Tony glanced at Karen, shaking his head lightly. He felt complicit in leading this youth to the slaughter but powerless to do anything to stop it.

‘Again. I’d rather not, but if I had to.’

‘Do you think your uncle Sean would die for the cause?’

‘I’m sure he would,’ Barr said. ‘You know him better. He’d not go out of his way looking for it but–’

‘You’re right there, son,’ Duggan said. ‘He’d go a long way to avoid it, the same boyo.’

‘Uncle Sean did his bit, like everyone else.’

‘Worked out better for him than for the rest of us, though,’ Duggan said.

‘He risked the most–’ Barr began, but Duggan cut his short.

‘Risked? He risked nothing. He sat and gave orders to the likes of me – and them,’ he added after a short pause, nodding towards where Karen and Tony sat.

‘He said you didn’t like him,’ Barr said.

‘Don’t like him? I fucking despise him.’

‘He brought peace–’

‘He was a tin-pot general. He still is.’

‘He’s my family,’ Barr said. ‘That’s all the matters to me.’

Duggan stared at the side of the youth’s face as Barr concentrated on the road. ‘Right you are, son. Martin Kelly was my friend, but I still shot him like an old dog, because your uncle gave the order.’

‘That’s what soldiers do,’ Barr said. ‘When they start questioning orders, the war’s already lost.’

‘Do you hear that?’ Duggan asked, leaning back towards Karen and Tony. ‘That’s what soldiers do.’

Barr’s driving had become increasingly aggressive, in keeping with the mood in the car. He swerved past one lorry, pulled in, then attempted to overtake a second, making the manoeuvre with such speed and suddenness that Karen was shunted across against Tony momentarily. He felt her pressure against him, the brief lilt of her perfume and, for a second, he was lying with her again in his student digs.

‘Sorry,’ she said, straightening herself.

He gave a light rise of his hand. ‘We’ll be lucky if we survive the drive there,’ he said.

‘Right enough. Take it easy, son,’ Duggan said to Barr, one hand gripping the plastic handle above the passenger door. ‘Kelly’s not going anywhere. He’ll still be there if we’re a bit late.’

Barr slowed the car a little, seemingly embarrassed at having been riled by Duggan.

‘Have you anything to drink?’ Tony asked. The bacon from his fry had left him parched, his stomach heaving a little too at being a backseat passenger with the erratic nature of Barr’s driving. ‘Could we maybe stop somewhere and get a drink of something?’

‘That’s a good idea,’ Karen said. ‘Maybe stretch our legs.’

‘OK,’ Barr nodded. ‘I did bring some stuff, but no drinks. I’ve crisps and energy bars in the back there somewhere,’ he said. ‘Provisions.’

Chapter Twenty-Five

‘I brought provisions,’ Tony said, pulling out a bottle of Coke and two Mars bars from a holdall. ‘I’ve never been on a stake-out before.’