Page 5 of Blood in the Water

Seamus stared up at him. “You got somewhere you got to be, Burke?”

Yes. Yes, I do,Nolan thought.

"Not at all,” he said. "Just wondered if you wanted me to wait or if you planned to send me out again.”

“We’re done for tonight.” Seamus looked at Will. “Get over here, MacFarland.”

Will’s chair scraped against the linoleum as he pushed back from the table and came to stand next to Nolan. “Yeah, boss?”

“I want you and Burke to spend tomorrow tailing Dougie,” Seamus said.

“Dougie?”

Seamus took a long drag on his cigarette. “Did I fecking stutter, MacFarland? Yes, Dougie. Things are still hot after the Feds. We need to make sure we’re locked down, make sure we don’t have any leaks before the next big job.”

Nolan felt the question hanging in the air, but he knew better than to address it. The FBI raid on the Cat and Seamus’s arrest after the theft at Harbor Trust had left a pall over the entire operation. Everyone was still speculating on the identity of the rat. Casey hadn’t done himself any favors by running, a fact Nolan couldn’t help but be grateful for since it took the focus off him and Will — but not everyone thought Casey was the mole.

The “next big job” could only mean one thing: Seamus was planning another heist.

“You want us to take notes?” Will asked.

“Take notes,” Baren said. He was tall and muscular in spite of his age, with thick gray hair and matching eyebrows. His voice was deep, minus the familiarity that softened everything Seamus said. It was a familiarity that didn’t mean anything — Seamus would put a bullet in anyone’s head without a second thought — but it made it easier to forget Nolan was walking a tightrope over a crocodile. He was under no such illusion with Baren Maguire. Everythingabout the man made it clear that if Nolan fell, he’d be eaten. “We want to know where he goes and when, who he talks to, anything else you think is relevant.”

“Do Dougie first,” Seamus said. “We’ll talk about who’s next later.”

Nolan kept his expression impassive as he nodded. “You got it, boss.”

Seamus looked up at them, his eyes sharp as he studied their faces. “And if you notice anything else out of the ordinary, you come to me. Those fecking Syndicate bastards are wily, and we need another few months to get out of here clean. Understand?”

They both nodded.

“I knew I could count on you. You’re my two best guys right now. I trust you. You know what that means?”

Yeah, it means we’re first in line if things go south.

“You can count on us, boss,” Nolan said.

“Good. Now get the feck out of here. Get yourselves a beer. Better yet, get yourselves some pussy. Two young bucks like you. I’m sure there’s no shortage of it.”

They turned and sauntered from the room, passing Mick and Sean on their way out. Seamus was blowing smoke up their asses — Mick was his best guy, and Nolan had no doubt Mick would be deployed to spy on him and Will at some point.

“Fecking-A,” Will said when they’d exited the Cat and rounded the building. He leaned against the brick wall and ran a hand through his hair, then pulled a cigarette out of his pocket. “This is not fecking good.”

“We’ll just have to be more careful, make sure we’re not being tailed when we’re meeting Marchand.”

“Not just him,” Will said.

Nolan nodded. He knew who Will meant.

Bridget.

“I know. I’ll warn her,” Nolan said.

“He wants us to spy on Doug?” Will shook his head. “He must be losing his shit.”

“It’s not him,” Nolan said. “It’s Maguire. They’re locking down the organization like a fucking IRA operation.”

“And what’s he talking about the next job?” Will asked.