No more words could find their way through the convulsions now tearing through his entire being. He was crying like a baby who suddenly realised its mother had escaped from its watchful eye. The contents of his nose were mingling with salty water and gathering as a paste on the edges of his lips. His hands were not there to wipe it away. They were occupied in trying to tear his hair from his head. He pulled himself to his feet and turned to face Liam. He had the phone resting on his lap.

‘Is she alright?’

‘Do we have an agreement?’

‘Is Annie alright?’

‘Depends on our agreement.’

Cormac looked at the phone and at Liam’s eyes and sat back down on the settee, defeated.

‘Yes, we have an agreement.’

Liam put the phone to his ear.

‘Ignore that order. Continue as previously planned. Await further instruction.’

Cormac slowly felt the fog clear.

‘Thank you.’

‘Not at all comrade, it’s me who should be thanking you. Tomorrow you are going to make the ultimate sacrifice for your country. Just one thing to remember, so there’s no further confusion; it’s my absolute understanding that we have reached an agreement suitable to both parties. As of this point, the terms are strictly non-negotiable. Is that clear?’

Cormac didn’t respond.

‘Is that clear?’

‘We have an agreement and the terms are non-negotiable.’

34

Cormac poured himself a glass of water and sat in the table-less kitchen. The room appeared twice its normal size now the OC of the TIRA commandeered the table as his status symbol, like some Nazi general who’d recently taken up residence in the best house in the small French town they now controlled. He scanned the mobile phone that Liam had happily returned to him once they agreed terms. There were six missed calls and two messages. The second was from Annie.

‘Hi Dad, just calling to see how you’re keeping. I’m just on my way with Maggie and Jack. I was going to call at Harry’s for a change of clothes until I realised you had them in your car. Never mind, Maggie says I can borrow some of hers. Oh, Maggie sends her regards and says not to worry, she’ll look after me for you. Don’t work too hard; you’re supposed to be on compassionate leave. Love you.’

He tried to call back, but it was dead.

The other message was from his constituency agent to remind him of his up and coming summer fair responsibilities in Northumberland the following Saturday. Liam had left the black Samsung on the kitchen table in the living room and told him he was free to do whatever he wanted between now and eight o clock tomorrow evening. His first thought was to get out of the house as quickly as possible, contact the prime minister and explain everything. He’d know what to do, he’d have Liam arrested and interrogated until he revealed the whereabouts of Annie. He’d send Special Forces to rescue her in the dead of night and they would be reunited before morning.