Jonny felt faint suddenly. His head seemed to be filling up with hot air, he couldn’t breathe properly. He felt himself choking; his mouth was so dry, he had no spit left. He had only the sticky dryness that came from extreme fear. His chest felt tight, as if a steel band was squeezing all his breath out of him. His heart was beating so loudly in his ears it was drowning out everything else. He knew that he was on the verge of collapsing. For the first time in his whole life he was experiencing acute terror on a grand scale, and it was coupled with the knowledge that there was nothing he could do about any of it.

He was clutching his chest, but he was dismayed because he wasn’t having the heart attack he so dearly craved. He was aware that he was already thinking clearly again, and that his natural instinct for self-preservation was kicking in. Even as he realised that, he felt guilty because he knew that he should be at least trying to do something to help his brothers out. But they had already made their beds. They had not seen fit to tell him what they had planned, so he could do nothing for them now. They had undertaken this madness alone – and they would have to take the consequences alone.

He had been left out of the loop because they had both known he would have forbidden it. So fuck them for the treacherous bastards they were! He could only look out for himself now, guard his own interests, and try to salvage what he could from what was, in reality, a situation that was fucking unprecedented in the world they inhabited. He would have to make damn sure that the Costellos and that ponce Flynn were given every assurance that he personally had no knowledge whatsoever of his brothers’ suicidal mission. It was about self-preservation. His brothers were as good as dead already; he had no option but to try and save his own arse if it was in any way possible. But he didn’t really hold out much hope.

‘How about a drink, Colin? And then you can tell me everything you know, eh?’

Colin Dawes was thrilled by the invitation, unaware that he was actually being kept there as Jonny Barber’s alibi for the evening and that he was putting his own life in danger if it all went pear-shaped.

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Patrick Costello’s wife Carmel was a woman on a constant mission in life.