by Jack Higgins
'Murphy,' he said. 'Open sesame.'
A moment later, one half of the door opened electronically. He and Kelly passed through into a short tunnel and went down a flight of concrete steps. There was electric light, another door opened, and in moments they were into a concrete corridor, painted white, very functional, and then into the main part of the bunker.
Two men stood waiting: Liam Brosnan, tall, heavily built, with hair to his shoulders, and Martin O'Neill, the direct opposite, small and red-haired. The only thing they had in common were the AK47assault rifles they carried.
'Well, at least you're on your toes,' Murphy said. 'Any problems?'
'Only one, Brendan,' Brosnan told him. 'Down at the entrance where the tunnel slopes to the steps, there's about a foot of water.'
'Show me.'
They led the way, and Murphy and Kelly followed. It was dark down there and, unlike the rest of the bunker, cold.
'Why is there no heat on, no light?' Murphy demanded.
'Well, that's the point, Brendan. The rest of the bunker's okay, but this part under the old farmhouse is on a separate system and the flooding must have screwed it up.'
'It's the rain,' O'Neill said. 'It's been terrible during the past two weeks.'
'I can tell it's the bloody rain, you eejit,' Murphy said. 'But if the electricity isn't working, that cocks up the entrance. There aren't any bars. They weren't necessary when it was electronic.'
'I've chained the handles and padlocked them,' Brosnan told him. 'I was waiting for you, Brendan. I know you would want someone reliable.'
'Exactly. Don't worry, there's that fella Patterson in Dundalk that builds the fancy houses. He knows which side his bread's buttered on.'
'I know who you mean.'
'You call him and tell him I'll see him at the Patriot for breakfast at eight-thirty tomorrow. Explain the flooding and tell him I expect miracles. He'll attend to it or he'll get a bullet in his left knee, and that's only for starters.'
They walked back through the storage areas. Mortars stacked neatly, the kind of missiles and heavy machine guns that could shoot down a helicopter, AK47and Armalites still greased and brand new from the factory. Cases of Semtex.
Murphy lit a cigarette and said to Kelly, 'Look at it, Dermot. Just waiting to be used, and those old women in London talk peace.'
'You're right, Brendan.'
'Our day will come. I'll just check the office.'
It was at the end of the tunnel, small, functional, with filing cabinets, a computer system and a desk. He said to Brosnan and O'Neill, 'Wait outside.'
Kelly closed the door. Murphy knelt behind the desk and lifted a section of carpet. Underneath, set into the concrete floor, was an old-fashioned safe with a simple keyhole. He felt under the desk, found a key on a magnetic block, and opened the flap.
Inside were packets of currency, sterling and dollars, all wrapped in transparent plastic bags. He handled a few.
'You think this is cash, Dermot? It's not, it's power. With money you can do anything, and there's almost three million here.'
'What about Fox, Brendan? You know what I mean? What you owe him?'
'Hey, stuff Fox. Look what happened at Al Shariz. It was a total fuck-up, and all because of Fox. It must have been. I mean, how were the Israelis on to us? I know it wasn't me.'
'So you aren't going to pay him what you owe him?'
Am I, hell.' Murphy locked the safe and put the carpet back.
'What if he makes trouble, Brendan?'
Murphy laughed. 'Make trouble for me, the Mafia? Dermot, this is Ireland, the one place in the world where they're powerless. We're the ones with power, Dermot, you and me, so let's get on with it and go and crack a bottle and have a decent supper at the Patriot.'
They all sat round the saloon in the Highlander, a large-scale map laid across the table.
'Kilbeg village,' Dillon said. 'The abbey is quarter of a mile to the east. The bunker is underneath.' He tapped the map. 'There, where the site of a ruined farmhouse is indicated, is, according to Sean here, the exit to the bunker.' He looked at Regan, who sat on one of the bench seats, wrists manacled. 'Isn't that so, Sean?'
'To hell with you,' Regan said.
'So how do you intend to play this?' Helen Black asked.
'Well, according to Regan, there are only two caretakers in the bunker. I intend to act very quickly, very economically. Blow the exit door, go in, dispose of them, and leave a hundred-pound block of Semtex to take the place out. They're storing Semtex there as well as arms. It'll be like Bonfire Night.'
