Ad Idem (Of The Same Mind)
Conner and Murphy sat in their parked car and waited for the target quietly across the street from a run down motel in central Boston. The only light was the soft glow from the street lights. Shadows moved in the dark, revealing the target's infidelities.
"Connor, how long do you think he'll be in there? Does it really take this long?" Murphy whispered impatiently, lighting a cigarette .
"Murph, not everyone is like you...he may actually take time ta enjoy it, the sick bastard." Connor answered in a disgusted scowl, sliding lower in his seat behind the wheel. The target's name was Leonard Macavelle. An under boss of the Italian mafia. Not only did he cheat on his wife as often as he could, but he did it with underage girls.
"Sshh..here he comes." Murphy and Connor watched a smirking Leonard quietly step out of the rundown motel. His dark black hair was mussed and he was still adjusting his clothes. He closed the door, absently looked around for anyone watching, and got in his car to leave. With the headlights off and staying a good distance behind him, the brothers followed Leonard to the alley that he usually disposed of the 'evidence' in. As Leonard stopped his car near the alley, Connor parked in front of him and the two brothers silently approached Leonard on either side
"Who da fuck are you?" Leonard demanded, throwing back anther gulp of whiskey, eyes wide, ready for whatever was thrown at him. Almost.
"We're your salvation." Murphy said with a determined expression. The two raised their guns and directed him to his knees for his final prayer.
"And Shepherds we shall be, for thee my Lord for thee,
Power hath descended forth from thy hands, that our feet
may swiftly carry out thy command. And we shall flow a river forth
to thee and teeming with souls shall it ever be. En nomine patri, et filie,
Spiritus sancti."
The silencer on their weapons made the process easier to disguise. As they put pennies over Leonard's eyes, Connor heard the sound of breaking glass then a loud bang near the dumpster behind them. The two men spun around, and stepped behind the walls for cover.
"Murph," Connor nudged his brother and they drew their weapons. Murphy slowly walked around the dumpster, as Connor covered him from behind the wall, to see a whimpering young woman crouched face down in the corner. Murphy signaled to Connor that it was safe.
"Are you okay?" he asked gently, lowering himself to her level slowly. The woman looked to be badly hurt.
"Sshh...please! He'll hear you!" She whispered quivering desperately; then painfully looked up and then around. There were shards of glass stuck in her arms and legs, as well as a cut on the side of her head, matting her already red hair with blood. The cuts were bleeding badly. Connor joined them next to the dumpster.
"Wh..." She motioned for Connor to be quiet this time. They heard someone call her name from a window right above them. The girl let out a cry of fear.
"JO!" Josephine looked up again at the familiar voice of her sister, Grace, "God! Jo, are you okay? How in god's name did you get down there?" Jo slowly got up with the help of Connor and stumbled to the other side of the alley, so she could see Grace.
"I jumped out of the window, I had to get away from him...wait, where is he? How did you get past him?" Jo asked her sister.
"After you called me and hung up I knew something was wrong and I knew it had to do with that prick. I picked up a broken piece of cement off my balcony and brought up with me...I hit him pretty hard" she stopped and looked behind her "...but we should get going before he wakes up."
Grace disappeared back into the apartment. Jo turned to Connor to thank him and saw the dead body of Leonard. Her green eyes widened, Connor saved her from another fall as she let go of him to cover her mouth to keep the gasp in her mouth.
"What happened?" Connor looked at Murphy, unable to find an explanation. "What happened!" She screamed.
"Calm down, miss..." Connor said softly.
"That's my uncle!" Connor bowed his head in disbelief, searching for a way to explain the situation. He didn't get a chance. He felt her shakily stand on her own and take a deep breath. "It's okay. I shouldn't have gotten so upset. I know who you are."
"You do?" Murphy asked. Grace turned the corner into the alley with a bag of clothes and a wallet. She saw the body and gasped. "oh, my god! Lenny!"
"It's ok Gracie." She turned back to Connor and Murphy. "You're the saints, aren't you? The two men who murder evil men...as a mission of God? I knew you would get to our family. It was only a matter of time. Don't worry Grace. They won't think it's us...even if they do we'll be gone." Jo said, reassuring herself.
Grace handed Jo the bag and wallet, wrapped Jo's arm around her waist for support and turned to leave, giving the brothers a nod as she did so. Connor and Murphy exchanged glances.
"Wait," The brothers said in unison "If you're related to this man, and your apartment is there, your family will probably suspect you. Maybe you should stay with us for the night." Connor looked at Jo, who smiled.
"Under one condition," Grace added.
"Condition? We're not doing this for any other reason than to protect you..." Murph said, annoyed. Connor nudged him hard in his ribs. Expecting a bit more respect to women, especially women in trouble, out of his brother. "Well we're not...what's the one condition lass?"
Grace smiled wide, then looked to Jo, who smiled even wider. They looked back to the boys in unison. "We haven't had a good beer in months." Grace replied with a laugh.
"We can definitely help with that." Connor chuckled as he stepped forward and took the bag from Jo as the four walked in the shadows to the car. They drove for about ten minutes to a broken down house behind McInty's bar. Connor knocked on the door and waited for Doc's arrival. He heard movement behind the door, probably Doc checking the peephole.
"Hello b-b-boys!" Doc greeted in a robe, holding a beer in one hand and a cutting knife in the other. "Who are these two l-l-lovely l-l-ladies? FUCK! ASS!" Doc asked as he ushered the four in and gave them each a beer, and pliers and sterile cloths to Grace to remove the shards of glasses from Jo's skin, and dress the wounds.
"You look like you done this before." Murphy commented as he took a seat across from Grace.
