And Blue Skies From Pain (40 page)
Read And Blue Skies From Pain Online
Authors: Stina Leicht
“He came to us of his own free will,” Father Murray said.
An explosion rattled the windows. The sharp crack of live rounds went off somewhere outside. The waitress screamed. One of the two customers inside the chip shop went to the windows. Outside, someone shouted. Another exchange of gunfire pierced the air. A prowl car siren screeched, and a car shot past the café windows. It was a four door.
Grey.
Liam wasn’t able to get the make. The prowl car rapidly followed after. He almost laughed.
Great timing, boys.
At the moment, he didn’t care which side of the Peace Line they’d come from.
You saved my arse, God bless you.
Grey.
Liam wasn’t able to get the make. The prowl car rapidly followed after. He almost laughed.
Great timing, boys.
At the moment, he didn’t care which side of the Peace Line they’d come from.
You saved my arse, God bless you.
Monsignor Paul got up from the table. He looked like he wanted to hit someone.
A flicker of movement in the restaurant’s windows drew Liam’s attention. Four men with balaclavas pulled over their faces and carrying guns ran to the café’s door and shoved their way through.
Oh, fuck,
Liam thought.
Liam thought.
“Get down on the floor! All of youse!”
Father Murray didn’t hesitate. He kneeled and then lay down on the cold tiles. Liam followed suit. He didn’t bother to see if Monsignor Paul was complying or not. Two of the men ran to the back of the chip shop.
“Get down on the floor, priest.”
Monsignor Paul said, “I don’t think—” His response was cut off with a blow.
“On the floor!”
“Don’t shoot him!” It was one of the other masked men. The one closest to the door.
Liam thought he recognised the voice but couldn’t quite place it. In truth, he didn’t want to. He felt someone kick him in the side with a steel-toed work boot. It wasn’t hard enough to do more than get his attention.
“You. Up.”
Liam staggered to his feet and saw Father Murray was being forced to do the same. Before Liam could protest, a pistol was shoved into his side. The men grabbed him and Father Murray, and they were led to the door. Behind him, Liam heard a man shout a warning. The sounds of breaking dishes followed. A woman screamed. He had time to hope the freckled waitress wouldn’t be harmed and then was strong-armed out onto Great Victoria Street. A white panel van pulled up and skidded to a stop in the slush. The back doors were thrown open. He and Father Murray were shoved inside. Liam landed on a layer of filled laundry bags. Father Murray wasn’t long after, thumping into Liam’s back and briefly knocking the wind out of him. Just before the van’s doors slammed shut Liam caught sight of a group of priests running toward the café.
Father Murray put up a short fight. Liam rolled over in time to see him slam the plaster cast into one of their captors’ faces. Liam winced at the sound of breaking bone. The man Father Murray hit screamed and fell back, holding his nose. Two others threw themselves on top of Father Murray and shoved a black bag over his head but not before he got in a few solid kicks. Liam was about to join the fray and then he recognized the men struggling to subdue Father Murray without killing him. One was Frankie, and the other was Davy, he of the bushy mustache and sideburns.
Séamus and his boys had arrived.
Chapter 21
Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
December 1977
December 1977
“W
on’t the UDA be happy to hear you lot pulled a job in their territory?” Liam asked loud enough for Father Murray to hear over his struggles. It was a risk, letting him know they were in the hands of the Provos. However, Liam felt it best for everyone to send the message that there was no immediate danger and to save the fight for later.
on’t the UDA be happy to hear you lot pulled a job in their territory?” Liam asked loud enough for Father Murray to hear over his struggles. It was a risk, letting him know they were in the hands of the Provos. However, Liam felt it best for everyone to send the message that there was no immediate danger and to save the fight for later.
“Liam? Are you hurt?” Father Murray asked, landing a solid kick in Frankie’s stomach.
Liam winced in sympathy. “I’m fine, Father. I think we’re for having a wee chat, nothing more.”
With that, Father Murray stopped his struggles. Davy took the opportunity to grab hold of Father Murray’s good arm, and Frankie caught the priest’s legs, effectively ending the altercation then and there.
“I don’t like this,” Frankie said. “You hit that other priest. The waitress saw. What are we doing? The Peelers will be hunting for us all the harder. We kidnapped a priest. You said it was only to be Liam. The Falls won’t be behind us. They’ll turn on us, and I can’t blame them.”
Séamus spoke from the front seat. “I’d prefer to hold the talk until we reached our destination, if you don’t mind.”
Frankie frowned and nodded.
“Oh, aye?” Liam asked, attempting to sound as calm as possible.
