Syndicate batch 14

Syndicate
Episode 37
Will was sitting on a couch in Kieran’s room. This was how he loved to spend his Sundays… interrogating witnesses, calling together meetings, oh right, and trying to avoid an all out gang war. Carol was waiting outside with some of Kieran’s other soldiers. Like the four Commanders, Kieran had his own system of rank as well, and his own personal soldiers, even though Kieran’s section was more important than the other branches of their establishment.
“Mackey O’Conner?” Kieran asked, looking in the mirror as he groomed himself. They were getting prepared for the meeting.
“That’s what she said,” Will answered, also getting ready. Will looked over at his friend, noticing that dark colors suited Kieran best. He was wearing his black dress p-nts and a dark blue button up. Will, on the other hand, was wearing a red button up shirt with a black vest. Will’s wrist was still being a bugger.
“Never heard of him,” Kieran said.
“Me neither.” Will was having difficulty rolling up his sleeves. His wrist was still swollen, and he had un-wrapped it to get dressed.
“Let me,” Kieran offered.
“Thanks,” Will said, holding out his arms for his friend. Kieran rolled up Will’s sleeves for him. They weren’t too prideful about accepting each other’s help.
“Let’s try to play nice today Will,” Kieran suggested, turning back to the mirror. Will smiled into the mirror over Kieran’s head.
“I always try,” Will said, re-wrapping his own wrist. “…I just don’t always succeed.” Kieran laughed in response.
“Who are we having here again?” Kieran asked.
“The four Commanders, Madden, Murph, and the big guns… Gilroy and Diesel.”
“Gilroy and Diesel? So, it’s come to this point already huh?” Kieran asked. Will nodded in response.
“I always hated having to use Gilroy, but it seems to be a necessity. Just can’t find any like him anyone.” Will said, thinking back to the last time they had to use Gilroy. Gilroy was a loving, scruffy old man, with a very dark side. He was a genuine bad-ass, like a kick-ass bad-ass. No one would ever guess it though. And when the situation got tricky or tense, Gilroy was the man to call. The last time Will had called him in was right before the mayoral election. The mayoral candidate Kieran wasn’t backing was getting more popular in the city, and he wanted to go after crime syndicates hærd-core. They were on the brink of destruction. Needless to say, after Gilroy was called in, that mayor didn’t win. Good thing Gilroy was reliable and usually delivered, because if Gilroy couldn’t get a job done, their very last ditch attempt would be to call in Ripper. And absolutely no one wanted that.
“And I assume Diesel is going to bring some men?” Kieran asked, breaking through Will’s thoughts.
“I assume so.”
Diesel Grissom was the head of his own syndicate east of the city. The Grissom and the O’Meara families had a long-standing alliance. Will was surprisingly fond of Diesel, and Diesel’s right hand man, Arty Cohen. The doorbell sounded.
“Let’s go get ‘em,” Kieran said, winking at Will.
“We always do.”
Will and Kieran didn’t enter the room until last. It was customary. Silence fell when Will went in the “high importance” conference room. Kieran pushed himself in right after. Will surveyed the room. Murphy was sitting to the left of Kieran. The Commanders had each brought their trusty assistants. Madden was present, sitting next to Gilroy. Then there was Diesel and five of his men. There were more waiting outside, Carol and some of the other soldiers were outside with Diesel’s men. Will rubbed his face.
“I hope you’re all comfortable,” Will began. “This is going to be a long night.”
They began discussing the warehouse and the information they had obtained about it.
“…Mackey O’Conner?” Fynn asked.
“Yes, do you know him?” Will shot back at Fynn.
“Actually, yes. I gave him a job in my ranks when he first moved here. But then he quit, to work at the docks. He was quite exemplary with monetary issues and accounting,” Fynn said.
“You didn’t go through Riley?”
“I believe Riley approved my request,” Fynn said, looking over at Riley.
