The Thunderous Enemy

Chapter 2

DURING most of September it had been warm and clear, but on the last day the weather broke . Clouds hung threateningly over the moor , rain dripped from the gutters and when Rogan went to the window , brown leaves drifted across the courtyard from the trees in the Governor’s garden .

Behind him Martin shuffled the cards on a small stool . “Another hand, Irish ?”

“Not worth it ,” Rogan said. “They will be feeding us soon.” He stood at the window , a slight frown on his face , his eyes following the roof line of the next block to the hospital beyond, and Martin joined him .

“Can it be done , Irish ?”

Rogan nodded. “It can be done all right . It took me just over two hours last time .” He turned and looked down at Martin. “You will never make it, Jigger . You’d break your b****y neck halfway .”

Martin grinned. “What would I be wanting to crash out for ? Nine months and I can spit in their eyes once and for all . My old woman’s got a nice little boarding house going in Eastbourne . They will not see me back here again .”

“ I seem to have heard that one before ,” Rogan said . “Can you still work that trick of yours on the door ?”

“ Always happy to oblige .”

Martin took an ordinary spoon from his bedside locker and went to the door . He listened for a moment, then dropped to one knee .

The lock was covered by a steel plate perhaps six inches square , and he quickly forced the handle of the spoon between the edge of the plate and the jamb . . He worked it around for several minutes and there was a slight click . He pulled and the door opened slightly . . .

“ Now that’s one thing that always impresses me ,” Rogan said .

“ There is thirty years’ hard graft there , Irish . The best screws man in the business .” Martin sighed . " The trouble is I got so good they could always tell when it was me .”

He pushed the door gently into place and worked the spoon round again . There was another slight click and he stood up .

“ There have been times in my life when I could have used you ,” Rogan said .

“ You do not want to start consorting with criminals at your age , Irish .” Martin grinned . “An old lag’s trick. Plenty of cons in this place could do as much . These old mortice dead locks are a snip . One of these days they will get wise and change them .”

He went back to his bed , produced a packet of cigarettes and tossed one across to Rogan . “ There is at least six other gates to pass through between here and the yard and most of them are guarded , remember. It will take more than a spoon to get you out of this place .”

“ Anything can be done if you put your mind to it ,” Rogan said . “Come to the window and I will show you .”

Martin held up a hand quickly and shook his head . “Nothing doing . What I don’t know can’t hurt you .”

Rogan frowned. “You are no grass , Jigger .”

The old man shrugged . “We can all be pushed just so far in a place like this .”

There was a rattle at the door and , turning quickly , Rogan was aware of an eye at the spyhole . The key turned in the lock and the Principal Officer came in .

“ Outside , Rogan. Someone wants to see you .”

Rogan frowned. “Who is it ? ”

“ A bloke called Soames . Lawyer from London. Something to do with an appeal .

Seems you have got friends working for you .”

As he waited in the queue outside the visiting room , Rogan wondered about Soames , trying to decide what could be behind his visit . As far as he was aware , there was no chance of an appeal against the Home Secretary’s decision for at least another year , and to his certain knowledge there was no one working for him on the outside . Since the Organization had gone into voluntary liquidation the previous year , he had become a dead letter to most people . . .

When his turn came , the Duty Officer took him in and sat him in a cubicle . Rogan waited impatiently , the conversation on either side a meaningless blur , and then the door opened and Soames came in .

He was small and dark with a neatly trimmed moustache and soft pink hands . He carried a bowler hat and briefcase and wore a neat pin-striped suit .

He sat down and smiled through the wire mesh . “You will not know me, Mr. Rogan. My name is Soames, Henry Soames.”

“ So I have been told ,” Rogan said . “ Who sent you ? ” Soames glanced each way to make sure that no individual conversation could be overheard in the general hubbub , then leaned close . “ Colum-O’More .”

A vivid picture jumped into Rogan’s mind at once , one of those queer tricks that memory plays . He had just volunteered to ‘go active’ as they’d called it in the Organization in those days , a callow , seventeen-year-old student . They’d taken him to a house outside Dublin for the final important interview and had left him alone in a small room to wait . And then the door had opened and a giant of a

man had entered , the mouth split in a wide grin as he laughed back over his shoulder at someone outside , wearing his strength and courage for all to see like a suit of armour. Colum O’More , the Big Man .

“Are you sure , avic? " he had said to Rogan. ”You know what you are getting in to? "

Mother of God , who would not be sure and face to face with such a man ?

“ So Colum sent you?” Rogan said .