Davy and Frankie tied Father Murray’s left arm to the cast on his right and then secured his legs. When that was finished, Frankie saw to the third man’s bleeding nose. Liam tried to catch Frankie’s attention. He wanted some indication of what to expect, but Frankie avoided looking him in the eye. Liam hoped he understood why and sympathized. Were he in Frankie’s place he’d feel as if he’d betrayed a friend. However, Liam didn’t blame Frankie a bit. Liam knew the way of things. In fact, he’d seen, even done, worse, and he hoped Frankie would understand that soon enough. Giving up on Frankie for the moment, Liam shifted his attention to Davy who was running the rope around Father Murray’s chest and arms a few extra times with an angry expression.
Weren’t expecting that much of a scrap from a wounded priest, were you?
Liam thought, attempting not to grin.
Liam thought, attempting not to grin.
Tires squealed. The driver stomped on the brakes with a curse. The van skidded and suddenly lurched to the right, causing one and all to scramble for something to hold on to. The back of Liam’s head slammed into the panel van’s side. “Shite!”
The tires finally grabbed the asphalt, and the van righted itself without flipping.
The van’s driver, Liam decided, wasn’t the most skilled.
Lucky for them the Peelers were gone,
he thought. He glanced at the back of Séamus’s head.
Lucky? Think again, mate. That car was one of his. Sent as a distraction. Not a good sign, that, when you think about it. Séamus ran a complicated operation in Loyalist territory. No Provo does that without very good reason.
Liam shuddered, but he couldn’t help feeling a certain admiration as well. Complicated or not, the operation had gone smoothly.
No one was hurt, not yet. Well, outside of Monsignor Paul.
Liam remembered the waitress’s scream and hoped he was right in that regard at least.
And on short notice too. Aye? Séamus is a crafty one, so he is. Better fucking remember that, mate.
Lucky for them the Peelers were gone,
he thought. He glanced at the back of Séamus’s head.
Lucky? Think again, mate. That car was one of his. Sent as a distraction. Not a good sign, that, when you think about it. Séamus ran a complicated operation in Loyalist territory. No Provo does that without very good reason.
Liam shuddered, but he couldn’t help feeling a certain admiration as well. Complicated or not, the operation had gone smoothly.
No one was hurt, not yet. Well, outside of Monsignor Paul.
Liam remembered the waitress’s scream and hoped he was right in that regard at least.
And on short notice too. Aye? Séamus is a crafty one, so he is. Better fucking remember that, mate.
They kidnapped Father Murray too. That was no accident, to be sure. But why?
Séamus means to motivate me, the bastard. Big mistake, that. Perhaps Frankie hasn’t told Séamus everything he knows about yours truly, or has he? Maybe Séamus isn’t fucking listening.
But how would they know to grab Father Murray? The Grand Inquisitor was there too.
Their man at the newsagent was watching you, you idiot. Saw the two of you walk into the café together. Talking friendly-like. Aye? Otherwise, how would they know you were at the café? Not difficult to figure. Knew you were there. Saw the Peelers. Figured they couldn’t wait. Moved in fast.
Aye, that’s it.
All this and you still believe you can tell him to bugger off?
My choice. I fucking decide.
Liam glared at the back of Séamus’s head.
Right. You keep on thinking that.
Right. You keep on thinking that.
Although it was early afternoon, it was already getting dark—not that it’d been a bright day to begin with. Liam attempted to relax, but it wasn’t easy with his stomach churning. He reminded himself that, no matter what, this was about Séamus needing him. Nothing else. They wouldn’t put the hurt to Father Murray. Everything would be fine. Worst come to worst, he’d have to drive for Séamus, but he’d not carry a gun. It wouldn’t make sense for Séamus to trust him with one anyway. Liam settled into a comfortable spot, rested his arms on his knees so he’d be ready to catch himself if the bog idiot driver took another sharp turn in a vehicle that was in no way designed for such a thing.
We’ll be fine, aye?
But it’s Christmas soon. Isn’t it?
The thought hit him like a sniper, and he hated it. He didn’t want to remember the significance of the date. He didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to think about anything, truth be told.
I should’ve stayed with Uncle Sceolán.
Liam took a long breath.
We’ll be fine. Everything will be fine. It will all work out.
The thought hit him like a sniper, and he hated it. He didn’t want to remember the significance of the date. He didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to think about anything, truth be told.
I should’ve stayed with Uncle Sceolán.
Liam took a long breath.
We’ll be fine. Everything will be fine. It will all work out.
Like it has so many times before, aye?
Liam focused on Father Murray lying among the laundry bags trussed up like bait on a hook. He seemed well enough, all things considered. Davy and Frankie hadn’t been too rough on him. Liam was thankful for that much.