'Which, if I'm not mistaken, celebrates Guy Fawkes failing to blow up Parliament,' Hannah Bernstein said.
'Well, I won't fail.'
'What about me?' Billy asked.
'You can watch my back,' Dillon said. 'Guard the exit door after I go in.'
'Oh, great. So I'm standing around like a ponce.'
'Don't be a silly boy, Billy. I'll need you watching out for me.'
'So how do you intend to do it?' Helen asked.
'Right, there's the pier that used to serve the old granite quarry. Yachtsmen call in here occasionally and usually anchor in the bay, according to Roper's information. What we'll do is this. We'll take the boat in to the pier, you in charge, Sergeant Major. Billy and I will wear diving suits. We'll offload diving equipment onto the pier, in case we have to come back the hard way. You will take Highlander a hundred yards out into the bay, and anchor.'
'Fine,' Helen said.
'Billy and I will have transceivers, and so will you, so we'll be in touch. The farmhouse is what, a quarter of a mile away? This will be the ultimate in-and-out job. With luck, it'll be so clean that I'll call and bring you into the pier to pick us up.' He smiled and turned to Billy. 'No need to get your feet wet.'
'Well, that's nice. It's bleeding cold out there.'
Dillon turned to Sean Regan, sitting there, sullen, on the bench, manacled hands on his knees.
'Now we come to your part, son. Is there anything you haven't told me?'
'I've told you everything I know.'
'I hope so, for your sake, because if you haven't you're dead in the water. And that's not just a figure of speech.' He turned to the others. 'Right, people, that's the way it is, so let's get it done.'
It was nine o'clock and pitch dark when they drifted in, the engines a muted throbbing. Dillon left it to Helen Black. She steered one-handed, holding a pair of Nightstalkers to her eyes, and hardly touched the pier. In a second, Dillon was over with a line and ran it round a bollard.
'Right, Billy, pass the gear up.'
Billy wrestled with air bottles and other things and Dillon stacked them on the pier.
'All right, son, let's have you.'
Billy joined him. 'First time in Ireland, and what a bloody place.'
'The hob of hell, Billy.' Dillon called to Helen Black. 'On your way.'
The Highlander moved out and Dillon checked his transceiver. 'Hey, you still love me, Superintendent?'
'Don't be silly,' she replied, and then added. 'For God's sake, Dillon. .'
'I know, take care. Well, here we go to save the British way of life. An Irish gunman and a well-known London gangster. Why is it that people like us have to do it?'
He switched off, checked his Uzi, and slung it across his chest. Billy did the same. Dillon checked his Walther, and, again, Billy did the same. Having heard Dillon talking on the transceiver, he said, 'Do you know the answer? Why is it people like us have to do it?'
'Billy, a great English writer once said — it's ironic that when it comes down to it — that it's men of a rough persuasion who have to do all the hard things that the general population are incapable of doing, and then the general population disowns them. It's called being a soldier.'
'But I'm not a bleeding soldier.'
'You're a gangster, Billy. It's the same thing, so shut up and follow me.'
On board the Highlander, Hannah obeyed Helen Black's orders and dropped
the anchor. Below, Sean Regan sat on the bench, manacled, and thought about things. He was a practical man, and had survived for many years in the Irish struggle by being so.
However, try as he could, Dillon's reputation wouldn't go away and it was that of the ultimate hard man. The Brits used him on situations they didn't want to go to court. If he was on your case, you were dead.
With the best will in the world, Regan couldn't imagine a fate other than being tossed over the side into the Irish Sea, a convenient corpse, and there was no way he could risk that. A desperate plan came to him, and before he could hesitate, he acted. He knocked a tray bearing a teapot and cups off the table and fell on his knees.
A moment later, Hannah appeared. 'What is it?'
'My gut's killing me. I think it must be those seasickness pills.'
She crouched and checked him out. 'That bad?'
'I need the necessary. For God's sake, I might mess myself.'
She pulled him up and took him out to the lavatory. He held out his hands. 'Come on, you can't move in there. I couldn't get my trousers down with these things on.'
She hesitated, then took out her key, uncuffed him, and pushed him inside. She stood against the wall and waited.
