boat, but it takes me a second to realize where from. When it clicks, white-hot rage floods my bones. It’s Ian Smith, one of the Irish rebels I handed over to Patrick Walsh for punishment. Only it doesn’t look like Walsh punished him. It looks like he promoted him.
That absolute bastard. All this time I have been handing rebels over to him, honoring our arrangement, and he has been scheming behind my back. I don’t know if he began our collaboration with the intention of betraying me or if one of the rebels dangled that worm of dissent into his ear, but either way he has sealed his fate. Patrick Walsh is a dead man.
“Stern!” yells one of my men from below.
Vito and I move to the back railing, where one of the speedboats has pulled up at the rear of the boat by the diving stairs. We both start shooting, but the view is obstructed and the men take cover.
“I need to go down,” I say.
Vito nods, his face a serious mask. “I’ll cover you.”
We both silently count to three in our heads and then Vito pops up, raining fire on the boat to the starboard side of the ship whose bullets have ravaged the dining quarters. I leap from the sundeck, landing on the deck below with enough force to rattle the wooden planks.
Patrick Walsh comes into view, his eyes wide as he spews out a fountain of bullets. A bullet slams into my chest above my heart and knocks the air out of me. I grit my teeth and push through it, even as the bile rises in my throat. Another bullet hits the vest just above my stomach, and one clips the top of my arm. I roar with pain but keep advancing until I can take cover behind a bullet-ridden sofa.
Angelo is already there, bleeding from a wound in his leg. He pats me on the back with a jovial grin.
“Welcome to the party.” Gesturing around us, he adds. “There’s three boats, three onboard each, with ballistic shields for protection and enough firepower to sink this ship given the time.”
I read his concern between the lines. Angelo thinks we’re outmanned and outgunned, and he’s probably right.
“We need to cut off the head of the snake,” I say. “The rest will scatter when they see Patrick go down.”
Angelo peeks over the top of the sofa. “We better do it quick. Patrick’s about to board.”
“It’s a good thing I brought a party favor,” I say, pulling the grenade from my pocket.
Angelo’s lips curl with approval. “I’ll cover you.”
And then he hops up without wasting any more time, his gun barking with each shot. I peer around the side of the sofa and see Patrick and the other two men squatting behind the ballistic shields.
Patrick sees me, and I don’t know if it’s the grenade in my hand or the murderous look on my face, but he pales and calls out, “Pull back! Pull back!”
The boat’s driver slams the engine into full throttle and the boat starts to zoom away. Angelo keeps shooting, giving me the opportunity I need to stand, pull the pin, and aim. I take a breath, pull my arm back, and toss the grenade with all my might.
It sails through the air, and for one tense moment looks like it will fall short, but the driver tries to change directions and that millisecond of turning puts the boat right in the grenade’s path. It falls into the bottom of the boat.
“Swing, batta batta!” Angelo crows.
The boat explodes in a glorious display of violence, orange flames mushrooming into the sky. The force of the blast nearly knocks me off my feet, and the heat glows on my face. The speedboat begins to sink almost instantly. It belches noxious black smoke and the fiberglass groans as it buckles in on itself. There are no signs of life onboard.
The shooting continues, but I hear the shouted order of retreat from the remaining two boats and they soon take off in opposite directions. Angelo whoops and waves his gun in the air.
I grin.
That’s it—Patrick Walsh is dead. The Irish are finished. I do not confuse this for anything other than a brief victory, as my fight is far from over, but it’s a victory nonetheless. As always, it feels good to come out on top.
“Boss!” Gio calls from the upper deck. “I need you up here!”
Immediately I know something is wrong. I race up the ladder and find