“You were the strongest?” Carwyn forced himself to remain sitting against the hull of the ship. He stretched his arms over his head and knit his hands together. “That must have been a sad company. So who are you working with? You have the look of a puppet, not the master.”
He could tell Jack’s pride had been wounded, but he only sneered and walked closer. “You know, I recall your son Ioan saying something like that to Lorenzo years ago as the Italian was torturing him. ‘Who are you working with? What are you after? Why must you keep slicing off pieces of me as I scream?’ Well, he might not have said that last part.” Jack glanced over his shoulder in amusement as Brigid snarled. “But it was implied.”
Carwyn ignored the rage and tried to think through it. “So, you’ve been working with Lorenzo from the beginning? You were the one running drugs in Dublin. Then you just switched over to the elixir. But Lorenzo is dead, so who’s giving it to you now?”
Jack only laughed and crouched down so they were face-to-face, metal bars separating them. “You think you’re going to get away, too. Just like he did. You won’t.”
“I will, actually. I’m much stronger than you.”
“Oh, I know.” Jack ran a hand along the rusted bars of the cage leisurely. What was he up to? He was strangely unconcerned about the idea of Carwyn killing him. “I learned something very valuable from you, Father. Always make your enemies underestimate you. Who would think a ridiculous priest in a Hawaiian shirt was the most dangerous vampire in the room?”
“Who indeed?”
Jack glanced over at Brigid. “But then again, you won’t want to chance your favorite little vampire losing control, would you?”
“No.”
“No…” Jack hung his hands in his pockets lazily. Carwyn crouched in a corner of the cage.
“What do you want? Jack, is it? You took us for a reason.”
Jack shrugged. “It was getting harder and harder to deter Brigid. And I was never quite sure if she would remember seeing me in that alley. One of my boys shocked her and got himself killed, but I could never be sure. And the whole thing just made her more curious in the end. Irritating little girl. You were just a bonus. Had no idea you’d be at her house that night. Good luck for me.”
Carwyn heard Brigid snarl from the far wall, and he smirked. “You’re not very smart, are you?”
“I certainly make it seem that way, don’t I?” A wicked grin took over his face. “Rascal Jack behind the drug trafficking? Not even Murphy caught it. But then, he was always so small-minded.”
“Yes, I’ve thought the same thing.” Carwyn paused. “Wait, no, I haven’t, you idiot.” He rocked forward, studying Jack. “Right now you’re a dead man. A walking dead man. Even if I don’t kill you, Murphy will. But if you run now, you might live. So go. Just leave us here and run—or swim—as fast as you can. I’ll catch up with you eventually, but you might get a few more weeks of life. Take them.”
Jack ignored him. “Your son was right, by the way. Lorenzo was a puppet, which was why I pursued my own connections after he left Ireland. I always knew he would fail. He was too emotional. But the people I work with now?” Jack smiled. “They’re businessmen. Nothing more. Nothing less. Makes them nice and predictable. Not unlike you, Father.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. You see, I know that you can break out of that cage easily, but you’ll try to lull me into giving you information before you do. Predictable. Just so you know, you’re not going to be able to stop this elixir. It’s out there. On the wind, so to speak. In so many grubby hands and dirty alleys that you’d have to burn down the world to contain it. So don’t try to be a hero.” Jack rolled his eyes. “You’ll ignore me, of course. So predictable.”
“So glad you’ve figured me out.”
Jack was starting to irritate Carwyn, and he didn’t seem to be willing to give up any information. Which made him less and less valuable as the minutes ticked by.
“I would have killed you both last night, but my supplier wants a word with you. Forced me to trade the two of you for more elixir, so I’m stuck until he gets here.”
Well, that was slightly interesting. “Oh? When might that be?”
“As if I would tell you.”
“Why not? You seem to think that we’re not escaping alive. Just two lads chatting.”
“And Brigid.” He glanced over his shoulder. “So you bagged Brigid. Really, who can blame you? She’s marvelous. But that probably means you don’t want her hurt.” Jack cocked his head. “Of course, I don’t want her to light up either, so it appears we’re both stuck for the time being.”
Carwyn could hear a low snap. Then another. Jack didn’t seem to notice, so intent he was on taunting his captive.
“Of course.” He studied Carwyn like an animal in a cage. “You’re still quite dangerous.”
Carwyn could feel the low snarl that was building in his chest. He heard another snap. Brigid was escaping from her restraints. He held Jack’s eyes, determined to give her time to work. “More dangerous than you can imagine.”
“And I’m bored. So… I think I’ll shoot you.” Jack pulled a pistol from the small of his back in a blink, aimed through the bars, and shot. “Weren’t expecting that, were you? The old ones never do.”