Chapter 6

I woke up over a period of a few days, the first time I opened my eyes I found I was in a dimly lit room with a million tubes coming out of my body, Katie was curled up fast asleep in a chair beside me and I wondered why she didn't get in with me!

I awoke again and saw her looking at me, "Hi" she said and I tried to say the same, but nothing would come out, so I went back to sleep again.

The next time I awoke, there were people all around me and I didn't seem to have quite so many tubes in me,

Katie said "Hi" again and this time my voice worked for the reply,

A bloke in a white coat looked at me and asked how I felt,

"Hungry" I replied and he laughed, "Well David, I'd say you're getting better"

"What're all these bloody tubes and pipes for?"

"For the first two days, they were keeping you alive, now they're monitoring you and feeding you"

"Well they're not feeding me very well, I'm bloody starving"

I heard my sister's laugh beside me and reached for her hand,

"What happened Princess?" but the doctor said it could wait a minute or so while he had a look at me, he fussed about for a while and announced that the nurse could take the drip off me,

"Have you got a headache David?"

"No but I feel a bit fuzzy"

"Hmm, I'll call to see you tonight" and with that he was gone.

"Was it a pressure pad job?" I asked Katie,

"The police said he'd put a small pressure pad under the carpet like you said, it was wired to a slab of Semtex inside the television, so that when you went to switch on the set, you'd have to stand just where he put his foot!"

"Is the cottage wrecked?"

"Pretty well I'm afraid, I've only been back once but it looked a bit of a mess"

"What do you mean, once, when did it happen?"

"Eight days ago"

"WHAT?"

She giggled again, "You've been unconscious"

"Bloody hell"

"The paramedics found you lying under the other man, he was dead and you weren't far off it"

"What about Dominic?"

"There wasn't a lot left of him David, did you know him?"

I nodded and asked the extent of my injuries, a broken collar bone, several broken ribs and severe concussion, is your hearing all right?"

"Yeah why?"

"They were a bit worried in case the blast had deafened you"

"What happened to the driver?"

"He was still sound asleep when the police arrived, you must have hit him pretty hard"

"I tried" I said with a grin and then grimaced as I realised my face was painful,

"Bits from the television" she exclaimed,

"Is Claire still around?"

She looked a bit sad at the question and shook her head,

"She went hysterical Dave, screaming and crying, she was in a heck of a state"

"So where is she?"

"She went home that night, she said she couldn't handle that sort of thing"

I squeezed her hand, "Sorry Princess, will you see her again?"

"No" she shook her head, "No I don't think so Dave"

I felt bad about that and resolved to do something about it as soon as I was able,

"So where have you been sleeping?"

"Here"

"You're joking!"

"No the staff have been brilliant, they gave me whichever bed was free at night and I've spent all my days with you"

"Silly tart" I said, but she knew how grateful I was,

"Well I suppose the security deal's shot it now"

"Not at all David, you've got some good friends around you"

"What?"

"That chap Steve?"

"Yeah?"

"He called as soon as heard about you, as did the other two, John and Sandy, they've been working from Sandy's home, you employ twelve security guards and four German shepherd dogs"

"What about their wages?"

She laughed at that one, "And you owe me a little bit of cash too"

I began to feel drowsy then and nodded off again,

"Are you sticking around this time mate?"

Sandy's ugly mug grinned down at me,

"God you're fucking ugly, I hear you've been busy mate"

"Yeah well it beats doing fuck all except fishing don't it?"

Sandy had left his left foot behind in the province and lived on the meagre army pension and his wife's earnings as a school dinner lady.

"I owe you"

"Bollocks"

"Where's Katie?"

"She's at my house mate having a shower and tarting herself up a bit, she's knackered"

"Thanks Sandy" I said and meant it.

"Bollocks again"

"What's the cottage like?"

"It'll need a lot of work mate, when you're up and running again, but one bedroom and the kitchen are habitable, just"

"Thank Christ for that"

"Katie can stay with me and the misses while you do it up, she's a great girl that one"

He didn't have to tell me that, I knew it better than he did, but I wanted her with me not at his place.

"We'll see about that mate, tell me about these guards we're employing"

"We?"

"Yes mate, we, me, Katie, you and John, we're in it together all four of us, so we need to expand and rapidly if we're going to make any money"

We talked for about half an hour until the doctor came on his morning rounds, he shooed Sandy off and told him I'd be out soon enough,

"Now you're awake" he said as he looked into my eyes with one of those bloody searchlight things, "We can just keep an eye on you tonight for concussion and if you're clear, you can go home tomorrow"

A wooden top was next asking me a lot of questions which I really didn't want to answer, in any case I wasn't sure that I'd be allowed to answer, he got a bit awkward then and asked about a Walther.22 that they'd found among the rubble,

"Don't know a thing about it mate" I said, "It must have been his"

"I don't believe you"

"I don't give a fuck what you believe"

"I can arrest you for unlawful possession"

Thank you constable, I'll deal with this now"

I looked round and saw a tall, blonde haired man, hands in pockets and a sardonic smile on his face"

"Who might you be?" the constable asked and I winced for him,

"I might be Santa fucking Claus" the man hissed and shoved an open wallet in the unfortunate wooden top's face, "But I'm fucking not, so read that sonny and then fuck off"

"They'll try again Dave you know that don't you?"

I watched the copper walking out, his face bright red before sticking a hand out and gripping my visitor's, a man whom I'd last seen on the road between Dublin and Belfast,

"Hi Joe, how're you doing?"

We chatted for a while about this and that, he asked me to reverse my decision to leave and I said no chance, so we parted friends, but I promised him I'd heed his warning,

It was much later when Katie came in, I was dozing but the aroma of her perfume roused me and without opening my eyes, I said, "Hello Princess"