"We'll in our life, it's kind of a survival tactic. Normal people wouldn't be conscience for days after that jump Jo made, we've grown strong over the years."
The girls explained to the brothers and Doc that Leonard was their uncle. Nicolas Macavelle, a Boss, also in the Italian Mafia, was their father. He often used the girls for bait, to trap men who he wanted to get rid of. Even though both girls grew up in the mafia, neither one would accept it.
"There is no reason for it. People murder each other over a white substance that makes you feel..." Jo faded off, shaking her head, as if there were something she couldn't bring herself to say.
"We never wanted to be in this life. Our father forced us to witness it, telling us it was the life we needed. It was the only way we were ever going to get taken care of." Murphy watched Grace's lips as she talked. Her pale skin, shocking blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair were the perfect combination of beauty. Her voice was sensual and sexy...Murphy found if difficult not to reach and touch her.
"Murph?" Connor looked to his brother, needing a cigarette. He was mesmerized by something. Connor followed Murphy's gaze over to where Grace and Jo were now looking at Murphy, each with a humorous smile. Jo let out a little giggle.
"MURPH!" The sound of Connor's voice in his ears made him realize he was staring at Grace.
"I'm getting tired...I think I'll go lay down." Murph lied. He handed Connor his pack of smokes and walked into the farthest room on the right and sat on the edge of the bed. He rested his head in his hands trying to shake his embarrassment away, and get Grace out of his mind. He heard a knock, and the door opening. Hoping it was Grace he looked up quickly. It was Doc, with blankets.
"Thanks Doc, damn decent of ya ta take us all in like this"
"T-t-think nothing of it. T-t-those girls are b-b-b FUCK! ASS! p-pretty. I saw you eyeing the shorter one." Doc looked at Murphy with knowing eyes.
"Naw, Doc. We're letting them stay with us tonight so that their family doesn't get hold of 'em. Tomorrow they will be on their way. Hell, I doubt they had anywhere else to go. They agreed to come with us easily." Doc shook his head and walked out of the room. "T-t-tell yourself what you n-n-need to, boyo."
Murphy heard someone at his door again.
"Look Doc," He looked up to see Grace's small frame standing in his doorway. "Oh, I'm sorry." He uttered as he stood.
"Don't be. I saw you staring at me earlier." She said with a soft smile. Murphy blushed.
"I wasn't staring at you... I drifted off. I'm tired." He lied. In fact he probably wouldn't be able to sleep even a minute tonight.
"Don't make excuses." she laughed "I didn't mind. I mean, at first it was a little unexpected, but I don't mind. It makes me feel.." she stopped, as if debating if she should continue, then shrugged "...pretty."
"You have no excuse to not feel pretty, you're...not bad." Murph replaced his head in his hands. Although he felt like he should have put his foot in his mouth.
"Not bad...I don't know to take that. Goodnight Murphy. And uh… thanks." Grace walked across to her room as Connor walked in. Connor and Grace wished each other good night and she left with a last look at Murphy. Connor did nothing but laugh at Murphy.
"Don't even start. I know I was staring."
"Oh I don't blame ya Murph, she's a fine lookin' woman." Connor sat down next to his twin "At least you weren't lookin at the prettier one, else we wouldda had ta call ma and have her play referee." He nudged Murphy in his ribs, and they both smiled broadly.
"Yea she always did tell us ne'er to fight over a lass. I thought redheads weren't your style though?"
"Aye, they're not, but when you get one as pretty as that Jo…well, what's a man ta do?" Connor threw up his hands as if in surrender. "besides, they look plenty Irish, got the right soundin names too, Ma would have ta accept em." He joked. Mrs. McManus had never been thrilled at the idea of her sons seeing women of different origins. 'keep the Irish blood strong and thick' she always told them.
Grace helped her younger, yet taller sister hobble into the guest room that Doc showed them to.
"Y-you l-l-ladies need anything before I t-t-turn in? Doc asked nervously.
"No thank you Doc. I'm sure we'll be just fine." Grace assured.
"yea, and thank you for being kind enough to let us stay here, even though we are Italian." Jo said as Grace practically dropped her on the bed.
"Oh, I don't mind a b-b-bit. FUCK! ASS! In fact, you g-g-girls aren't even the f-f-first Italian to sleep in t-t-that bed. A very d-d-dear FUCK! ASS! F-f-friend stayed here often. I've missed having him around. B-b-besides, no use l-l-letting comfortable beds go to waste. Sleep well g-g-girls.
"What a sweet old man" Jo sighed as her head sunk into the pillows.
"Yea, he really is. We'll have to get more bandages for those cuts in the morning. You're lucky they didn't need stitches." Grace muttered as she went about checking the wrapping on her sister.
"Oh would you leave me alone. We have bigger things to worry about than me. You know Danny is gonna come lookin for me, and he'll be madder then ever cause I ran. He'll go straight to the family, and act as if WE'RE the ones being the embarrassment!" Jo cried, exasperated.
"I know, but maybe this is what we need. This is the out we've been looking for! Hell, we know the ways of the mafia, we can disappear…just like we always planned."
"Grace, you know the cops are gonna come looking for us, and if they find us, the family will to. What are we gonna do then? If we survive the family, we'll go to prison for the murder of our own uncle." Jo looked as if she were about to have an aneurism.
"We won't go to prison." Grace cooed on in Jo's ear, attempting to calm her. "We'll figure out a way around Lenny's murder"
"How? Tell them it was the saints? Betray them after they helped us?"
"No no, of course not! We'll just lie…we never saw the body ok? We just ran from your crazy boyfriend. Besides, how could we not protect the best interests of such fine, and I do mean, fine, men?" they shared a laugh, and decided to call it a night.