Читать книгу The Violent Enemy - Jack Higgins, Justin Richards - Страница 8

4

It was cold in the stone-flagged kitchen and Jack Pope shivered involuntarily as he piled logs into the crook of one arm. He moved back along the passage and went into the living room of the small cottage.

Flames flickered across the oak-beamed ceiling, casting fantastic shadows that writhed and twisted convulsively and he piled more logs on to the already large fire.

He went to the dresser, took down a bottle of whisky and half filled a glass.

Outside the wind moaned, driving the rain against the window with the force of lead shot and he shivered, remembering the place on the other side of the hill beyond the river where he had spent five years of his life. He emptied the glass quickly, coughing as the raw spirit burned its way down his throat, and reached for the bottle again.

There was no sound, and yet a small cold wind touched him gently on the right cheek. He turned slowly, the hair rising on the nape of his neck.

Rogan stood in the doorway, shirt and pants plastered to his body, moulding his superb physique, rain mingling with the dust from the ventilating shafts, washing over him in a patina of filth.

And Jack Pope knew fear, real primeval fear that loosened the very bowels in him so that in the presence of this strange, dark man he was like a frightened child, completely dominated by some elemental force he couldn’t even comprehend.

He moistened his dry lips and forced a ghastly smile. ‘You made it, Irish. Good for you.’

Rogan crossed the room, soundlessly, took the glass from Pope’s hand and poured the whisky down in one quick swallow. He closed his eyes, took a long breath and opened them again.

‘What time is it?’

Pope glanced at his watch. ‘Just after half past eight.’

‘Good,’ Rogan said. ‘I want to be out of here by nine. Is there a bath?’

Pope nodded eagerly. ‘I’ve had the water heating all afternoon.’

‘Clothes?’

‘Laid out in the bedroom. What about something to eat?’

Rogan shook his head. ‘No time. If you’ve got a vacuum flask fill it with coffee and make a few sandwiches. I can eat them on the way.’

‘Okay, Irish, anything you say. The bath’s at the end of the passage.’

Rogan turned abruptly and went out, and immediately the forced smile was wiped from Pope’s face. ‘Who the hell does he think he is, the big stinking Mick. God, how I wish I could turn him in.’

He went into the kitchen, put the kettle on the stove, then he rummaged in a drawer till he found a bread-knife, took down a loaf and started viciously to cut it into slices.

The bathroom was a recent extension to the rear of the cottage and the bath itself was small. Not that it mattered. Rogan filled it with hot water, stripped off his wet clothes and climbed in. For a brief moment only he sat there enjoying the warmth, then he started to wash the filth from his body. Five minutes later, he stepped out, dried himself quickly, then went along the passage to the bedroom, a towel about his waist.

He found everything he needed laid out neatly across the bed. Underclothing, shirts, even the shoes were the right size and the two-piece suit in Glencarrick thorn-proof looked as if it had been made to measure. There was also a battered rain hat and an old trenchcoat. A nice touch that, he had to admit, however grudgingly. He took them with him when he returned to the living room.

Pope followed him in from the kitchen carrying a large vacuum flask and a tin biscuit box. ‘Sandwiches are inside; it’ll save you having to stop.’

‘And just where am I supposed to be going?’

‘O’More wants to see you.’

‘Where do I find him?’

Pope shrugged. ‘God knows. I’ve been working through an accommodation address in Kendal. Do you know where that is?’

‘The Lake District, isn’t it? Westmorland?’

‘That’s right. You’re in for a long drive. It’s all of three hundred and fifty miles from here and you’ve got to be there by seven in the morning.’

Which was the precise moment at which they would be turning out the cells at the prison and Rogan smiled slightly. They were hardly likely to be looking for him in a place like Kendal. It would take them at least three days to realize that he’d got off the moor and even then they wouldn’t be sure.

‘Why seven?’

‘Because that’s the time you’re being picked up. You drive into the car park of the Woolpack Inn – that’s in Stricklandgate – and wait.’

‘Who for?’

‘I honestly don’t know. As I said, I’ve been writing to an accommodation address in Kendal. Maybe it’s just a jumping off place to somewhere else.’

Rogan shook his head. ‘Not good enough, Pope. You wouldn’t go into anything blindfold.’

‘It’s the truth, Irish, as God’s my judge. I’ll admit I opened my mouth about that escape of yours when I got out and the word must have got around among the boys. You know how these things are.’

‘What about Soames, the lawyer.’

‘Been disbarred for the past five years. A villain down to the soles of his feet. He came to see me a couple of weeks ago. Said a client of his had heard this rumour about you having a way out and they’d traced it to me. It didn’t take him long to get down to brass tacks. He’s a downy bird.’

‘And what’s your cut?’

‘For setting this little lot up? A couple of centuries and my expenses.’

