“And still he was — he is — so proud of being Irish. You probably can’t understand that, can you? And after this episode, let me tell you — ”
“Shut up a minute,” said Malone. “Boss?”
Minogue turned.
“You see it?”
“Which?”
“A green Mondeo sitting back there? A boom-boom version. Fancy wheels?”
“Might be one of ours, Tommy. Turn on the radio.”
There was a two-way about a stolen van being followed through Finglas.
“He wasn’t there when we came onto the street,” said Malone. “He must have come in after that lorry, and pulled in.”
Minogue strained to see along the parked cars.
“Naw,” Malone murmured. “He pulled in at an entrance to some place there. I can still see a bit of the side of him there…”
Minogue turned up the radio a notch. There was a traffic accident somewhere near Rathmines. The stolen van was now speeding through red lights in Finglas village.
“If it’s someone Hayes’s mob has put on us, they’d have their own band,” said Malone.
Minogue weighed the phone in his hand. Freeman wasn’t going to tell them anything. Time to show up, probably. Whatever about Hayes and company, Declan King would be trouble. Tynan might blow a gasket over this.
“Let’s move on, Tommy. Let them play if they want.”
“I think he might have been with us a few streets back, boss.”
“Are we close to your place?” asked Freeman.
“He’s coming along with us, boss,” said Malone. Minogue looked out the back window. He wondered if there was a pick-up car, a tandem, somewhere ahead.
“Who’s following us?” Freeman asked.
“I don’t know,” said Minogue.
The dispatcher’s voice had a different tone now, Minogue believed. He repeated the message. A gray Nissan, a Technical Squad car, thought to be in the city center, perhaps heading for headquarters in the Phoenix Park.
“We’re famous now,” said Malone. “Bet you it’s the Iceman. He’s gotten an earful from King already. ”
The dispatcher repeated the request to get in touch with CDU section 3 by phone immediately.
“There goes the promotion,” said Malone.
“You’d better tell me what’s going on here,” said Freeman.
“Huh,” said Malone, his eyes on the rear mirror. “Hayes’s mob. James fucking Bond cha-cha tango gobshites. With their souped-up shitbox Mond-Jesus!!”
Malone stood on the brakes and yanked the wheel. Minogue’s belt bit into his neck. Freeman’s shoulder hit hard on the seatback. It was a white car, a Golf, but Malone had managed not to stop in time. Tires shrieked somewhere behind. Freeman was trying to right himself in the backseat. Son of a, he was saying.
The passenger door of the Golf swung open. Minogue was surprised how could a driver so blatantly in the wrong want to leap out and start shouting. In the split second before the man turned, Minogue had taken in the covering on his head, the bomber jacket, the thing in his hand, and he had registered all this somewhere as trouble. Planned, he knew instinctively as he realized that he was watching a man with a nylon stocking over his face carrying a gun.
Malone had already found reverse. He jammed the pedal, shouting. The man with the gun hesitated, took a few steps, and stopped as Malone accelerated. The Nissan began to waver as Malone overcorrected but he kept it going. Minogue looked out the front. Someone in the Golf was waving and shouting at the gunman.
“Oh-oh,” from Malone, and then a shout as the Mondeo blocked the roadway behind.
“Hang on,” Malone called out. “I’m going to have a go at him!”
Malone didn’t slow down. Minogue put his head down as the Nissan hit the Mondeo, but the impact threw his head against the headrest. Freeman came forward, his hands over his head, crashing into the seat. The Nissan was stalled and beeping. Minogue heard something metallic rolling away outside on the roadway. Malone leaned over the wheel now, grabbing at the small of his back.
“Out,” he shouted. “Get somewhere between the parked cars!”
Minogue saw that the gunman had begun to run toward them now, the Golf following. He looked around for Freeman, and then slipped as he came around his open door and went down on his side. The pain from his hip and his elbow stunned him. He heard Malone was calling his name, shouting something about over here. The roadway was greasy under his palms. A slicing pain from his palm came to the fore now: some piece of a light from one of the cars was embedded there. He got up to a crouch, called out Freeman’s name.
There were hissing sounds coming from somewhere, grinding too: the front of the Mondeo. The driver was trying to start the engine again. Malone shouted something about Freeman, he was over here.
Minogue ducked when he heard the crack, like a stone being split, then another. He ran blind on his hunkers to the parked cars. Malone grabbed his collar as he put out his hands.
“Get down here, boss! Boss! Down!”
He saw Freeman’s leg as he dropped down between the bumpers. Malone leaned around a bumper and fired off three shots down the street. There was a quick squeal of tires and a shout. Minogue thought he heard “gun.” Maybe they hadn’t expected them to be armed. Freeman was half on the footpath now. Minogue called out to him. Freeman’s face appeared by a taillight, his mouth slack with the shock. He was bobbing on his hunkers.
“Don’t,” Minogue called out.
The driver of the Mondeo gave up. A car door opened. Minogue crouched lower, heard footsteps scrambling. Oh fuck, he heard Malone curse. Someone began shooting steadily now. He couldn’t tell what direction it was coming from. There was a whirr in the air close by. Malone bobbed up, fired a shot toward the Mondeo, and dropped down.
Minogue turned when he heard the scrambling behind. Freeman was gone There were more shouts, some from himself, Malone. Two shots rang out in quick succession, then two more. The running footsteps stopped and he heard something hit a panel, scrape on the cement of the footpath. Malone began shouting Freeman’s name now too.
There was another shot and then Minogue heard someone running. Minogue tried to get his feet under him better for a sprint. One of his knees wouldn’t bend enough. A car began to rev high — the Golf, he thought. Someone was shouting, “Let’s fucking go!” More shots now, a steady, measured volley from one gun. A car window went out with a pop nearby, pieces hesitating and then cascading in bunches to the roadway. Malone fired: to keep them at bay, Minogue knew. How many were in a clip on those new automatics, he thought. Did Malone carry — The revving gave way to tires squealing and a door being pulled shut.
“Freeman, are you there?” he heard himself call out.
“Stay down,” he heard Malone shout. The driver of the Golf made a racer’s gear change into second.
“Are they gone?” Malone called out. Minogue peered around the bumper. It was a Peugeot he’d been hugging, he realized. Behind him, a Starlet, close to being a clapped-out banger. His palm was beginning to sting. He looked down at the cut. And there was a rip at the knee of his newish trousers, bought in that shop in… The weakness flooded into him in an instant. Was he going to faint now?
“Are they gone?” Malone was asking.
“I don’t know,” he managed. Malone, his face red and contorted, was backing toward him on his haunches, his gun trained on the gap between the cars.
“Where’s Freeman?”
Minogue’s jaw seemed to be locked. He shook his head.
“Where’s Freeman?”
Still Minogue couldn’t find the words. Tires squealed one street over. The hum and background hush of the city seemed to come back louder than ever. Malone began to take quick looks around the bumper at the two cars in the middle of the road. The driver’s door on the Mondeo still hung open.
“Did they take off in the other car?” Minogue heard him ask. There was a sharp smell in the air that Minogue recognized all too well. Malone was standing in a crouch now, looking through the window of the Starlet. Minogue
