'C'mon… c'mon,' whispered Bryant. 'There!' said O'Neill. 'I can only see his back, but it's Nelligan. He's wearing a white coat and standing behind what could be Kell's pram… I can't see for sure, there's someone in the way. He's beside that bunch of older kids in invalid carriages at the far end.'
Bryant snatched back the glasses and pointed them in the direction O'Neill had indicated. ‘The big man?' he asked.
‘That's him.'
'He's near the very end. If Kell intends waiting until the royals are right beside him we have a few minutes left.'
'He may not,' said Kathleen.
'Knowing Kell, I think he will,' said O'Neill. 'It would appeal to his sense of the dramatic.'
'How do we get him out of there?'
Bryant was sweating visibly. 'We'll have to go in there and pull him out,' he said.
'But the moment you approach him… I mean he must have an automatic weapon in his hands under the covers,' said Avedissian.
'If we can take the big man out we can get to Kell from behind. All we have to do is turn him away, destroy his field of fire.'
'I can get to him,' said Kathleen. The others looked at her. 'Get me a nurse's uniform, quick!'
Bryant radioed for a uniform and got a question in reply. 'You stop the first one you see and bring her here!' he snapped. 'And get Miller up here!' While they waited he radioed to the other units and withdrew most of them from covering the minibus to redeploy them in the area behind where Nelligan and Kell were situated. 'Keep down and do nothing!' he added.
Another Land-Rover drew up beside them and a puzzled nurse was abruptly persuaded to part with her uniform. Kathleen hurriedly donned the cape and adjusted the cap. 'How do I look?' she asked. 'You'll do,' replied Avedissian. 'Who is going to deal with Nelligan?'
'Miller is,' said Bryant, indicating the man who had arrived in the other Land-Rover with the nurse. 'Go to it!' He put his radio to his mouth again and asked for someone called Dell. The fireworks set up for the staff and television crew party later… if you hear anything that sounds like a shot, set them off… That's what I said, set them off.'
Bryant told the driver to circle slowly round behind the disabled children at the far end of the lawn and stop about thirty metres behind the line. Kathleen and Miller were almost up to the edge of the crowd. Kathleen saw Miller put away his radio and bring out an evil-looking knife which he immediately slipped up his sleeve out of sight. He saw Kathleen looking at it but did not say anything. 'All you have to do,' he whispered, ' is turn Kell's pram round a little without him suspecting anything. Turn him away from the royals!'
'You deal with Nelligan and I'll turn Kell,' said Kathleen.
Kathleen left Miller and moved to the right through the crowd so that she was some ten metres to the right of where Kell was positioned and slightly behind his field of view. She could not see him at all, for the hood on his pram had been raised to prevent any close scrutiny from those around him. Nelligan had positioned him beside the carriages of two severely handicapped albino teenagers who were being similarly protected, but in their case from the sunlight.
As she saw Miller move up through the crowd behind Nelligan, Kathleen said in a loud voice, as if she had some official role to play, 'Can everyone see? It won't be long now. Perhaps if we move these chairs just a little to the right…' She moved the carriage nearest to her and found the child's nurse helping her automatically. The desire to comply with the wishes of apparent officialdom spread up the line and Kathleen saw Miller take his chance. Nelligan keeled over backwards without a sound but people in his vicinity began to fuss about the man who had 'fainted'.
Kathleen saw immediately that Kell must know something was wrong and rushed towards his pram. She reached it in time to see the muzzle of an automatic weapon appear from inside it. 'No you don't!' she cried as she flung herself at the pram and pivoted it round on its back wheels. A burst of fire tore harmlessly into the air as Kell pulled the trigger. People screamed and scattered in all directions.
Kathleen, who had fallen to her knees with the effort of turning the pram, fought to regain control of it as another burst of fire from Kell cut down Miller who rushed up to help her. As she realised that Kell was struggling to turn the gun on her she pushed the pram away from her as hard as she could, but it only got as far as Nelligan's prostrate body. The force that she had imparted to it, however, was sufficient to tip it forwards when it hit Nelligan's feet so that Kell's legless torso was thrown out on to the ground. He fell, still holding his weapon, and rolled over to fire at Bryant's men who were approaching across the open ground.
After only one burst Kathleen saw that Kell, determined to achieve the aim of the operation at all costs, was trying to roll over again and open fire at his original targets. She could see the Royal Party being hurriedly escorted away across the wide lawn but they were still within range. She was nearest to Kell but was helpless to stop him.
Among the others, it was Martin O'Neill who realised Kell's intention first and rushed up in the open to throw his body at Kell in an attempt to smother his fire. Kell turned the gun as he heard O'Neill approach and fired as O'Neill launched himself. O'Neill was cut to pieces but his dead body fell over Kell and trapped the gun momentarily. Kathleen, who was still nearest, rushed towards Kell and joined the tangle of bodies in an attempt to wrestle the gun away while Avedissian and Bryant and his men sprinted over the final few metres.
Bryant shouted to his men, 'They are all IRA! Destroy them!'
'No!' cried Avedissian in utter horror. 'Wait!' But the bullets tore into the three on the ground and then the shooting stopped.
Avedissian was stunned with grief and anger. He knelt down beside the broken bodies and cradled Kathleen's head in his arms. There was a flicker of life left in her eyes. 'Oh my love,’ he whispered, unable to stop tears welling up in his eyes as he put his cheek against hers.
Kathleen tried to speak. 'Thank you,’ she said. 'For a moment… you almost made me believe… it was possible.' Her head fell back and she was dead.
Avedissian was beside himself with rage. He got up and threw himself at Bryant, intent on killing him with his bare hands, nothing else mattered. He got within a few feet of him but Bryant side-stepped smartly and hit him on the side of the head as he charged past. Avedissian fell to the ground, dazed from the blow but the strength of his anger keeping him conscious. He rolled over and looked at Bryant saying, 'Go on, kill me too. That's your style isn't it? No loose ends?'
Bryant was not looking at Avedissian. He was looking at the shambles the party had become, panic-stricken people, running policemen, screaming sirens and, overhead, the ridiculous whine of fireworks that he had hoped might mask a single shot but which now were only adding to the confusion. The royals were safe but it was a mess that his career would never recover from. He looked down at Avedissian and rasped, 'The O'Neills were terrorists, Irish terrorists, the scum of the earth. Go home, Doctor. This isn't your world. It never was.'
Avedissian watched as Bryant walked over to the bodies to take a last look at Kell and the O'Neills. As he pulled Kell's body free of the others and stood over it Avedissian caught a slight movement out of the corner of his eye. Nelligan was not dead! Miller had knifed him from behind, and it had been assumed that he was dead, but his hand was moving and he had his gun in it. Avedissian opened his mouth to cry out a warning but the words froze on his lips.
The bullet ripped into Bryant's chest, and, with a last startled look at the world, he crumpled slowly to lie on top of Kell.
Nelligan's body jerked on the ground as Bryant's men riddled it with bullets and the killing was finally over.
Avedissian was left sitting alone on the ground. When his head cleared he got to his feet and walked over to where Bryant and Kell lay together in death. He looked at them long and hard and then said quietly, 'If any people ever deserved each other… you two did.'
Avedissian collected Sarah Milek's car and stopped at a telephone box. He called Directory Enquiries and made his request. The operator gave him the number.
'Children in Need,’ said the voice.
'I'd like to make a donation.’
'Thank you, sir. Small donations can be…'
