Jack Higgins – The Violent Enemy

‘Soames picked it up in the Smoke. Thought it might tome in useful.’

‘Any spare slugs?’

‘Half a dozen, that’s all.’ Pope handed them over. ‘What was the take?’

‘A hundred and forty thousand. Not as good as expected. There were only two mailbags.’

‘And Rogan’s got them?’

‘That’s it. Says he intends to hand them over to O’More intact.’

‘I had a phone call from Soames last night,’ Pope said. ‘He’s managed to trace O’More to a farm called Marsh-End. It’s just off the coast road near Whitbeck.’

‘Which means the old devil’s probably got a boat all ready and waiting for a quick exit across the Irish Sea.’

‘That’s right. What’s our next move?’

Morgan went to the door, opened it and called to Fletcher and Costello. They came in a moment later, Fletcher carrying the bottle of whisky in one hand and a tumbler in the other.

‘So you got here?’ he growled at Pope. ‘A fat lot of bloody good it’ll do you, the way things look at the moment.’

‘I wouldn’t be too sure.’ Morgan held out the revolver in the palm of his hand. ‘This might just even things up a little.’

‘Saints preserve us,’ Paddy Costello said.

‘Have you still got that spare ignition key for the cattle truck?’ Morgan demanded.

The old man produced it from one of his waistcoat pockets and handed it over. Morgan moved to the window, staying behind the curtains as Hannah came out of the barn and crossed to the front door. They heard it open and she,passed along the passage to the kitchen. He moved to the door, listened for a second, then returned to the window. Brendan emerged from the barn pushing a hand cart loaded with several bulging sacks.

‘What’s the kid up to?” he demanded. ‘I didn’t even see him go in there.’

Paddy Costello joined him at the window. ‘Never mind him. He creeps around like a flaming ghost.’

Brendan pushed the cart out through the main gate and turned up the (.rack towards the mine workings. ‘Wheie’s he taking that little lot?’ Fletcher said.

‘We’ve got some sheep penned in the enclosure up at the village. The ones I’m supposed to drive in to Millom market tomorrow. He’ll be taking them some feed.’

Rogan came out of the barn, a mailbag over each shoulder. He stood looking after the boy for a moment, then walked across to the house.

‘Let’s take him now on his way in,’ Pope said.

Morgan shook his head, weighing the revolver in one hand. ‘He’s had a lot of shooting experience. I wouldn’t

like’ to be the one to try anything from the front. We’ll bide our time.’ He turned to Pope. ‘You stay here. You two come with me.’

When Rogan came in they were in the living room, Morgan and Fletcher sitting on either side of the fire, Costello at the table.

The Irishman stood in the doorway, a mailbag in each hand, and looked at them calmly. Morgan could feel the revolver in his pocket and fought against the suicidal impulse to pull it out. There was a strange magnetism about Rogan, a sort of invulnerability that seemed to say that no one could ever touch him.

His ascendancy over the three of them was almost tangible as he tossed the two mailbags into a corner by the dpor and unbuttoned his raincoat.

‘That kid of yours is beginning to give me the creeps,’ he said to Costello. ‘He was playing around in the hayloft back there in the barn. He’ll never know how close he came to getting a bullet in him.’

‘It’s sorry I am to hear it, Mr. Rogan,’ Costello said hastily. ‘I’ll boot the behind off him when he gets in.’

Hannah called from the kitchen and Rogan sniffed. ‘Bacon frying or I miss my guess. Nothing like a job of work well done to give you an appetite. We’d better go in.’

‘Not me,’ Fletcher said and reached for the whisky bottle.

Rogan took a single pace forward and pulled the bottle from his hand. He put it down on the sideboard and turned, his face quite calm.

‘I said we eat.’

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *