“Besides, I already paid this month’s dues to you bastards.” He had the sudden thought that their presence might well be connected with the gunshot upstairs, but for the moment he couldn’t think how.
“It’s not your takings we’re after,” Micah said.
Hanratty frowned. “What then? We just sit here?”
“That’s right,” Micah said, moving to the counter and exchanging his spent pistol for the one the publican had been reaching for. “And if either of you opens his mouth again, I’ll blow both your heads off.”
It occurred to Hopkins that for man who up until then had shown little sign of eloquence, Micah, when the mood took him, certainly had a way with words.
Maggett stumbled out of the privy, buttoning himself up. He was all fingers and thumbs. He’d heard the pistol shot while he was pissing in the back alleyway and recognized it for what it was and where above his head it had come from. The almost simultaneous screech of anger and the muffled thump that followed had been enough to send a warning to Maggett’s brain that danger might be imminent and evasive action was a priority.
The second shot came from a lot closer and it stopped Maggett in his tracks. Advancing slowly, he peered round the edge of the taproom door. The sight of the pistols being trained on the Hanrattys was enough to draw him back into the shadows, but it was the police uniform that removed all doubt the danger was real. He had to find Sawney.
Maggett retreated at speed down the passage. Passing the kitchen, he paused only to lift one of the heavy meat cleavers from the wall before setting off at a lumbering run towards the back stairs.
When the first shot rang out Lomax swore and muttered darkly, “There goes our element of surprise.”
Hawkwood said nothing. They were on the top floor. Unlike the floors beneath, there were no candles along the walls to show the way, but a skylight was set in the roof, allowing moonlight to filter down on to the landing.
A splintering crash rose from below as a door gave way. Hawkwood knew it was Jago starting to go through the rooms. Lomax was correct. They had lost the advantage and speed was now the overwhelming factor.
Hawkwood tried the first door. It was locked.
A second pistol shot sounded from downstairs. Micah and Hopkins keeping the rest of the Hanrattys at bay, or so Hawkwood hoped.
Hawkwood drove his boot against the door lock. It took two kicks for the door to give way. The room was empty. Hawkwood backed out, just in time to hear the click of a latch and see a slim silhouette emerge from a doorway at the other end of the landing. He had a brief glimpse of a halo of dark hair framing a small, pale face and an arm coming up from behind the angle of a petticoat.
He heard Lomax yell, then there was a gleam of moonlight on metal and even as he brought his own pistol up and squeezed the trigger and saw the figure flung backwards against the side of the door by the force of the impact, there was a simultaneous flash of powder and a dull crack and he heard Lomax grunt and spin away.
As Sal started to go down, a second figure, which Hawkwood knew had to be Sawney, reached out, grasped her about the waist and, using her body as a shield, raised a pistol and fired. Hawkwood felt the wind from the ball as it ploughed past his ear and struck the wall behind his head.
A muttered curse came from below and to his left and a pistol roared. Hawkwood saw Sal’s body slump and then he was bringing the second pistol up. The gun jerked in his hand as the explosion filled the landing, then Sal’s body dropped to the floor and the figure sheltering behind her fell away, feet slithering.
At that moment, Hawkwood knew they’d failed. They had needed Sal Bridger and Sawney alive. Just one of them would have done. He cursed his stupidity. Sawney had only the one pistol. There had been no opportunity for him to reload and therefore there had been no need for Hawkwood to shoot a second time. He hadn’t thought it through. Everything had happened too fast.
Hawkwood looked down. Lomax was half sitting, half lying against the wall, holding his shoulder. He rewarded Hawkwood with one of his macabre grins and then his attention shifted to the end of the landing and Hawkwood saw him stiffen. Following Lomax’s gaze, Hawkwood saw movement close to the floor. One of the bodies was twitching.
Gripping the spent pistols, he walked forward. As he did so, a monstrous shadow arose from a second stairwell at the end of the landing.
Maggett erupted out of the darkness, the cleaver high in his fist. Hawkwood had a fleeting impression of a vast form filling his vision and then the massive hand was reaching for him and there was a flash of steel above his head and the blade was curving towards him with appalling speed.
And then there was a second shadow, which seemed to come from nowhere, and the world exploded with a roar as Jago slammed the muzzle of the blunderbuss against Maggett’s jaw and pulled the trigger.
Maggett’s face disintegrated as his corpse was blown sideways by the blast. The cleaver thudded on to the floor as the sound of the gun reverberated along the landing like the voice of God.
Jago stared down at the weapon, an expression of awe on his face. “Good thing I went back for it. Jesus! She
Sawney groaned.
Hawkwood, ears ringing, looked down. Sawney was clutching his chest. The pistol ball had struck him an inch below the ribcage. The blood that was welling over his shirt and waistcoat looked black in the moonlight.
He stared up at Hawkwood. “Bastard,” he whispered hoarsely. “Knew we should have killed you.”
Hawkwood squatted down. “Where’s Hyde?”
“And Molly Finn,” Jago said.
“Sal?” Sawney tried moving his head to see.
“She’s dead,” Hawkwood said. “Same as you. You’ve been gut shot, Sawney. All the surgeons in the world can’t save you from dying. Not even Colonel Hyde. Where is he? And where’s Molly Finn?”
Sawney’s chest rose and fell. His brow puckered. “Molly Finn? The little cow Sal picked up? You came here lookin’ for her?” Sawney tried to laugh and then coughed suddenly. Blood bubbled from between his gritted teeth.
“Where is she?” Jago grated.
“That’s what’s funny. She was never here, you stupid sods. We delivered her to ’im.”
“Who?”
“Colonel bleedin’ Hyde. Who’d you think?”
“What?” Hawkwood said, not understanding.
“You deaf? He wanted a live one, so we gave her to ’im.” Sawney coughed again. Blood burst out of his mouth. His hands began to flutter across his chest, fingers tapping against his waistcoat. His eyes rolled in his head.
“Jesus!” Jago spat. He reached down and grabbed Sawney’s collar. “Where are they, you bastard?”
For a moment, Sawney seemed to recover from his convulsions. His eyes regained their focus and he frowned. “You Jago? Hanratty told me about you. Said you were king o’ the castle? That right? That’s bleedin’ funny. That’s a riot.” Another spasm took him and he coughed once more.
“Christ,” Jago said. “For once in your miserable life, do something right, you piece of shit!”
Sawney’s eyes widened. He stared at Jago and then at Hawkwood. He moved his hand across his belly. His fingers began to play with the pocket on his waistcoat. Then they lay still and his lips parted.
“Why the bleedin’ ’ell should I?” he hissed, and died.
“God Almighty!” Jago released his grip and stared down at the corpse in disbelief. “God All bloody Mighty!”
A shadow blocked the moonlight coming through the skylight above them; Lomax stood with his neck cloth, dark with blood, pressed against his right shoulder. “Is it over?”
“It is for that bastard,” Jago said. “God damn him to Hell!”
Lomax gazed down at Sal Bridger’s corpse. There was a hole in the middle of her forehead and blood on the front of her petticoat. “She’d have been a pretty little thing once,” he murmured to no one in particular.
Hawkwood wasn’t listening. He was still crouched over Sawney, wondering where they went from here. They were no nearer to finding Hyde or Molly Finn. The night’s enterprise had turned into a bloody mess. Literally.
His eyes travelled down from the lifeless eyes to the bloodstained clothing. He noted how Sawney’s left hand was clamped over the wound, while the right looked as if it was still reaching into the waistcoat pocket. In fact
