The Fourth Life of Sean Donoghue, Trish Hanan [interesting books to read txt] 📗

bit when he thought of meeting Maggie there and for a minute he thought Jamie was by his side. Talk about having one of those moments. Then he entered the shop and found they had rearranged things so it wasn’t the same and of course the shopkeepers were different. He looked around for a bit and then the young one came over and pulled at his arm.
“Follow me,” he said and they walked upstairs to an office where the other five men were waiting. Sean was finally introduced. Neil Farnesworth was the oldest man, he was around forty-five, with black-gray hair which was thinning on top and small dark eyes, he was short and round and his eyes were jolly. Sean liked his sense of humor.
Henry Adams was the leader and the tallest of the men. He had thick curly brown hair and piercing green eyes and a mustache. He was very regal and Sean could easily see him as the first President of the new country of Anamylia. John Matthews was his best friend and the blonde gentleman. He had equally piercing blue eyes and a mustache, but it was thinner and he had no sense of humor and was a lawyer.
Walter Peyton was the coin man and in his late twenties; he handled the finances of the group and was a constant worrier. Sean could see he was a bit of a fuss-budget which every group needed and of course Kent Avery was the gofer, the one who ran all the errands. He was the youngest and about twenty-three or so. He must be the son of one of the older man’s colleagues to be included in such a group but every group needed a young man to reach the younger people and he looked pleasant enough.
“And what would your name be, young man?” Henry asked after the group was introduced. Sean smiled at them.
“My name is Sean Donoghue and I’m from O’Brien’s Ridge in the Maryland Territory,” he informed them. They all nodded. John rummaged through some papers on the desk.
“Sean Donoghue, I’ve heard that name,” he muttered and then with a grunt of triumphant he held up a piece of paper. “Here it is,” he announced and handed the paper to Henry who read it.
“So it is true, Major Steinbeck is convinced that you had something to do with the disappearance of the five thousand rifles from the Giovanni warehouse in Ennis and he’s requesting permission to put a family, name of Wilson on O’Brien’s Ridge for the purpose of spying on you so that they will lead them to the location of the rifles,” he said and Sean laughed.
“That’s going to be hard to do since most of the rifles have been handed out to Ridge men,” he informed them. The men all looked disappointed.
“Really, we were hoping that you still had them,” John said and the others nodded. Sean shrugged.
“There are ways to get more, it’s been two years, I’m sure the Giovannis have another five thousand in their warehouse just waiting for the Hamish army to pick up, wouldn’t it be a shame if someone were to steal them again?” he told them with a sly smile. Henry grinned.
“They’re going to be guarding these rifles themselves, how do you intend to steal this bunch?” he asked Sean who shrugged again.
“The Hamish couldn’t guard their own mothers properly, it would be easy to steal them, and the Giovanni brothers would agree to anything if given enough Topangan emeralds,” he informed them. Walter frowned.
“Why pay them anything if we’re going to steal them from the Hamish,” he said and then added, “Besides, we haven’t got any Topangan emeralds.” Sean wagged a finger at him.
“Now, lad, you don’t steal from the Ennish, they’re our friends,” he said firmly as if chastising a young child. Walter flushed and the other men grinned. “And you may not have any Topangan emeralds but I have a whole big bag of them and I would be happy to use them to buy more rifles, especially if it means the Hamish won’t be getting any,” Sean said. Then he turned to Kent. “Fancy a trip to Ennis, lad?” he asked and Kent looked surprised.
“You want me to come with you?” he asked. Sean nodded.
“These other gentlemen look too important for the Hamish to notice that they’ve disappeared for a year, but you’re a young man, they’ll never notice you’ve gone,” he said wisely. Henry and John both nodded.
So it was agreed, Kent and Sean would go to Ennis and try to steal the rifles from the Hamish. Kent rode home with the three Ridge men and of course Annie pitched a fine fit when she learned of another trip to Ennis. This time though she decided to come.
The journey to Ennis was on the Mermaid which was luckily in Portsmyth when they arrived. When Pierre found out they were going to Bismol again to steal more rifles he started laughing and laughed until tears came to his eyes. His crew thought it was the funniest thing they had ever heard too and couldn’t wait to get there, especially when they found out that the Hamish army would be guarding the warehouse. They couldn’t wait to see what kind of plan Sean came up with to get the rifles out of the warehouse. And they loved the fact that he paid them three times what they normally earned for a trip across the ocean.
