The Anvil (38 page)

This time he took the car and drove up the road to the canal bridge. He saw the man keeping vigil there and got out of the car some thirty metres away so that he would be seen. The man turned to look at MacLean who stood there motionless for fully ten seconds before getting back into the car and driving off. He drove slowly until he saw that the man was following, then he picked up speed and drove out of Edinburgh to the car park at the southern end of the Forth Road Bridge. He got out and walked out on the bridge footpath. The dark-suited man followed at a discrete distance.

MacLean stopped in the middle of the bridge and looked back. For a moment the two men looked at each other without rancour then MacLean climbed up on to the parapet and balanced briefly with his hands in the air. With a last look back, he launched himself out into the setting sun to fall like a wingless Icarus to his death.

Tansy found the letter under her pillow. It read:

My dear Tansy,

To have this happen to you twice in your life must seem almost unbearable but I do what I do not out of weakness but out of the strength your love has given me. The factions surrounding The Anvil have returned to exact their revenge and I know that the only way that you and Carrie can ever be safe demands that I forfeit my life. This I do now, my darling. Consider it my last gift to you both.

For ever,

Sean

THE END