“Oh, do what the hell you like,” she said and stormed out. THE TOYOTA COASTED DOWN THE HILL OUTSIDE Ballyburn. Dillon slowed and there it was, the opened five-barred gate, the sign Victoria Farm, and the farmhouse beyond.
“Pull up in the lay-by,” Devlin said. “I’ve got some glasses in the glove compartment.” He rummaged inside and found a pair of Zeiss binoculars.
“Just let me take a look.”
He stood beside the Toyota and focused them on the station wagon in the farmyard, and at that moment z58
the house door opened and they all came out, Barry, S011azo, Mori, and the Ryans.
“Christ,” Devlin said. “It’s the whole damn bunch of them. Jack Barry for starters. Take a look, Sean.”
Dillon took the binoculars, focused them, and nodded.
“Barry, Michael, and sweet Kathleen.”
Hannah had got out of the Toyota and he paSsed the binoculars to her. She took a look. “The other two are Sollazo and his minder, Giovanni Mori,” she murmured to Devlin. “We had photos of them faxed from Blake Johnson,” She stiffened. “Barry and Sol-lazo have got into the station wagon. The others are going inside.”
“Out of here quick,” Devlin said to Dillon.
They scrambled in and Dillon drove away quickly and took a side turning. He stopped. “Give them a couple of minutes to see if they come this way. If not, I’ll reverse and try and catch them up.”
It waS Hannah a momentJter, watching through the rear window, who said, “There they go.”
“And with luck, to where we all want to be,” Dev-lin said. “So after them, Se, an.” DILLON STAYED WELL.BACK, DEVLIN ACTING AS lookout, and the amount of traffic on the road gave them plenty of COver. Drogheda waS twenty miles, Dundalk another twenty, and they were just under the hour as they passed through the town.
“The border soon,” Devlin told Hannah. “Then we cross over to Warrenpoint if it’s the Down coast z59
as it must be, we’ll go through Rostrevor and down to Kilkeel and take the coast road.”
“Which would bring us to Drumdonald and Scots-town, the area where we landed after the Irish Rose went down,” Dillon observed.
“What was the name of the pub you went to in Scotstown?” Hannah said.
“The Loyalist,” Dillon laughed. “The wrong name entirely. Kevin Stringer, who runs it, worked for Barry for years.” He frowned and turned to. Dev-lin.
“What do you think?”
“That it sounds promising. We’ll see. Now I’ll take a little nap and you young ones keep alert.” AI:I WARRENPOINT, THE TIAFFIC THINNED out, but there were still vehicles on the road, private cars and the occasional truck, enough to give cover if Dillon stayedwell back. It started to rain, sweeping in from the Moume Mountains.
“Sweeping down’ to the sea as the song says’,”
Devlin commented. “A rand sight.”
“It certainly is,” Hannah said.
There were two cars and a large farm truck ahead of them ahd the station wagon in front. Devlin said, “One thing, if we are going to end up in Scotstown or some such place, we have a problem. Fishing villages only on this coast, a jetty, a harbor, a few boats.
Strangers stick out like a sore thumb.”
“We’ll have to go gently,” Dillon said. “Wait and see.”
THE RAIN INCREASED INTO A SOLID DOWNPOUR, and Barry, at the wheel of the station wagon, swore softly. “The curse of this country.” “You can say that again,” Sollazo said.
“Kilkeel coming up. There’s a grand cafe on the road just before we go through. I don’t know about you, but a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich would go down fine.” “Suits me,” Sollazo told him.
A few moments later, they came to the very place and Barry mined into-the car park. There were several trucks, a few cars, and he parked beside them. There was a filling station and garage with a sign that said Patrick Murphy & Son. The cafe was at the other end of the car park. They ran through the rain and went in.
‘ Dillon pulled the Toyota in between two trucks and switched off the engine: Hannah said, “I’ll go and see what’s happening. I need thg. toilet anyway.” She got out and hurried awalhrough the rain. “A darling girl,” Devlin said.