The Savage Day - Jack Higgins [73]
I said, 'As I don't happen to have my Tarot cards with me I can't answer that one, so just get us up to the house in one piece, there's a good lad, and we'll take it from there.'
He glanced at me frowning, opened his mouth to speak and obviously thought better of it. I leaned back in my seat and fought against the tiredness which threatened to overwhelm me.
We drove into the courtyard at the rear of the house very fast indeed and braked to a halt outside the back door. Binnie jumped down and was inside in a second. I summoned up my last reserves of will-power and energy and followed him.
He kicked open the kitchen door and went in, crouching. There was only one occupant, a man in shirtsleeves who sat at the table drinking tea and reading a newspaper.
Binnie had him against the wall in a flash and ran his hand over him, removing a Browning from the hip pocket and shoving it into his own waistband. He turned the man round and slapped him across the face.
'Right, Keenan, you bastard. Tell us what we want to know or I'll give it to you now.'
Keenan stared Death in the face and started to tremble. 'For God's sake, Binnie, take it easy, will you?'
'All right,' I said. 'Speak up and you won't get hurt. Who else is in the house at the moment?'
'Just Barry.'
'And who's guarding the girl?' Binnie demanded, ramming the muzzle of the Browning up under Keenan's chin.
'No one, Binnie, no one.' Keenan was shaking with fear. 'There's no need and her with Barry himself like always.'
Binnie was beside himself with rage and grabbed Keenan by the shirt-front. 'Come on then, lead us to them. Make any kind of wrong move and I'll kill you.'
'Just a moment, Binnie,' I said, and turned to Keenan. 'What about the Brigadier? Is he still in the cellar?'
'That's right.'
'Where's the key?'
'Hanging on that nail there.'
I took it down. 'We'll get him out now before we go any further.'
'Why should we, for Christ's sake?' Binnie exploded.
'He could be useful. If not now, later.'
Which was pretty thin, but the best I could do on short notice. I went out before he could argue, opened the door at the end of the passage and went down the cellar steps.
When I unlocked the door of the cell, the Brigadier was lying on the cot reading a book which looked suspiciously like the Bible. He looked at me calmly for a long moment over the top of it, then sat up.
'I must say you've taken your own sweet time about it. What kept you?'
'Oh, little, unimportant things like being shot in the arm and having my ribs kicked in, not to mention being chased over large parts of Ulster by what seemed, on occasion, to be the entire strength of the present British Army.'
'And at exactly what stage in the affair are we now?'
'Michael Cork is dead, I've found your gold, and Binnie Gallagher and I are about to see what we can do about Barry right now.' I took the spare Browning from my pocket and offered it to him. 'If you'd care to join in the fun, follow me, only keep that out of sight for the moment. I'm afraid Binnie thinks I'm Pearse, Connolly and Michael Collins all rolled into one. Very sad.'
He was looking at me strangely, which didn't surprise me for my voice seemed to be coming from somewhere outside me. I turned and led the way out through the wine cellars and mounted the stairs to where Binnie waited impatiently with Keenan.
'What kept you, for God's sake?' he demanded, then turned on the Brigadier without waiting for a reply. 'You follow close behind and keep your mouth shut, do you understand?'
'Perfectly,' the Brigadier assured him.
We went up, Keenan in the lead, and emerged through the green baize door into the hall. It was very quiet. He paused for a moment, listening, then started up that great stairway.
We moved along the corridor, past the stiff ladies and gentlemen of by gone years, set in canvas for all time. Someone was playing a piano, I could hear it quite plainly, a Bach Prelude, lovely, ice-cold