Danny, Ryan and the two younger men shared a cabin going over and Annie and her three granddaughters Marianne, Joanie and Cathy came along. They had never been off the Ridge and wanted to see a bit of the world. Sean took along six of the younger lads too, why not, since he was taking some of the girls. They all wanted in on the adventure. And they all worked at being sailors and agreed they would rather be farmers. He was relieved, he appreciated sailors and the jobs they did, he just didn’t want any of his lads to get shipwrecked and eaten by whales or cannibals. Although if a group of Ridge lads washed up on a cannibal island, that would be some sorry cannibals for sure. Most of the Ridge men he knew were killing bears at thirteen or fourteen, a group of them would wipe out a village of cannibals in no time.
When they reached Tibor they unloaded the ship and Sean put the ladies up in the Lighthouse Inn and left one of the older sailors in charge of them. He told Annie who was a spry seventy-two to keep her eye on Marianne.
“That one is a bit of a trouble maker,” he warned her. Annie snorted.
“You don’t have to warn me about that one,” she grumbled. Sean laughed.
“Nothing gets by you does it, lass?” he teased her and she laughed.
“I may be old now, but I was young once,” she said and they hugged.
The ship left Tibor and sailed around to Bismol and anchored near the Giovanni warehouse. Sean, Kent and the boys walked casually by the warehouse and saw that it was indeed guarded by about a hundred Hamish soldiers.
“We’ll never get the rifles past all those soldiers,” Kent muttered in defeat. Todd grinned at Sean.
“He gives up easily for an Anamylian doesn’t he, Granddad?” he asked and Sean grinned back.
“Ah, lad, cut him a break, he was raised in the city, not on the Ridge like we were,” he informed him and everyone nodded. Kent looked confused.
“What does that have to do with it?” he demanded to know. Sean put his arm around his shoulder.
“On the Ridge, there’s always more than one way to climb up a mountain,” he told him. “If one way doesn’t work, well, you find another trail.” Kent nodded. Then Sean noticed a gutter hole and he nudged Lonnie who nudged Todd and everyone nudged everyone until they were all grinning except for Kent who still looked confused.
“I wonder where this leads to?” Sean asked oh-so-casually and he walked down an alley until he found the manhole cover. Kent bent over and tried to lift it but it was too heavy. Sean pushed him gently pushed him aside and easily lifted the heavy cast-iron cover. Kent gasped with surprise.
“You’re very strong,” he said with admiration in his voice. Todd and Lonnie nudged each other and grinned.
“Someone’s got a crush on Granddad,” Lonnie whispered to his cousin. Todd nodded.
“He’s cute for a city boy,” he observed. Lonnie nodded. Then they joined the others down the hole and the sewers stunk.
“What is that stench,” Young Sean exclaimed loudly. Sean smacked him on his head.
“Say it a bit louder, lad, I don’t think the Hamish soldiers heard you,” he admonished him. Young Sean flushed red and closed his mouth. One by one they followed Sean as he led them, turning left and turning right until he stopped and looked up.
“I think this should be the place, lift me up, lads,” he ordered in a whisper and they lifted him up so he stood on Lonnie and Todd’s shoulders. “This is it,” he announced softly and he grinned down at them. And of course everyone had to be lifted up to see the feet of the Hamish soldiers to know that they were directly underneath the Giovanni warehouse. Sean marked the spot by piling garbage around it. Then they made their way back to the alley, piling garbage at the turns so they wouldn’t lose their way.
“God, you men stink,” Pierre remarked and held his nose when they returned to the ship. Sean grinned and poured himself a whiskey.
“You’d stink too if you’d been crawling around the sewers,” he informed his friends. Pierre lifted an eyebrow.
“What were you doing crawling around the sewers?” he asked.
“Finding a way into the warehouse of course,” he replied. Pierre laughed.
“Of course,” he said and offered his friend a bath.
The next day the Giovanni brothers took one look at Sean and quickly locked their door after he entered their office.
“No, no, you have to leave, you can’t have the rifles this time,” Maurice told him. “There’s a hundred Hamish soldiers guarding them and they’re taking them out in two days, there’s no time for you to get them.” The other brother looked equally nervous.
“I don’t care how many Topangan emeralds you offer us,” he told Sean. “The Hamish were so mad when you stole the last batch of rifles, they threatened to burn our factory down, so get out of here, you thief, get out.” Sean laughed and sat on the edge of their desk.
“Now you gentlemen know that I didn’t really steal those rifles, I paid for them in good faith,” he said smoothly and he took a pouch out of his vest pocket and jiggled it. They both started to sweat. “I paid you each twenty Topangan emeralds, very nice emeralds I should say.” Sean paused and opened the bag. They both seemed mesmerized by it.
“Now here in this bag are thirty Topangan emeralds for each of you and you don’t have to do anything,” he informed them with a sly grin. “The Hamish soldiers are guarding the warehouse now. If the rifles get stolen this time, it won’t be