Cry of the Hunter - Jack Higgins [52]
It was just on half-past ten when they left the house and threaded their way through the streets. It had stopped raining for a while but the sky was dark with no stars. As they came into the main street the crowds were emerging from the cinemas and Fallon and the boy hurried with them along the streets towards the edge of the town.
They walked rapidly without talking and in about twenty minutes were on the outskirts of Stramore. Now and then a car flashed by in the darkness and they merged into the ditch until it was past. Fallon gave an exclamation of satisfaction as the dark mass of the ruined castle loomed out of the darkness on their right. A few minutes later they had turned into the side road and were hurrying along through the dark wood.
They could hear the water of the stream as it rushed over the stones before they could see the bridge. There was no other sound and Fallon felt afraid. He began to run forward into the darkness. The bridge loomed out of the night and he paused and said softly, ‘Anne! Are you there?’
There was the rattle of a loose stone and then Anne Murray spoke from the darkness. ‘Thank God you’re here. I’ve been worried sick.’
Fallon walked forward and his outstretched hands met hers and clung to them for an unspoken moment and Murphy said cheerfully, ‘What happened to you, Miss Murray?’
They got into the car and she explained. ‘It was in Castlemore, just as I turned into the main road. A van bumped into me. It hardly did any damage and I wanted to ignore it, but there was a policeman there and he insisted on taking down the particulars. Oh, it went on and on. I thought I was never going to get away.’
Fallon chuckled. ‘There you are. I warned you about the unexpected, didn’t I?’
She sighed and leaned back against the seat. ‘Well, what’s the next move?’ He told her about the situation on the border into Donegall and then about Hannah Costello and her farm in the Sperrins. She was quiet for a moment when he had finished and finally said, ‘Well, it seems like a good idea. There doesn’t appear to be much else we can do.’
‘That’s true,’ he said. ‘Anyway, we’ll get moving. I’ll drive. I know the country well from here.’
They changed places and Murphy sat in the back. As Fallon switched on the ignition, rain began to patter against the windscreen and he cursed softly. He drove at a moderate pace through a maze of narrow country back roads, moving steadily away from Stramore all the time. Within the first hour Anne Murray and the boy had fallen asleep. The rain increased into a heavy downpour that drummed on the roof like hailstones. Fallon’s eyes began to tire. Once the lids dropped over them and he had to jerk the wheel over hard to keep the car out of a ditch. The rain seemed to be getting worse and the windscreen wipers were beginning to prove inadequate. The headlights picked out a narrow track that disappeared into a wood on the left and he slowed down and swung the car into it. He cut the engine when the car was under the shelter of the trees and pulling up his collar, he settled down into the seat and went to sleep.
When he awoke he was stiff and cramped. Anne Murray’s head was pillowed on his shoulder and he gently pushed her over into her own seat. The clock on the dash-board showed the time as a quarter-to-four. He started up the engine and backed the car into the road without waking the other two.
The rain had almost stopped and he felt curiously refreshed and alert. The road began to lift before him and the engine took on a deeper note as it started to pull strongly on the hills. Gradually a faint light suffused the sky in the east. Within half an hour he could see quite clearly the bulk of the mountains rising before him.
The rain stopped and he opened the side window and drove with the wind fanning his cheek. Overhead a flight of wildfowl called to him as they lifted over the grey bald faces of the hills. The car moved on through a quiet glen and the skies slowly cleared as the sun showed through.
At about five-thirty he turned the car into a narrow, badly