Page 121 of Hang on St. Christopher

“What are we going to do, sir?” Lawson asked. “Make a run for it?”

“If we leave this sheugh and try to make a run for it, that big machine gun will chew us to pieces,” Crabbie said.

“I grabbed the MP5s from the cab,” Lawson said.

“You did?”

“Yeah.”

He reached down behind him and handed me one of the Heckler and Koch submachine guns.

“You grabbed both of them?” I asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“Cool head. Well done, Lawson.”

“How many mags?”

“Couldn’t get the spare ammo. One each.”

“Everyone else have their sidearms?”

“I lost mine somewhere,” Mitchell said.

“Everybody else?”

“I’ve got my gun,” McGuire said.

“I’ve only two rounds left in mine,” Crabbie said.

“Here, you take the other MP5,” I said, giving Crabbie the submachine gun.

I handed my Glock to Mitchell.

Time for a pep talk so they didn’t go to pieces completely. “Everybody has a weapon now,” I said. “And we’re safe down here in the ditch. If they charge us, they’re going to walk into a barrage of hell. Aim for the torso. They’ll be coming across open ground. I think we can hold out here for a good wee while. We’ll be okay.”

There were a few murmurs of agreement.

You couldn’t let them give in to shock or panic. If they panicked and started running, the terrorists could pick them off one by one. Crabbie was steady, Lawson was steady, but the kids... If I was shitting it (and I was), they must be far worse.

I looked at my watch: 12:15. About two minutes now without a shot being fired. What were they doing?

“Are they reloading?” Lawson asked.

“No, they’re pros. That would have taken them fifteen seconds at most.”

“So what are they doing?” Crabbie asked.

“I don’t know. Changing position? Maybe trying to flank us? Lawson, you go to the edge of the sheugh down there, and if you see anything at all, lemme know.”

“If I have a kill shot?”

“Take it.”

“I will,” Lawson said.

Lawson and I had been in a situation like this in Islandmagee once a lifetime ago, but that time we had three opponents and we actually outnumbered them. This time, they outnumbered us by at least two or three to one.