“But not to forget his manners,” Mary Power said and she reached over and hit Benny over the knuckles with a wooden spoon. “Now be a good boy and go and do the milking.”
He pulled on his cap, bread and cheese in one hand. “Yes, Aunty,” he mumbled and went out.
“Away into the parlour with you and I’ll serve tea in there,” she told them.
Kathleen Ryan started to clear the plates and Keogh said firmly, “My turn. Off you go with your uncle, there’s a good girl.”
“Good girl yourself,” she said, but went anyway, following Ryan out.
“No Irishman I ever knew would volunteer to do the work of a woman, so I take it you wanted to speak to me,” Mary Power said.
“Something like that.” Keogh stacked the plates for her. “Are you happy with everything so far?”
“Happy?” She filled the sink with hot water and slid the plates in. “I’ve forgotten what that word means. My husband and I came here full of hope, but this is only a place to die in. Subsistence farming of the worst kind. The land is a cruel master here.”
“I can see that.”
“So when Michael came to me with word of this ploy he wanted to organize, it was like a line thrown to a drowning man. If it comes off, Benny and I can go back to Ulster.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“We’ll be trapped here forever. Michael made it clear there would be no police trouble whatever happens. Nothing to connect us with you lot.”
“And with luck that’s the way it should stay.”
“Let’s hope so. Politics mean nothing to me, but Michael is a good man and I trust him.”
Keogh left her there and went into the parlour. The girl sat in the windowseat with her copy of
“A good woman, that,” Keogh said. “She’s had a bad time.”
“The worst,” Ryan told him. “But better times coming, God willing. We’d better check the weaponry in the barn after we’ve had our tea.”
“That suits me fine,” Keogh said.
“And me,” Kathleen put in. “I’d like to try out that Colt pistol Mr. Bell gave me.”
“Well, we’ll see,” Ryan told her and at that moment Mary Power brought in a tray with the tea things.
LATER, IN THE dimly lit barn, Keogh and Ryan laid out the weaponry from Ryan’s big case. There were the two AK assault rifles, spare clips, the stun and smoke grenades, and the Semtex with its timing pencils. There was even a spare Walther in a leather ankle holster.
Keogh checked it out. “Where did that come from?”
“Oh, I thought it might come in useful. I always liked the idea of an ace in the hole,” Ryan said.
Keogh examined each AK separately, running his hands over the various parts expertly. He loaded one and passed it to Ryan. “That latest silencer they have is pretty damn good. Try it.”
He took a wooden plank to the other end of the barn, propped it against the bales of hay, and came back. Kathleen and Benny stood watching.
Ryan raised the AK and fired three single shots. There was the familiar crack the weapon always made in the silenced mode and three bullet holes appeared in the plank.
Keogh loaded the second AK and passed it across. “And that one.”
Ryan pressed the trigger again and achieved the same result. He lowered the weapon and placed it on the trestle table. “That’s all right, then.”
Kathleen came forward holding the Colt.25 automatic. “Now me.”
Keogh said, “It’s all yours.”
She raised the Colt in both hands, took careful aim, and fired, kicking up straw to one side of the plank.
“Try again,” Ryan told her.
The anger showed on her face, but she took aim again and achieved the same result.
She was furious now and Keogh said, “Look, most people can’t hit a barn door with a handgun, so don’t take it to heart. Come with me.” He stopped six or seven feet away from the plank. “I wouldn’t try it from any further away than this if I were you. Just point and shoot.”
She tried again, clipping the plank with one shot, but her second was on target. “Much better,” Keogh said. “But holding the barrel against the target and pulling the trigger gets an even better result.”
He turned and walked back and Ryan was laughing. Even Benny was smiling and she was annoyed. “Well, what about you, small man? Lots of advice for others, but little on display from yourself.”
Keogh turned, face calm, and it was as if she was only noticing for the first time how cold his eyes were. His hand went under his jacket at the rear, the Walther swung up, he fired six times, double-tapping splinters flew from the plank and it toppled over.
Benny had his hands over his ears in spite of the silencer and Kathleen’s look of astonishment was something to see. Keogh didn’t say a word, simply ejected the clip and refilled it.
It was Ryan who put it into words. “Here endeth the lesson. Now let’s turn in. It’s going to be a hell of a day tomorrow.”
ABOUT FOUR MILES south of Marsh End and some five miles off the coast, the
“Seven or eight handguns in there so take your pick. I want every man armed.”
Dolan took a Smith amp; Wesson.38. “This will do me fine.”
The others helped themselves. Jock Grant, the engineer, said, “What’s our estimated time of arrival?”
“About eleven o’clock in the morning, but I can’t be sure. I mean, I don’t know this Marsh End place, so navigating could be awkward and we need to go in on the tide.”
“So what happens?” Dolan asked.
“I don’t know is the answer. When Bell first spoke to me he said we’d to be ready to leave late afternoon. He said the tide would be turning then and the timing was essential. We’ll go in and wait. I mean, Ryan’s bound to turn up to finalize things.”
“But he’s bound to expect trouble after what happened,” Dolan persisted.
“Look, he doesn’t have any choice. Once he has that truck, he’s got to get it away. I’ll tell him it was all a mistake, that I didn’t mean any harm, that I was just making sure everything was on the level, that’s all. What happens when we get to sea is another matter.”
Dolan said, “But that little Keogh bastard is red hot. I mean, look what he did to your ear.”
“I’m not forgetting, but just remember, there’s five of us and only Ryan and Keogh and the girl, and she’s the key. If we can get our hands on her, Ryan will cave in soon enough. We’ll have to make it up as we go along. We won’t hit the Irish coast till dawn. I’ll think of something, but to start with, everybody behaves.”
“I don’t know.” Bert Fox sounded dubious. “It could get nasty.”
Tully exploded in anger. “The biggest payday ever. Are you in or out? Make your minds up.”
It was Dolan who spoke for all of them. “We’re with you, Mr. Tully, no question. Isn’t that right, lads?”
There was a chorus of approval and Tully said, “Get back to work.”
They all went, leaving Muller at the wheel. Tully went out on the bridge and stood there staring into the darkness. He touched his bandaged ear, which still hurt like hell, and it was Keogh he was thinking of and what he’d do to the little bastard when the time came.
FIVE
THE FOLLOWING MORNING when Keogh rose at seven, the weather seemed to have deteriorated. There was heavy mist now over the marsh, and when he opened the front door, the rain was relentless.