“Either way,” Will scolded. “Leave the personnel issues to Riley.” Will knew Fynn and Brennan hired some of their workers off record, which was forbidden. All workers had to be processed through Riley. But Will knew that was their own little way of metaphorically saying “screw you” to the non-family member Riley.
Episode 38
“Sir,” Fynn said, nodding in compliance.
“Well, apparently this Mackey knows something about who is responsible for the warehouse sellout. Maybe we can trace the information leak back to one culprit,” Will said.
“Wait, you think one person leaked information to the police, then to a rival gang?” Diesel asked.
“Yes, sir,” Will responded. “It seems that maybe someone is trying to weaken us.”
The room was silent. They were all considering what Will just said.
“But,” Diesel spoke again. “We can’t ignore the attacks just because someone is leaking information. Who knows, Dodson might attackusnext, if your rat has any info on our org-nization.”
“Think about it,” Will said, pointing to a map of the city. “If we jump head first into a war, Dodson could gain more power and more allies.”
“Well…” Diesel responded. Will thought this was turning into a two person conversation. Maybe he should dismiss the rest of them. Compared to Diesel and Gilroy, they all were useless. “If a war starts, you have us as an alliance. So the South and the East together, against the West. Dodson has Central as an ally. That leaves North and Downtown. I have connections with the North, and Central has connections with Downtown. But you also have connections with Downtown.” Diesel stopped talking, his eyes lost in concentration.
“Do you think Marco would engage?” Marco Javal was the leader of the Downtown El Toro syndicate. Kieran and Marco were friendly, but no alliance had ever been formed.
“I honestly don’t know. Marco tries his hærdest to stay neutral, but he has been forced to engage before.” Gilroy was scratching his head.
“What I’m wondering,” Madden cut in. “Is why Dodson wants this war. I know relations have been tense in the past, but why now? What prompted this?”
“And he didn’t follow usual code. He hit hærd and fast,” Riley said.
“Perhaps,” Kieran finally spoke. They all listened eagerly. Even Will was curious what his friend had to say. “Perhaps we can answer these questions,andsend them a warning all in one gesture.”
“What?” Diesel asked. His direct response to Kieran made Will uncomfortable.
“We hit close to home with Dodson. We capture one of his own for interrogation, and return him, without any harm done.”
“What if Dodson uses that as grounds to start a war?”
“We state very loudly somehow, that the capture was only meant to be a warning. No harm.”
They were all silent.
“Gilroy, what do you think about this?” Will asked. He was curious as to why Gilroy had barely spoken his thoughts on the matter. When Gilroy spoke, his voice was gruff and low, but he spoke slowly, both with respect and wisdom.
“This must be carefully planned and executed.” Gilroy looked at Kieran. “But watch out, nephew. This is now a thin rope we’re walking on.” Kieran’s head was tilted down towards the floor, but when his uncle spoke to him, the young man made eye contact with Gilroy without moving his head up. This posture gave Will the chills, and reminded him of how dangerous his friend was. Will often forgot that Kieran had a dark side, but was reminded of Kieran’s capabilities every few weeks. It was mostly the little things that brought Will back to the reality of his friends’ true power and hidden dynamics.
“We’re now walking on a thin rope regardless, uncle,” Kieran said, unmoving. The air in the room turned lethal, and the only movement came from the uncomfortable shifting of the guests. Will didn’t move though, nor did his eyes leave his friend. Finally, Kieran moved his head up, and tilted it side to side, cracking his neck as a result. Gilroy was unafraid by his nephew’s display. He was probably the only person in the room unaffected by it.
“I agree with you, Kieran. But we should also prepare for the worst case scenario,” Gilroy said.
“Agreed,” Kieran shot back happily, and his dark demeanor evaporated in less time than it takes to move a finger. Oxygen rushed into Will’s lungs again.
“And remember Kieran,” Gilroy continued. “We have a farther political reach than does Dodson and the west. This could be useful.”
Episode 39
Kieran nodded in agreement, leaning on his elbow, deeply considering the last statement Gilroy had made.
