The Brothers' Lot - Kevin Holohan [108]
“But I heard the miracle investigation was suspended. I heard that Father Sheehan, the Chief Diocesan Investigator, was reviewing it,” countered Mr. Nolan.
“Ah yes, indeed, that’s true all the same, temporarily suspended all right,” babbled Loughlin.
“I think what Brother Loughlin means to say,” interrupted Mr. Pollock smoothly, “is that we are still considering working with Father Sheehan and hope to find a new biographer for Venerable Saorseach O’Rahilly, and as such we need to preserve the miracle site from outside hands.”
“I see,” murmured Miss Moloney a split second before the whole building shook with a series of distant impacts.
“Jesus Christ! What was that?” cried Mr. Nolan
“I have no idea. Must be that damned janitor again,” said Brother Loughlin as casually as he could.
They all stood amazed as the monastery shook and trembled, and suddenly the rubble at the other end of the roof shot up to allow passage to a radiator that flew fifty feet into the air before falling with a crash into the yard below.
“That’s enough, Brother Loughlin. Evacuate the school!” shouted Mr. DePaor.
“But—”
“This instant, Brother Loughlin! Something is very wrong here.”
“Smalley! Smalley! Where are you?”
“Come on, Scully. We already looked in there.”
Scully had just turned away from the refectory door when there was a deafening blast. The radiator under the window shot off the wall and hurtled down the corridor. It narrowly missed him and skidded past Finbar, making shreds of the parquet floor before smashing through the main door and coming to rest in the yard.
“Fuck sake! Come on!” shouted Scully.
As they neared the door they heard the commotion of many feet outside. There was a lot of yelling and some screaming. “Where is McDermott?” they heard Spud Murphy shouting above it all. “Who has the key to the gate?”
A shadow fell across the doorway and a figure stepped over the mangled radiator into the hallway.
“Leave me for dead, would ye, ye little bastards?” Brother Moody, covered in dust and bleeding heavily from the forehead, advanced on them. In his right hand he held a jagged length of brass pipe that he swung wildly in front of him. “I’ll break every bone in your poxy little bodies!”
Finbar and Scully backed down the corridor, flinching at each tiny sound, fearing another radiator might fly at them from somewhere. Scully stumbled on a clump of fallen masonry and Moody was on him in a flash. Finbar stared in horror as the Brother raised the pipe above his head and swung down hard. Scully turned away reflexively but still took a blow to the ribs. Finbar launched himself at Moody and grabbed him round the neck and kicked at him for all he was worth. Moody threw himself backward and smashed Finbar against the wall.
Winded and stunned, Finbar slid to the floor. Moody swung the pipe drunkenly and caught Finbar on the arm he raised to protect his head. There was a sickening crack and Finbar saw white and felt a biting pain.
“What on earth is going on, Brother Moody?”
Moody turned to see Brother Loughlin stepping in through the shattered doorway.
“I caught these two skulking around in here. They’re up to something. I just know they are. They’re behind all this.”
Brother Loughlin gaped in incomprehension at the scene before him. “But what happened to you?”
“Ceiling collapsed in the toilets upstairs. These little bastards left me for dead. And this one is the ring leader, I’ll bet.” Moody slapped Scully in the small of the back with the pipe.
Loughlin jumped as Moody’s blow was answered by an explosion and another window in the refectory fell in. “Hit him again,” he said.
Moody willingly obliged and this time the fuse box under the stairs burst into flames. Loughlin’s eyes narrowed as the appalling realization of the building’s ailment settled into his brain.
“The little bastards!” he screamed, and dragged Scully up from the floor. “If you want to bring this school down, you have to be prepared to go with it. Are you prepared to do that, you little bastard?”
“Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!