occupied the outhouses and battlements of the bawn. Fitzduane had just made the decision to abandon the great hall and consolidate in the keep and the tunnel below. He hadn't much choice, since the terrorists occupied the floors below the great hall.
Fitzduane's original force had been whittled down to seven effectives, including the two middle-aged women who were primarily non-combatants. Several of the seven were wounded, lightly in most cases but with the inevitable toll on energy and stamina. Henssen had lost the use of one arm. Ammunition, given the intensity of the combat, was running low. The grenades and other specialized weaponry had been largely expended.
With great reluctance, Fitzduane deployed the ten student volunteers. At the rate things were going, he'd soon be down to a bunch of teenagers and medieval weaponry.
29
Fitzduane's Castle – 0004 hours
Kadar's mood had oscillated from one extreme to the other during the last few hours. Now, despite the initial setbacks, he felt euphoric. Victory was imminent, and it was all the sweeter for being the harder won.
He looked around the great hall. The room was impressive, the quality of the woodwork outstanding. How many generations of Fitzduanes had talked and eaten and planned in this very room? What blood had been shed here? What compromises and betrayals had been required for the Fitzduanes to have survived Ireland's turbulent history?
He sat in the padded carved oak chair at the head of the table and rubbed his fingers on its massive, timeworn oaken mass. He could feel the slight undulations that represented the original adz marks. My God, he thought, this banqueting table must have been made before Christopher Colombus sailed for America, before Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa, before Louis XIV built Versailles.
'Sir?' said Sabri Sartawi, the commander of the Icarus Unit and now the only one of Kadar's senior officers still alive. Kadar was sitting at the head of the table, his eyes closed, his fingers caressing the beeswax-polished wood. There was a smile on his face. Desultory gunfire could be heard around the keep, and from time to time the dull whump of a Molotov cocktail. It was a hell of a time to daydream, but nothing Kadar did surprised Sartawi anymore. The man was obviously insane; still, his insanity was mixed with brilliance. It now looked as if despite everything, they were going to pull it off.
'Sir?' repeated Sartawi more forcefully, and Kadar's eyes snapped open. For a moment Sartawi thought he had gone too far. The eyes blazed with anger.
The moment passed. 'Yes?' said Kadar mildly. His fingers were still feeling the patina of the table.
'Situation report, sir,' said Sartawi.
'Proceed.'
'We've broken through the concealed door in the gatehouse winding room,' said Sartawi. 'It leads down a circular staircase into a tunnel. We estimate that the tunnel links up with the base of the keep, but we can't be sure because our way is blocked by a heavy steel door.'
'Blow it.'
'We can't,' said Sartawi. 'We used up the last of our explosives in the car bomb. We're out of grenades and RPG-7 projectiles, too. We never expected to have to fight this kind of battle. Also, we're very low on ammunition, perhaps one or two magazines per man.'
'Are the Powerchute and the LPO-50 ready?' said Kadar. The Powerchute in question was the one that had been flown by that unlucky follower of Hasane Sabah, the Iranian Husain. Although Husain had lost interest in this world after his encounter with the firepower of Fitzduane's SA-80, his dead body had balanced the motorized parachute in such a way that it had made quite a respectable landing on its own -not far from the takeoff point. Kadar had had it moved so that it could take off again out of sight of the defenders in the keep.
'Both are ready,' said Sartawi. 'And the heavy-machine-gun crews have been briefed.'
Kadar was silent for a moment, lost in thought. He pushed back his chair, stood up, and paced up and down the room. He turned to Sartawi. 'We have metal-cutting equipment,' he said, 'the stuff we used to make that armored tractor. Use that on the tunnel door. I'll lay odds that our hostages are on the other side. I want the door open at the same time as the Powerchute attack. Also, I want all this' – he gestured around the great hall – 'set fire to. We'll burn the bastards out.'
'What about the Rangers?' asked Sartawi. 'A few jumped, I think, before we hit the plane.'
'A handful of men two kilometers away isn't likely to affect the outcome,' said Kadar. 'And by the time they get close enough to join in the fighting, we'll have the castle and the hostages.'
I hope you're right, thought Sartawi, but he didn't say anything. He'd heard the Rangers were formidable, but it was true there could be only a few of them – and they would be out in the open against the fortified heavy- machine-gun positions.
Kadar took one last look at the great hall. 'Beautiful, isn't it?'
Sartawi issued the orders. Battle-fatigued members of Icarus Unit hauled cans of fuel up the stairs and drenched the floor and timbers of the huge room, then spilled more fuel on the stairs and the rooms below.
Fitzduane's Castle – 0013 hours
There had been a brief lull in the fighting, though sporadic sniping continued. Fitzduane had used the brief respite to arm and deploy the students and to carry out a quick tour of inspection of his much-diminished perimeter. Everyone was exhausted and hungry and looked it. Food was provided while there was the opportunity. They all knew they had very little time.
Slumped on a sandbag in a corner of what had been his bedroom but was now the main defensive post at the top of the keep – the fighting platform seemed to attract a disproportionate amount of heavy-machine-gun fire – Fitzduane took the mug of coffee and the sandwich that Oona offered him. He didn't really know what to say to her. Only twelve hours ago she had been a contented woman with a husband she adored – and now Murrough was dead. So many dead, and because of him. Would it have been better to have stood aside and let the Hangman have his way? He didn't think so, but then your own immediate world was affected, it was hard to know what was right.
Truth to tell, violence didn't discriminate. The victims of warfare in the main weren't any better or worse than anybody else, whatever the propaganda made out. The North Vietnamese, the South Vietnamese, the Israelis, the Arabs, the police, the terrorists – almost all were fundamentally alike when you really got down to it: ordinary people with wives and mothers like Oona who got caught up with something that got out of control.
Oona finished dispensing coffee and sandwiches to the others in the room before turning back and looking at him. Fitzduane felt the sandwich turn to cardboard in his mouth. He swallowed with difficulty and then tried to say something appropriate, but what words he managed sounded inadequate.
Oona kissed him on the forehead. 'Now look, Hugo,' she said, 'we all have to die, and Murrough died in a good cause, to save other people, and children at that. He died fighting and, may the Lord have mercy on his soul, but he loved to fight.'
When Fitzduane took her in his arms, he could feel her sobs, he could hear Murrough talking to him, he could see him, and he knew then whatever the Hangman might attempt this time, he was going to be stopped.
Oona gently freed herself and wiped the tears from her eyes. 'Eat you food and don't worry about Etan,' she said. 'And then put a stop to the Hangman once and for all.'
Fitzduane smiled thinly. 'No problem.'
Oona hugged him again, then returned to helping the others.
As she left, the Bear came into the room and sat down on another sandbag facing Fitzduane. He was puffing slightly. 'Castles,' he finally managed, 'weren't built for people of my dimensions and stature.'
'If you wore armor regularly,' said Fitzduane, 'you got into shape fast enough, and hopping up and down circular stairs was no problem. Also, everyone was smaller in those days.'
'Hmph,' muttered the Bear. He ate the rest of Fitzduane's sandwich in silence.
