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Chapters (69)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. The First Crossing
  6. Chapter One
  7. Chapter Two
  8. Chapter Three
  9. Chapter Four
  10. Chapter Five
  11. Chapter Six
  12. Chapter Seven
  13. Chapter Eight
  14. Chapter Nine
  15. Chapter Ten
  16. Chapter Eleven
  17. Chapter Twelve
  18. Chapter Thirteen
  19. Chapter Fourteen
  20. Chapter Fifteen
  21. Chapter Sixteen
  22. Chapter Seventeen
  23. Chapter Eighteen
  24. Chapter Nineteen
  25. Chapter Twenty
  26. Chapter Twenty-One
  27. Chapter Twenty-Two
  28. Chapter Twenty-Three
  29. Cross Country
  30. Chapter Twenty-Four
  31. Chapter Twenty-Five
  32. Chapter Twenty-Six
  33. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-One
  38. Chapter Thirty-Two
  39. Chapter Thirty-Three
  40. Chapter Thirty-Four
  41. Chapter Thirty-Five
  42. Chapter Thirty-Six
  43. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  44. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  45. The Woods
  46. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  47. Chapter Forty
  48. Chapter Forty-One
  49. Chapter Forty-Two
  50. Chapter Forty-Three
  51. Chapter Forty-Four
  52. Chapter Forty-Five
  53. Chapter Forty-Six
  54. Chapter Forty-Seven
  55. Chapter Forty-Eight
  56. Chapter Forty-Nine
  57. Chapter Fifty
  58. Chapter Fifty-One
  59. Chapter Fifty-Two
  60. Chapter Fifty-Three
  61. Chapter Fifty-Four
  62. Chapter Fifty-Five
  63. Chapter Fifty-Six
  64. The Last Crossing
  65. Chapter Fifty-Seven
  66. Chapter Fifty-Eight
  67. Chapter Fifty-Nine
  68. Acknowledgements
  69. Copyright

‘Look, I know that was hard. Martin was one of us. If you want my advice, you do what I’m going to do when I get home: don’t sit and mope about it, don’t think it over to see what we could have done differently. Go to the offie and buy a bottle of something strong and forget about the whole thing. He’s in his grave now and that’s where he’ll stay. We’re soldiers and soldiers do as they’re told. We followed orders and did our duty. We did the right thing.’

‘I didn’t,’ Tony muttered.

They reached the station where Duggan asked to be dropped, so he could take the late train home.

‘I’ll be in touch,’ he said as he left them. ‘Go home and forget about the whole bloody business.’

They watched him shuffle his way into the station, sticking a hand in his pocket and pawing out a few coins to pass to the young fella squatted at the station entrance, a paper coffee cup his begging bowl.

Tony watched him go, watched him turn the corner and vanish from sight. He silently prayed it would be the last time he would ever see Hugh Duggan. If he was in touch, Tony knew he would not answer, could not conceive of himself being involved in anything like this again.

He looked at Karen to see if she was likewise watching Duggan go, but her head was bowed, her gaze fixed on her hands, nested in her lap. She looked up at him, as if aware of his watching her, but she did not say a word.

Chapter Fifty-Six

Chapter Fifty-Six

‘We’re not going to say a word,’ Karen said.

‘I know that,’ Mullan said. ‘After all, I saved your lives. If Richard here hadn’t taken the bullets out of Hugh’s gun, you’d both be dead.’

‘As would you,’ Tony pointed out.

‘Ah!’ Mullan swatted the claim away with a wave of his hand, as if it were of no consequence. ‘You get cautious in my position. We did need to get Kelly’s body back, but I suspected Hugh might try something if he had the chance; Kelly was always a sore point for him. And with his illness, he was a dog gone rabid. And there’s only one thing you can do with a mad dog, and that’s put him to sleep.’

He moved across to Barr and patted his arm. ‘Good job, son.’

Barr took the compliment, with just a hint of a smile.

Tony dropped heavily to the ground, sat with his arms resting on his knees, exhausted from the constant buzz of adrenaline he’d fed himself all day.

‘Why did we have to be here? To see this?’