Chapter 28 of NWFO is the one kicking me in the head. I've just rewritten it, twice, to both simplify and deepen the reasoning for Brendan to return to live in Aunt Mari's home. There are legal issues that need to be cleared up, and Uncle Sean wants Brendan there to be interviewed by the Feds to settle them. But not as himself.
He was brought over under the name Brennan McGabbhinn as a charity case in need of specialized medical treatment. False papers and all. British Intelligence wants to speak to Brendan about the bombing and thinks he's being hidden in Houston (which he is) but they've been told they're wrong.
So they've sent people to Uncle Sean twice to see about talking to Brennan, in the last year. Only he's been secretly living elsewhere. This has also caused issues with Immigration, and a couple of guys Brendan worked with were undocumented, caught, and deported. The IRS is also digging into Uncle Sean's business, and the Texas ABC is questioning giving him another liquor license, something he's never had trouble with before.
So, Brendan has to agree to help clear up the mess by convincing them he's Brennan, or Uncle Sean will let the Protestant UDA know his brother, Rhuari, is living and working in Belfast...and that Brendan was connected to the bombing that killed a UDA leader. That would be like signing the boy's death warrant.
Brendan and his uncle have a cold, quiet, vicious argument over this in the middle of the night on the Fourth of July Weekend, 1976. But if Brendan tells anyone, Uncle Sean will deny ever threatening anything and use his recent illness to back him up.
I'm still not 100% on it, but this gets me over the hump.
No comments:
Post a Comment