The Trojan boy

Avedissian tried to capitalise on his advantage by letting go of the forceps to grip two fingers of the man's hand and pull them apart. His aim was to break one or other or both, knowing that the pain from such an injury might be sufficient to induce unconsciousness. He heard Kathleen at his back and shouted, The gun! For God's sake get the gun!'

As Avedissian struggled to get a better grip on the intruder's fingers the man suddenly smashed the remainder of the glass door panel with his other hand, sending a shower of glass into Avedissian's face and making him release his grip. The door was forced open and it hit Avedissian, who had been temporarily blinded by blood coming from the cuts on his forehead, and sent him reeling backwards across the room.

The door was closed and the lights went on. Avedissian managed to clear the blood from his eyes and opened them to see a thick-set man standing over him holding a gun pointing at his face. The man was sucking the wound in the back of his hand and staring at Avedissian with anger burning in his eyes.

Assuming him to be from NORAID Avedissian said, 'You don't understand! The boy isn't who you think he is! It was a trick!'

'Screw the brat,’ rasped the man. 'Where are the tapes?'

Avedissian was stunned. From where he lay on the floor he stared at the man in blank astonishment. Again, the fact that the man did not have an American accent registered with Avedissian, but this time it meant more. The man did not have an American accent because he was Irish! 'Who the hell are you?' he asked.

‘I’ll not ask you again,' threatened the man. 'Where are the tapes?'

Avedissian's one hope lay in the fact that Kathleen was still in the bedroom and she had access to his gun. He knew that she must be listening and waiting for her chance. It was his job to stall as long as possible. 'What tapes?' he asked.

The man responded with a vicious kick at Avedissian's stomach which made him retch in agony. 'Don't give me that crap,’ the man hissed. 'Kathleen! Get out here!'

Through his pain Avedissian heard the man call Kathleen by name and felt his anguish double. He saw Kathleen appear in the doorway and heard her say angrily to the man, 'I told you I would get them for you. Why did you have to come here?'

'Just get me the tapes!' rasped the man.

'I don't know where they are,’ replied Kathleen. She came towards Avedissian and knelt down beside him, withering under the bitter accusation in his eyes. 'I'm sorry,’ she whispered, 'More sorry than I can ever tell you, but you had better tell him where the tapes are.’

Avedissian looked at her long and hard then said with resignation, 'They're in the bedroom, in the cabinet by the bed.'

'Get them!' said the man to Kathleen and she got up.

As Kathleen left the room the man levelled his pistol at Avedissian and said, 'I win, you lose. I can't say it's been nice.'

Avedissian closed his eyes and waited for the end but it did not come. Instead he heard the full, flat sound of two silenced shots being fired. He opened his eyes to see the man slump to the floor in a motionless heap. Kathleen was standing in the doorway with the gun in her hand. She stared at the corpse.

'Who was he?' asked Avedissian quietly.

'His name was Reagan. He was one of Kell's men.'

Avedissian shook his head in confusion. 'But why?' he asked. 'Why did you do it?'

'I lied to you. My brother is not dead,’ said Kathleen. 'Kell is holding him prisoner. Kell planted me on the British because he suspected that they were up to something. Originally I was just to confirm that a man called Bryant was involved in the child kidnap operation and find out anything else about it I could, but when Bryant himself saw that I could be useful in finding out even more about the IRA and NORAID, Kell instructed me to go along with it. I was to keep Reagan informed about Innes's progress and keep them in touch.'

'But the information you gave to Bryant was real,’ said Avedissian. The INLA in Belfast were all but wiped out.'

That was Kell's doing. He loathed the McGlynns. He saw his chance to set them up and convince Bryant at the same time that I was genuine.'

'How does Kell know Bryant?'

'Kell knows Bryant, Bryant knows Kell. That's the way things are at the top. They've probably never met each other but they know each other well enough. At that level it's like a big game. People's lives don't enter into it. The game is all important.’

'So Kell saw through Bryant's plan from the beginning?'

'More than that. He saw it as the perfect time to set up a scheme of his own.'

To get the money, you mean?'

Kathleen shook her head. 'Not just that,’ she said. 'Kell wanted Bryant to think that he had swallowed the royal child story for some other reason.'

'What reason?'

'I don't know, but the suggestion was that the operation might be even bigger than Bryant's.'

'You said that Kell was holding your brother?' said Avedissian.

Kathleen shrugged. 'Kell will kill him now,' she said. 'He was going to kill both of us until he saw how I could be useful. The bargain was that Kell would let Martin go if this operation was a success and he got the money. I thought the chance had gone until you told me about the tapes and I saw that I could still save Martin. I called Innes and Reagan when you were out getting the food and said that I would get the tapes if they would tell Kell not to harm my brother.'

'But Reagan decided to speed things up?'

'I foolishly told him where we were staying,' admitted Kathleen. 'And I nearly got you killed…' Tears came and Kathleen put her head against Avedissian's shoulder. 'Oh my darling,’ she murmured.

Avedissian held her close, oblivious to the blood that was still running down his face from the cuts and said softly, 'Sshh, you were the one who pointed out that you lived your life as a victim of circumstance. Let's say that this one was beyond your control.’

Kathleen looked affectionately at Avedissian then realised the mess that his face was in. She held it between the palms of her hands and said, 'I'll fetch a cloth.’ She returned from the bathroom with a flannel soaked in cold water and began dabbing gently at Avedissian's cuts. They are not too bad when the blood has been cleared away,’ she assured him.

'We'll have to get out of here,’ said Avedissian.

'Can't we wait until morning?'

Avedissian shook his head. 'You said that there were two IRA men. We don't know where the other one is.’

'Innes, the Tally Man,’ said Kathleen.

'He could be waiting nearby for Reagan to return, and when he doesn't

'I hadn't considered that,’ said Kathleen. 'I had assumed that Reagan had come on his own.'

'Get the boy ready,’ said Avedissian hauling himself to his feet. He picked up the gun that Kathleen had let fall to the floor and checked the clip. It was nearly empty. He picked up Reagan's gun and opted for that instead.

When they were ready to leave Avedissian switched out the chalet lights and opened the curtains a little to peer out. It seemed quiet enough but Avedissian was not convinced. He changed his mind about them all leaving together and told Kathleen to stay put with the child while he went out alone to take a look around.

Avedissian squeezed out of the smallest possible opening of the door and made for the nearest shadow in a crouching run. It was the area between their chalet and the neighbouring one. He paused for a moment before continuing along the row, looking for signs of life in the grounds of the motel. He found none and all the cars parked near the chalets seemed to be empty.

He was about to return to Kathleen to tell her that it was safe when he heard a car slow down on the road outside and turn into the grounds. He pressed himself back into the shadows to watch the new arrival pull up outside the front office. The driver got out and walked towards Reception. Avedissian's heart missed a beat for he recognised the man. It was the man he had seen at the stadium in Chicago. It was Innes! He had come to find Reagan.