.”
“Add it to the total.”
He hands Torin a little sealed nip. It's got to be ten o'clock in the morning, but I don’t care. Torin unseals the top, and I take it quick. It burns going down, but it soothes my nerves. I watch Torin palm the sealed tracker and slide it into his pocket.
“Right, then,” Torin says quietly. “We need to get out of here.”
He still holds my hand as we go back to the car. “Where are we going?” I ask.
“On to our next place.”
“Wow, thanks for the details.” I roll my eyes again, but I don’t think he sees me. “How far?”
“Not far. We still need to be close to the waterfront. Declan sent me the details.”
I nod. “Right, then. Do me a favor?”
“Aye.” Right now, I get the feeling he’d give me anything I wanted.
“Call your family.”
“We don’t have time to—”
“Do you want me to believe you or not?”
Chapter Thirteen
TORIN
I check the time. It’s afternoon at home.
I call Seamus first. He answers on the first ring and looks at Valentina and me in surprise.
“Hi,” Valentina says. “Valentina Esposito here. Torin’s trying to convince me he’s a McCarthy, and the McCarthys weren’t the ones who kidnapped me.”
Seamus is sitting at his desk, dressed in a suit. She gives me a sidelong glance. “You two look alike.”
“Aye, we’re brothers.”
“My name is Seamus McCarthy,” Seamus says, reaching for his wallet. He pulls out his passport and opens it in front of the screen. Valentina squints and finally nods.