“Yes, I could pull a lot of strings,” Nolan said. “I could light a lot of fires under a lot of asses.” This statement pulled a few laughs out of the men. Nolan was good at his job, Will had to hand it to him. Gilroy was very useful as well, especially when asking for hefty favors from important people.
“Our reach together could potentially be much bigger than Dodson’s,” Will chimed in, looking at Diesel. Diesel and his men nodded gently, agreeing with Will. Kieran began tapping his fingers on the large oak table.
“…And I have a wildcard,” Kieran said, still deep in thought. The room became unnervingly quiet again. Will was praying he wasn’t talking about Ripper. “Let’s take a break, shall we? Perhaps dinner?” They all got up and began talking to each other. Will was concerned though, and he grabbed his friend’s arm before Kieran could leave. Will bent down in front of Kieran. He was still a little scared of Kieran from the early display of darkness, but he was going to approach Kieran carefully.
“Please tell me that you aren’t thinking about using you-know-who, my friend,” Will said softly. Kieran looked confused for a moment, and then laughed.
“No, no, not him. I have someone different in mind.” And still laughing to himself, Kieran pushed his chair out of the room, leaving Will to take care of the guests.
* * *
“I have something to tell you,” Monica said to her lover. Once again he was lounging on the bed.
“How stealthy and wonderful I am? No one has said anything yet about my perfectly timed visit to Will,” Dan replied. Monica rolled her eyes.
“No! There is still a chance someone saw you and has just kept his mouth shut.” She was still rolling her eyes.
“Yes, but it’s not likely, so come over here…” Dan winked at her. Monica thought her eyes were just going to roll themselves out of her head. He was really dumb.
“Dan,” she began.
“I’m hungry as hell!” he commented about his growling stomach.
“Dan,”
“Maybe Chinese food,”
“Dan! We’re going to have a baby.”
Dan looked up at her with eyes she would expect from a puppy dog.
“What?” he said it so softly she almost didn’t hear.
“I’m serious.”
“How? I thought… how is that possible?”
“I guess something just happened… Birth control isn’t one hundred percent effective,” Monica said, glancing sheepishly at Dan. Dan was in his boxers on the bed. He rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling.
“Wow.” That was all he said. Monica went to the bed and sat next to Dan.
“I think we should have it, I mean, why not?” Monica said, smiling at Dan. He rolled over onto his side. Monica guessed he wasn’t ready to accept it.
“Then does this mean you’re done with your revenge obsession?” Dan asked softly.
“No. I’ll never be done until I have what is mine.”
“What the hell?”
“I can do it! I have other people doing my dirty work anyway,” Monica said with a smile. “I wouldn’t be in any danger.”
“And what if they trace it back to you? They won’t hesitate to kill you, even if you are pregnant.”
“Don’t be silly,” Monica started to say.
“No! Don’t be stupid! You have to start thinking about another life now too! Give up your stupid need for revenge!”
“But won’t the baby’s life be better if you and I were rulers of the O’Meara clan? Money, power, everything at our disposal. You can’t tell me Lilly has a terrible life with Kieran as her father.”
“He isn’t her father.”
“He practically is!” Monica retorted. This wasn’t going how she had planned. “Maybe if you’re so concerned, you should protect me.”
“Maybe you should protect yourself,” Dan got up out of the bed and began getting dressed. He walked towards the bathroom. Monica ran to cut him off.
“Don’t go in there!” she cried. “It’s not properly cleaned yet… I threw up earlier.” Dan looked her up and down, and walked towards the door. “Where are you going?” Monica asked.
“Out,” he responded, walking quickly out of the apartment. Monica waited a few minutes until she was sure he was gone. She had to begin planning her next maneuver. Dan would be very pissed at her for this one. But he would get over it- he wouldhaveto get over it now. Monica smiled to herself. She was going to make this happen, she was going to make that stupid little cripple pay for what he did to her.