style="font-size:15px;"> ‘English, is it?’ The one with a ponytail laughed unpleasantly. ‘We don’t like the English.’
The other, who wore a tweed cap, said, ‘There’s only one thing we like about English girls, and that’s what’s between their legs, so let’s be having you.’
He leapt on her and she dropped the umbrella and tried to fight back as he forced her across the packing case, yanking up her dress.
‘Let me go, damn you!’ She clawed at his face, disgusted by the whiskey breath, aware of him forcing her legs open.
‘That’s enough,’ Rupert Lang called through the rain.
The man in the tweed cap turned and Grace pushed him away. The one with the ponytail turned, too, as Lang and Curry approached.
‘Just let her go,’ Curry said. ‘You made a mistake. Let’s leave it at that.’
‘You’d better keep out of this, friend,’ the man in the tweed cap told him. ‘This is Provisional IRA business.’
‘Really?’ Rupert Lang replied. ‘Well, I’m sure Martin McGuinness wouldn’t approve. He’s a family man.’
They were all very close together now. There was a moment of stillness and then the one with the ponytail pulled a Smith & Wesson. 38 from the pocket of his bomber jacket. Rupert Lang’s hand came up holding the Beretta and shot him twice in the heart.
At the same moment, the man in the tweed cap knocked Grace sideways, sending her sprawling. He picked up a batten of wood and struck Lang across the wrist, making him drop the Beretta. The man scrambled for it, but it slid on the damp cobbles towards Grace. She picked it up instinctively, held it against him and pulled the trigger twice, blowing him back against the wall.
She stood there, legs apart, holding the gun in both hands, staring down at him.
Rupert Lang said, ‘Give it to me.’
‘Is he dead?’ she asked in a calm voice.
‘If not, he soon will be.’ Lang took the Beretta and shot him between the eyes. He turned to the one with the ponytail and did the same. ‘Always make sure. Now let’s get out of here.’ He picked up the umbrella. ‘Yours, I think.’
Curry took one arm, Lang the other, and they hurried her away.
‘No police?’ she said.
‘This is Belfast,’ Curry told her. ‘Another sectarian killing. They said they were IRA, didn’t they?’
‘But were they?’ she demanded as they took her down to the car and pushed her into the rear seat.
‘Probably not, my dear,’ Rupert Lang said. ‘Nasty young yobs cashing in. Lots of them about.’
‘Never mind,’ Curry told her. ‘They’ll be heroes of the revolution tomorrow.’
‘Especially if January 30 claims credit.’ Rupert Lang lit a cigarette and passed it to her. ‘Even if you don’t use these things, you could do with one now.’ She accepted it, strangely calm. ‘Do you need a doctor?’
‘No, he didn’t penetrate me if that’s what you mean.’
‘Good,’ Curry said. ‘Then it’s a hot bath and a decent night’s sleep and put it out of your mind. It didn’t happen.’
‘Oh, yes it did,’ she said and tossed the cigarette out of the window.
When they reached the Europa, Lang, a hand on her arm, started towards the lifts.
‘Actually,’ she said, ‘I’d like a nightcap.’
Lang frowned, then nodded. ‘Fine.’ He turned to Curry. ‘Better make the call, Tom.’ He led her into the Library Bar.
A few minutes later the phone rang on the desk of the night editor at the Belfast Telegraph. When he picked it up, a gruff voice said, ‘Carrick Lane, got that? You’ll find a couple of Provo bastards on their backs there. We won’t be sending flowers.’
‘Who is this?’ the night editor demanded.
‘January 30.’
The phone went dead. The night editor stared at it, frowning, then hurriedly dialled his emergency number to the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
Curry joined them in the bar at a corner table. They were drinking brandy and there was a glass for him.
Lang said, ‘You seem rather calm considering the circumstances.’
‘You mean why am I not crying and sobbing because I just killed a man?’ She shook her head. ‘He was a piece of filth. He deserved everything he got. I loathe people like that. When I was twelve I was driving back from a concert in Washington one night with my parents. We were attacked by armed thugs. My parents were killed.’
She sat staring down into her glass and Curry said gently, ‘I’m sorry.’
‘You handled the gun surprisingly well,’ Lang said. ‘Have you had much training?’
She laughed. ‘One Hollywood movie, just one. I didn’t like it out there. There were a few scenes where I had to use a gun. They showed me how.’ She finished the brandy and raised the empty glass to the barman. ‘Three more.’ She smiled tightly. ‘I hope you don’t mind, but we do seem to be rather tied in together, don’t we?’
‘Yes, you could say that,’ Curry agreed.
She turned to Lang as the barman brought the brandies and waited until he’d gone. ‘You said in the car something about January 30 claiming credit. I’ve read about them. They’re some sort of terrorist group, aren’t they?’
‘That’s right,’ Lang said. ‘Of course, in this sort of case, revolutionaries and so on, all sorts of groups like to claim credit. Very useful fact of life. We’re just making sure somebody does.’
‘I’ve already spoken to the night desk at the Belfast Telegraph,’ Curry said. ‘By tomorrow, you’ll find the Ulster Freedom Fighters or the Red Hand of Ulster claiming credit, also. They’re Protestant Loyalist factions.’
‘But you’d prefer January 30 to get the credit?’ she said.
There was a moment of silence. It was Lang who said, ‘You’re a remarkably astute young woman. Is there a problem here?’
‘Not in the slightest. As I said, it would seem we’re tied together in this.’
‘Invisible bonds and all that.’
‘Exactly.’ She opened her handbag, took out a card and passed it to him. ‘That’s my address and phone number. Cheyne Walk. I’ll be back in London in twelve days. Perhaps we could meet?’
‘I think you can count on that.’
She stood up. ‘You’ll have to excuse me now. I have a matinee tomorrow.’
She