Regan sat down, breathed deeply, then stood up, shoved the door open hard, catching Hannah and knocking her against the wall. He went up the companionway fast, ran out on deck, past Helen Black as she emerged from the wheelhouse, and vaulted over the rail. The cold March Irish Sea took his breath away, but he struck out for the shore with all his strength and vanished into the dark.
Hannah appeared on deck. 'Goddammit, he conned me. I was such a fool.'
'Happens to us all.' Helen Black tried her transceiver. 'Dillon, are you there?'
But in the valley area up from the cliffs the signal was poor, and there was no reply.
Sean Regan hit the shore, colder than he'd ever been in his life, and immediately started to run, making his way up the cliff path and turning for Kilbeg. He burst into the Patriot fifteen minutes later. There were three drinkers at the bar, Conolly and Tomelty two of them.
He fell across the bar in front of Sullivan, and Tomelty raised his head by his hair. Regan said, 'Thank God you're here. We've got trouble.'
'Well, tell the man here.'
Regan turned and saw Murphy get up from the bench before the fire.
'Why, Sean, I thought the Brits had you in Wandsworth. How in the hell did you get here?'
Suddenly, Regan realized he was in deep trouble here, too, and tried to recover. 'Never mind that, Brendan. Dillon's here, Sean Dillon. He's here to destroy the bunker.'
'Really?' Murphy said. 'But how would he know? Have you been shooting your gob off?'
'Please, Brendan. They took me out of Wandsworth. Beat the shire out of me.'
'Well, I must say you don't look too bad,' Tomelty said.
'We came over on a boat. Anchored off the old pier. I managed to get away. There are a couple of women on board, one Special Branch, that Bernstein bitch, the other is military police.'
And Dillon?'
'He's gone to take out the bunker with another guy. He's going in by way of the exit at the farmhouse.'
Murphy shook his head. 'And how would he know about all that?'
'Jesus, Brendan.'
'No, you, Sean.'
At that moment, there was a rumble in the distance. Kelly ran out of the pub entrance, then came back in. 'It's the abbey. Some sort of explosion. Shall we get up there?'
Murphy cursed. 'No. It's a waste of bloody time now.' Murphy pushed Regan to the door. 'Let's get out of here, down to the pier.'
A few moments earlier, as Dillon and Billy had reached the exit door in the old farmhouse, Helen Black managed to get through.
'Dillon, for God's sake.'
'What?'
'We've got a crisis. Regan escaped. Jumped in the bay and swam for it.'
'Well, that's damn unfortunate.'
'Will you abort?'
'Like hell. We're at the exit now. We'll go in hard and get out quick.' He switched off
Helen said to Hannah, 'He's still going in. I'll take the inflatable to the pier. Time could be crucial here.'
'Maybe I should go,' Hannah said.
'Not this time. Now I've got to get moving.'
At the exit door, Dillon stopped, took a magnetized block from his bag, and slammed it over the lock. 'Stay here and wait for me, Billy.'
He stepped back, the lock blew, and the doors folded inwards. Dillon ran in, took a smoke grenade from the bag, and rolled it down the corridor. The water considerably reduced its efficiency, but he ran on, pulling out a stun grenade, but again, swallowed by the floor, it wasn't very effective.
Behind him, Billy muttered, 'What the hell,' raised his Uzi, and went after Dillon.
Brosnan and O'Neill were having a late supper in the office when they heard the noise, grabbed their Uzis, and ran out. A certain amount of smoke remained from the grenade and they crouched from the half-shock of the stun grenade. A moment later, Dillon ran out of the fog headlong, and Brosnan rose to meet him, but Dillon was faster, his Uzi battering Brosnan back against the wall.
Dillon stumbled to one knee and O'Neill stood up in the murk. 'I've got you now, you bastard.'
He raised his AK and Billy came in on the run, firing his Uzi, and shot him to pieces. Billy dropped on his knees, breathing deeply, and Dillon stood up.
'Don't fall down on me now, Billy. This is the good bit.'
He kicked open the office door, produced five blocks of Semtex from the jump bag, took timers from the bag, and inserted them. He left one on the office floor and pushed Billy.
