Rough Justice (58 page)

He slammed the boot shut, walked around to the driver’s side and climbed in. The car was only two months old and still had its new-car smell. The Major had always been a fan of Jaguars, and the silver X-Type was his sixth. He put in the ignition key. As he started to turn it he noticed a greasy smear close to the insignia on the bonnet, a smear he’d never noticed before.

The explosion shattered all the windows in the street. The alarm in the Major’s house was one of a dozen that went off, but his was the only one linked to the local police station. By the time a patrol car arrived the Fire Brigade were already on the scene, dousing the burning car with their hoses as a thick plume of black smoke curled into the sky, and two paramedics were tending a pensioner who had been injured by flying shards of steel.

Just thirty minutes after the explosion, a phone call was made to the news desk of the
Belfast Telegraph
. A recognised codeword was given and the caller identified himself as a member of the Real IRA. He said that the organisation was claiming responsibility for the justified execution of an enemy of the Irish people who had been responsible for dozens of deaths in the province, including those of the freedom fighters Padraig and Sean Fox. More assassinations were to follow until the deaths of the Fox brothers had been avenged. ‘
Tiocfaidh ár lá
,’ said the caller, before hanging up. ‘Our day will come.’

Stephen Leather was a journalist for more than ten years on newspapers such as
The Times
, the
Daily Mail
and the
South China Morning Post
in Hong Kong. Before that, he was employed as a biochemist for ICI, shovelled limestone in a quarry, worked as a baker, a petrol pump attendant, a barman, and worked for the Inland Revenue.

He began writing full-time in 1992. His bestsellers have been translated into more than ten languages. He has also written for television shows such as
London’s Burning, The Knock
and the BBC’s
Murder in Mind
series.

Pay Off

The Fireman

Hungry Ghost

The Chinaman

The Vets

The Long Shot

The Birthday Girl

The Double Tap

The Solitary Man

The Tunnel Rats

The Bombmaker

The Stretch

Tango One

The Eyewitness

Hard Landing

Soft Target

Cold Kill

Hot Blood

Dead Men

Live Fire

Nightfall