Day of Reckoning

'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 Black 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.

At the same moment, Dillon grabbed Billy by the arm. 'Over!' he cried, and pushed him over the rail after Helen Black. As he tried to follow, Tomelty, still on the deck, grabbed his ankles, and Dillon went down.

'You bastard.' Murphy kicked him in the side. 'You're finally dead meat, Dillon, and you, bitch. Those two in the water aren't going anywhere. Fifteen minutes at this season of the year and it's hypothermia time. You two will get it quick, at least.'

Billy, close to Helen on the port side, said, 'I'm going to try for that gun in the wheelhouse.'

He didn't wait for a reply, simply jackknifed and went under the Highlander from port to starboard, scraping his back under the keel, surfaced, and reached up for the rail. As he pulled himself on board and slithered for the wheelhouse, he heard the exchange between Dillon and Murphy, unaware that, looking beyond Murphy and Tomelty, Dillon had seen him arrive.

'Come on, Brendan, why all the dialogue? In Derry in the old days, we didn't talk about it, we did it.'

On his knees in the wheelhouse, Billy dropped the flap and got his hand to the Walther, which Dillon had left cocked. He turned and shot Tomelty twice in the back, shattering his spine.

Murphy started to turn, shocked as Tomelty went down; Hannah kicked sideways at his left leg and he stumbled, which was Dillon's moment. He grabbed at the gun hand and came breast-to-breast.

'Now then, you dog.'

He pushed hard, Murphy staggered back, and they went over the stern rail.

And the sea was Dillon's, the master diver's element, not Murphy's. They went down perhaps ten feet. Dillon got an arm around Murphy's throat and then the anchor on its chain scraped his back. He grabbed it with his right hand and held on fast. Murphy kicked and struggled and Dillon held his breath until he was bursting, and then Murphy stopped struggling. Dillon let him go and surfaced.

He managed the ladder and hung there and Hannah looked over. 'All right, Dillon? What happened to Murphy?'

He hauled himself up. 'What do you think happened? As the Sicilians have it, Brendan Murphy is asleep with the fishes.'

He sat on the deck, his back to the wheelhouse. Billy was there, and Helen Black.

'You okay, Sergeant Major?'

'I'm fine, Mr Dillon.'

'And you, Billy?'

'What the fuck did you get me into, Dillon?'

'Billy, you saved the pass, to use an old-fashioned phrase. You were fantastic. The SAS couldn't have done better. On top of that, you've given Superintendent Bernstein a severe problem. Try not to get arrested, because she'll feel terribly guilty if she has to arrest you.'

Billy grinned and turned to Hannah. 'What do I have to do? Take up good works?'

'Just don't give me a problem, Billy.'

'Trouble is, I've been giving people a problem all my life.'

Dillon said, 'Let's get the bodies over the side. And do me a favour, Sergeant Major — take us out. I'll do a quick change and I'll be up to relieve you.'

'Leave it to me.'

'Come on, you two,' he said to Hannah and Billy. 'Let's get into dry clothes,' and he led the way below.