“ Not directly . ” Soames smiled faintly . “I believe there is something like half of a ten year sentence still hanging over his head in this country . He is in England at the moment , but we have only met personally once . Since then I have been working through an accommodation address . ”

“ If you are thinking of raising my case again with the Home Secretary , you are wasting your time .”

“ I could not agree more .” Soames smiled slightly . “To be perfectly frank , Colum O’More was thinking of adopting more unorthodox means .” ‘Such as? “Rogan said calmly .

“ Assisting you to leave without the Home Secretary’s permission .”

“And what makes you think I could ?”

“A man called Pope ,” Soames said . “I believe he shared a cell with you for a year ? He was released six months ago .”

“I still have the stink of him in my nostrils ,” Rogan said contemptuously . “A cheap , two a penny tearaway . The worst kind . Was a peeler with the Metropolitan and got done for corruption . He’d sell his own sister on the streets if you made it worth his while .”

“He tells an interesting story , Mr. Rogan . He insists that in 1960 you were caught in the early hours of the morning outside the walls of this prison . That to this day the authorities have never been able to find out how you got out .”

“He has a big mouth ," Rogan said . ”One day someone will be closing his eyes with pennies .“

“Is it true ??” Soames said , and for the first time there was an urgency in his voice . “Have you a way out ?”

“And if I had ?”

“Then Colum O’More would be glad to see you .”

“And how could that be managed ?”

Soames leaned even closer . “You know the quarry and the hamlet between it and the river , Hexton ?”

“I have been working there for the past year .”

“Below the quarry there’s an iron foot bridge . On the other side of the river you will find a cottage . You can not miss it. It is completely isolated .”

“Will Colum be there ?”

“No !, Pope. .”

“Why him !?”

“He’s proved very useful. He will have clothes, a car, even an identity for you . You could be clear of the moor within half an hour .”

“And where do I go ?”

“ Pope will have full instructions . They will take you to Colum O’More. That is as much as I can tell you .”

Rogan sat there, a slight frown knitting his forehead , considering the situation .

He was not happy about Pope , and Soames was a hollow man if ever he’d seen one , but was there really any choice ? And if Colum O’More was behind the organization …

“Well !?” Soames said . .

Rogan nodded . “How soon can Pope be ready ?”

“He is ready now . I’d heard you were a man who doesn’t like to let grass grow under your feet .”

“It is Thursday today ,” Rogan said . “Better make it Sunday .”

“Any particular reason ?”

“It is dark by six and we are locked up for the night at halt past in my wing . From then on there is only one duty screw who works from the central hall checking blocks . If I am not missed , and there is no reason why I should be , they will not find I am gone till they turn out the cells at seven on Monday morning .”

“Which sounds sensible .” Soames hesitated and then said carefully , “You are certain you can get out ?”

“Nothing is certain in this life, Mr. Soames , I’d have thought you would have found that out for your self by now .”

“How right you are , Mr. Rogan .” Soames picked up his bowler hat and briefcase and pushed back his chair . “I do not think there is anything more to discuss . I will look forward to Monday’s newspaper with interest.”

“So will I ,” Rogan said .

He stood there watching as Soames walked to the door and waited . A few moments later, the Principal Officer came for him and they went back in to the corridor .

As they went back across the courtyard , he said , “Any joy ?”

Rogan shrugged . “You know what these lawyers are like . Big with their promises and fees , but short on hope . I gave up counting my chickens a long time ago .”

“The best way of looking at things and the most sensible .”

When they reached the top landing , the bell was sounding for the midday meal and when Rogan went back into his cell , Martin already had the plates ready on the small table . When the door closed , he waited for a moment , then looked at Rogan questioningly . . .

“And what was all that about ?”

For a moment , Rogan was going to tell him and then he remembered the old man’s words earlier . That in a place like this a man could only be pushed so far . He was right, of course . If Sean Rogan had learned one thing from the thirteen years of his life spent between four walls , it was that no one was ever completely dependable .

He shrugged . “Some friends of mine on the outside have clubbed together and dug up a lawyer . He wanted to meet me personally before trying the Home Secretary again .”

Martin’s face creased into the perpetual smile of hope of the long serving convict. “Hell, Irish, maybe things are looking up .”

“You can always hope ,” Sean Rogan said and moved to the window .

It was still raining and a slight mist curled across the top of the hill beyond the walls where the quarry lay . If you listened carefully you could almost hear the river; dark , peat stained , splashing over great boulders on its long run down to the sea .