‘Wouldn’t it be simpler to get Molly to leave a bomb in the bean-jacks?’ Gavin suggested.

‘That would be the simplest, I’ll give you that,’ said Barry, with his mouth full, but smoke still leaking out of his nostrils. ‘But then we couldn’t be one hundred per cent certain that we’d be taking out Tommy and the rest of his gang, could we? Like – what if they went outside for a blimmer two seconds before the bomb went off? And then there’s Lenny and them two barmaids of his. We wouldn’t want to be hurting them at all, would we, especially that Gráinne.’

‘Gráinne? Oh, Gráinne – that blonde beour you mean, the one with the massive diddies. No, I guess you’re right. A bomb would be kind of indiscriminated, wouldn’t it? And if we set off a bomb, the law might fetch in the counter-terrorism boys, and those CTI fellers, they know what they’re doing all right, even if the local pigs don’t know their arse from a bowl of drisheen.’

‘Go and have a word with Nocky,’ said Barry. ‘See if he can soilk us three motors, but not from around here. Maybe Mallow or Fermoy. And he’ll be wanting new number plates for both of them. Feargal – you go round to see Johnny Meaney about the guns. I reckon the AR-15s will be our best bet.’

‘To be fair, Barry, do you think this might be overdoing it, like?’ said Feargal.

‘Overdoing it? What do you mean, overdoing it?’

‘I mean the shades are going to be down on us like a ton of shite, aren’t they? Come here, now, we’ve already whacked Billy Hagerty, and Donal Hagerty will probably be going down for life. Isn’t that enough for the moment? We can always pick off Tommy sometime soon when he’s least expecting it, and if we do that the cops will probably send us a thank-you letter and a bunch of roses. But what you’re talking about here, like, there’s no two ways about it – it’s a fecking massacre.’

Barry stared at Feargal as if he had just spat into his eggs. ‘I’ll tell you what, boy, go to the cemetery and ask Saoirse and Fiona and little Éann if this is overdoing it. I’ve had it up to here with the fecking O’Flynns. If we don’t stamp all of them out now, they’re going to be picking us off one by one until there’s none of us left. When was the last time you felt safe, even doing Pana on a Saturday afternoon, with the crowds of shoppers all around you?’

‘Well, okay. But I still think it’s taking a sledgehammer to crack an egg.’

‘Nut,’ said Barry.