'Out you go. Three minutes.' He dropped the blocks one by one, as they ran through the bunker, splashed through the water, and made it out of the exit. As they went down the slope to the cliffs, the explosion rumbled underground.
Murphy was into the car, with Regan, Kelly, Conolly and Tomelty, and roaring out of the village within seconds of the explosion. When they reached the top of the road, he said to Tomelty, who was driving, 'Switch off the engine.'
They coasted down the hill silently and braked to a halt. Helen Black, sitting in the inflatable, heard nothing.
Murphy said, 'Not a sound. You go along the strip of beach, Tomelty. You and I will take the pier, Conolly, and be very, very quiet.' He turned to Regan. And you be especially quiet.'
They moved out. Helen Black sat there in the inflatable. There was a footfall on the beach. She turned and took out her Walther, and a flashlight was switched on from the pier.
'Well, I know you're not Bernstein, I'd recognize her, so I suppose you must be the Sergeant Major.' Murphy frowned. 'You wouldn't be Black, would you? The one from Derry?'
'My God, you've got a brain.'
'Down you go, Tomelty,' Murphy said. 'Get her gun.' He turned to Kelly. 'You and Conolly take her out to the boat. If the Bernstein bitch argues, tell her you'll shoot this one.' He turned to Tomelty. 'You and I stay here for Dillon.'
The inflatable moved away. Tomelty said, 'What about Regan?'
Murphy said, 'Silly me. I was forgetting.' He turned to Regan and took a Browning from his pocket. 'You sold us out, you shire. You're lucky I don't have time to make it longer.'
The silenced Browning coughed and Regan went off the pier into the water.
On the Highlander, Hannah looked through the Nightstalker as the inflatable coasted in. 'Are you all right?' she called.
Kelly said, 'We've got your Sergeant Major here and I've got a gun to her head. If you're not sensible, I'll kill her stone dead.'
Helen Black called, 'Don't listen, Hannah, do what you have to do. You heard the explosion. We've achieved our object. To hell with these people.'
Conolly hit her across the side of her head with his pistol. She cried out. Kelly said, 'I mean it.'
'All right.' Hannah stood back, her Walther in her left hand.
A moment later, Kelly boarded, followed by Helen B
lack and Conolly, who took the Walther from Hannah's grasp. 'There's a good girl.'
Black was wearing paratroop boots with her jumpsuit.
Stuffed into the right one was the Colt.25 hollow point. At that moment, she could have pulled it out in the darkness of the deck and shot both men. But what would that mean for Dillon and Billy? She decided to wait.
Dillon tried to get her on the transceiver and got no reply. On the Highlander, Kelly started the engines and moved in to the pier, and Conolly tied up. Dillon and Billy came down the hill on the run, and in the slight light of a quarter moon, the rain having stopped, saw the boat move in.
'They've come for us,' Billy said, gasping for breath. 'So it would appear.'
They hit the end of the pier, looked down at the deck with the light on, and saw Kelly push Hannah and Helen out, he and Conolly both holding guns to the women's backs.
Murphy came out of the shadows with Tomelty. 'They mean it, you bastard. You want them dead?'
'Certainly not,' Dillon said. 'Do as he says, Billy, guns on the floor.'
Billy complied, and Murphy lit a cigarette. 'Damn you, Dillon, I always admired you, but this time you've cost me money.'
'Not you, Brendan, Jack Fox.'
Murphy laughed incredulously. 'My God, is that what this is about, a personal feud?'
'You shouldn't have joined, Brendan.'
'Neither should you, Dillon. Now you and your friend get on board so we can move to where the water's deeper, because that's where you're going.'
Dillon and Billy went down the steps to the deck and joined Helen Black and Hannah; Murphy followed with Tomelty. Kelly was at the wheel, Conolly joined the others.
'You know what?' Murphy said. 'It's a waste of good women, but I'm going to kill the lot of you.'
He was looking at Hannah when he said that. Helen Black, close to the wheelhouse, pulled the Colt out of her boot and shot Kelly in the back of the head. The boat swerved, and everyone fell over. As Conolly tried to get up, she pushed herself upright, shot him dead, then ducked and dived over the rail as Murphy tried to shoot her.