Anyone in his shoes would understand that the safest place for a young daughter is away from her father… especially one with mob ties like him.”
Chapter Thirteen
Scottie
It wasn’t easy convincing the men about O’Brien’s daughter. I had to drag Isla in the room and then she had to call Acer.
With her phone on speaker, she asked, “Do you think it’s improbable that O’Brien would hide a daughter if he had one?”
“Isla, I’m not following.”
“Let’s assume Aiden O’Brien has a daughter. Do you think he’d hide her away somewhere, or bring her along with him?”
“I get it now. Definitely hide her. The life he leads is too dangerous.”
“Thanks, honey, that’s all I needed.”
Acer let out a chuckle. “Care to tell me what this is about?”
“I will when I get home tonight. And don’t forget I’m going to be late. I have drinks with the girls after work. Love you. Bye.”
Drex was leaning against a desk when he said, “You win. I’ll buy it. One thing though. O’Brien is a common name. She could be anyone’s daughter.”
“True enough, but my instincts are telling me otherwise,” I said.
“What are our options? How can we get to her?” Drex glanced at Huff while rubbing his chin. The door whooshed open and in walked Gemini. “What’s going on?”
I filled her in on the details and handed her the sheet of information. “Wow, this is incredible. We need to bring her in.”
“That was my question to Drex. Can we do it?”
“Of course we can. Drex, we fly to Belfast, rent a van, and go.”
“Gem, we have to investigate the place she lives first. I’m sure she’s not there with only her mother or nanny. It may not even be her. Why wouldn’t he give her an alias?”
“Because Aiden believes he’s infallible and that no one can get to him. And look. Says right here the mother is deceased.” I waved the piece of paper in the air.
“Yes, but that could be a ruse,” Huff said.
That was true. Not everything on the dark web was a hundred percent true. I’d thoroughly investigated the daughter though, and she was legit.
“No doubt O’Brien has her well guarded. Two or three people can’t go in and grab her,” Drex said.
“What about I do more research as in find out where she goes to school so we grab her as she’s going home?” That seemed the more reasonable option.
Drex nodded and said to both Huff and me, “I want the two of you on this as a team. Find out as much as you possibly can. Once we have all the correct information verified, then we’ll create the next steps.”
This would be our best option. I told Huff I was going to grab a quick lunch and bring my folder on O’Brien when I was done. Then we could begin.
I gobbled down my turkey sandwich and soup, while my poor bodyguards still hung around. “Hey guys, it doesn’t look like I’m going anywhere today. Why don’t you take the rest of the day off?”
“You sure?”
“Yep. I’m up to my neck in work, and then the girls are going to meet up in the apartment afterward for some drinks. I’m staying in the rest of the night.”
“Thanks. We’ll stop by Mr. Wolfe’s office to see if he needs us for anything first.”
“Great idea. See you two tomorrow.” Jeremy was back on, and feeling fine again. Hopefully, he wouldn’t encounter any more explosions.
I met up with Huff a bit later and we doubled up on our searches. I found more information on the location where Aiden’s daughter, Aisling, resided. It was a town called Carrickfergus about eleven miles outside of Belfast. Located on the coast, it made perfect sense for her to live there. Aiden could have an escape route by boat if he chose.
Huff and I discussed the options. “I can’t find anything on her going to school. What if she’s homeschooled?”
“Or maybe she’s in boarding school?” he proposed.
I snapped my fingers. “Crap, I hadn’t thought of that.”
Huff’s fingers tripped over the keyboard. I went back to my own and continued searching for anything on Aisling O’Brien.
“I’ve got it!” he announced.
“Got what?”
“The address of the house.”
“Jesus. I’ll never get over how good you are.”
He dipped his head, blew on his fingers, and rubbed them on his chest. “Thank you.”
“I’m serious, you big goofball. How do you do it?”
“It’s a secret.”
“Uh huh. So is my banana pudding recipe.”
“Stop the search engines. You make banana pudding?”
His eyes saucered as he asked the question.
“I sure