It wasn’t long before the van executed another sharp turn and pulled into a car park situated behind a row of buildings. The driver stopped. The rear doors of the panel van were thrown open, and Liam spied the back of a warehouse. Icicles fringed the bottom of the roof, and rust marred the steel walls.
Steel. There’s no calling for Bran or Uncle Sceolán, is there?
“Come on,” Frankie said, offering to help him out by way of an apology. “This is our stop.”
Liam accepted Frankie’s hand up and scrambled out of the van. He caught Frankie’s eye and wordlessly reassured him that there were no hard feelings. Frankie swallowed and nodded. Davy and the man with the blood-stained face and broken nose hefted Father Murray to his feet on the snow-covered pavement. Behind him, the van doors slammed shut, and Father Murray started a wee bit. Frankie removed the rope from Father Murray’s legs. Séamus walked toward the warehouse, his footsteps making crunching sounds in the snow. The van sped off, Liam assumed, in order to continue its appointed rounds as a laundry service. He held his chin up and focused on taking in as much of his surroundings as he could manage without being obvious about it—the street, number of men present and so on. He didn’t know where he was, and it became clear that escape wasn’t likely, not without the monster, and even then he wasn’t certain of the chances. That wouldn’t have mattered much to him, except there was Father Murray to consider.
Liam bit down on smoldering rage.
And keep a civil tongue in your head too. For his sake, aye?
And keep a civil tongue in your head too. For his sake, aye?
A gust of freezing wind invaded the car park. Liam hunched inside Conor’s jacket to protect his neck. The weather was getting worse. The sky was almost black now, and the snow was coming down in clumps. He prayed the planned job wasn’t for later that night.
Frankie tugged at his arm. A man Liam didn’t recognise held the warehouse door open. One whiff of the inside, and Liam knew he really didn’t want to be there. The place smelled of petrol and engine oil mixed with rotting cloth and other ancient factory smells, but underneath it all was the stench of decaying flesh and old blood. His heart staggered, and he gave the man at the door a closer look as he passed. However, Liam didn’t notice anything unusual about him. That done, Liam scanned the interior of the warehouse for the source of the stink. Heart thumping, he counted seven other men huddled near a row of empty offices along the far wall. One of them, a medium-sized man with long brown hair, and an ugly face, stopped talking and returned the stare. The man smiled with broken front teeth, turned and walked away, moving behind a row of cars parked near the big rolling doors. Liam had a very bad feeling, but Frankie urged him forward before he could comment.
There was no heat in the place from what Liam could tell, and the warehouse was empty of furnishings and machinery but for a number of wooden crates and the four cars—among them, a gleaming black RS2000 with new tires and wheels.
The outside door slammed shut with an ominous bang that echoed along with the sound of their footfalls. Séamus stopped and turned about. Then he signaled to Davy and the one with the broken nose. Davy nodded.
“Frankie, Liam, come with me,” Séamus said, motioning to the stairs to the right which lead up to a windowed office space in the top of the warehouse.
Frankie headed up the steps.
“Where are they taking Father Murray?” Liam asked.
“Somewhere safe and comfortable, to be sure. No need for worry. He’ll be fine,” Séamus said. “Meanwhile, we need to have a chat, you and I.”
“Where are they fucking taking him?” Liam asked again, not moving.
Frankie stopped six steps up, a concerned look on his face.
“I said we’ll not hurt your friend.” Séamus frowned. “Can we not trust one another that far? We’re to be friends, after all.”
Liam frowned. “Then why is it you’ve brought him?”
Séamus folded his arms across his chest. “Get upstairs before I lose my patience, son.”
I’m not your fucking son, old man.
Gritting his teeth, Liam followed Frankie up and into the office space. Meanwhile, Séamus went over to the men on the other side of the warehouse.
Gritting his teeth, Liam followed Frankie up and into the office space. Meanwhile, Séamus went over to the men on the other side of the warehouse.
Frankie glanced out the windows and down at Séamus and whispered, “Sorry, mate. Wish it hadn’t come to this. I do. I didn’t know. I didn’t. They didn’t tell me they’d be for taking the priest too.”
Other books
If He's Daring by Hannah Howell
Rhythm, Chord & Malykhin by Mariana Zapata
Polaris by Mindee Arnett
A Singular Woman by Janny Scott
Beyond the Pale Motel by Francesca Lia Block
Illusions of Evil by Carolyn Keene
Purge by Sofi Oksanen
TRAGIC: Rook and Ronin, #1 by Huss, J. A.
His Christmas Present by Woods, Serenity
Vikings by Oliver, Neil