Rogan helped himself to a cigarette from a packet on the table and lit it, an abstracted frown on his face. On the face of it, it didn’t make sense – not any of it. And yet Colum was as cunning as a fox. It would be like him to cover his tracks again, making any direct route to him difficult to find.

‘All right, for the moment, I’ll buy it,’ he said. ‘How do I get to Kendal?’

Pope produced a small white folder and grinned. ‘Nothing like being efficient, so I went to the top. Got you an A.A. route guide. It starts at Exeter and takes you straight through to Kendal.’

He went over it quickly, indicating the route on the excellent sketch maps provided. At Exeter, Rogan would pick up the A38 and follow it through Bristol and Gloucester. From there, the new M5 motorway would take him north past Worcester and Birmingham, joining the M6 for the long run up through Lancashire to the Lake District.

‘You’ll find some sections of the motor-ways are still under construction,’ Pope said, ‘but on the whole, you should have a pretty clear run.’

‘What kind of car have you got for me?’

‘Nothing special. A Ford brake, two years old but the engine’s perfect. I’ve had it checked. You’ll find a few samples of animal feed in the back. You’re supposed to be a salesman for an agricultural firm.’ He picked up a briefcase and produced various documents. ‘Here’s a couple of printed business cards in the name of Jack Mann and a driving licence. Hope you can still remember how.’

Rogan shrugged. ‘I’ll get by.’

There were insurance papers and log book, all in the same name. Even an Automobile Association membership card. Rogan tucked them all into his inside breast pocket.

‘You seem to have thought of everything.’

‘We aim to please.’ Pope took out a worn leather wallet and passed it across. ‘You’ll find forty quid in there. No sense in carrying more. If you were stopped and searched it would only excite suspicion.’

‘The police mind,’ Rogan said. ‘You can never get away from it, can you?’

Pope flushed, but managed to force a smile. ‘That’s about it.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Almost nine. You’d better be on your way.’

Rogan pulled on the trenchcoat, belted it around his waist and picked up his hat. They went out through the kitchen and Pope flicked on an outside light, opened the door and led the way across the small courtyard to an old barn. He opened a large door, and two cars were revealed.

One of them was a large dark shooting brake, the other a green saloon. Rogan paused in the entrance, looking at them.

‘Two?’ he said.

‘Well how in the hell do you think I’m going to get out of here at this time of night?’ Pope said. ‘It was bad enough having to walk five miles to the nearest bus stop yesterday after driving out here in the Ford. I picked up the saloon in Plymouth this morning.’

Which was a good story had it not been for the fact that the wheels of both vehicles were still damp and muddy from the day’s rain.

Rogan let it pass. ‘I’d better be on my way.’

Pope nodded. ‘Make sure it’s the right one. No detours to Holyhead for the Irish boat.’

Rogan turned very slowly, his face quite expressionless. ‘And what would you be meaning by that?’

Pope forced a smile. ‘Nothing, Irish, nothing. It’s just that the Big Man’s invested a lot of money in you. He’s entitled to see some return.’

The next moment, a hand had him by the throat, pulling him close and the rush of blood seemed to be forcing out his eyeballs.

‘When I do a thing, it’s because I want to,’ Rogan said softly. ‘Always remember that, Pope. Nobody crowds Sean Rogan.’

Pope went staggering back against the whitewashed wall and slumped to the ground. He crouched there, sobbing for breath, aware of the Ford starting up and moving out across the yard, the engine fading into the distance.

A footstep scraped on stone and a voice said calmly, ‘Friend Rogan plays rough. A dangerous man to cross.’

Pope looked up at Henry Soames and cursed savagely. ‘I hope you know what you’re doing.’ He groaned, swaying a little as he got to his feet. ‘If I’d any sense I’d pull out of this now.’

‘And lose out on all that lovely money?’ Soames patted him on the shoulder. ‘Let’s go back inside and I’ll go over it again. I think you’ll see things my way.’

Round the bend of the road, Rogan parked the car by a five-barred gate and walked back the way he had come. There were several reasons for such a course. In the first place he didn’t like Pope, in the second, he didn’t trust him. And there was the intriguing fact that the tyres of both cars had been wet although the brake had supposedly been under cover since the previous day.

Nearing the cottage, he left the road, pushed his way through a plantation of damp fir trees and crossed the yard at the rear. A curtain was drawn across the window, but when he bent down he could see most of the living room through a narrow crack.

Henry Soames and Pope were sitting at the table engaged in earnest conversation, the whisky bottle between them. Rogan stayed there for only a moment, then turned and retraced his steps.

So – the plot thickened. Most puzzling thing of all, how did Colum O’More come to be mixed up with such people? There was no answer, could be none till he reached Kendal. He leaned back in his seat and concentrated on the road ahead.