Page 126 of Hang on St. Christopher

“We don’t have any choice. They’ve triangulated our position with the mortar. Every shot brings them closer. In five minutes, they’ll be dropping the shells right on top of us.”

“I’ll stay with you and shoot that other MP5,” Crabbie said.

“No, you run with the others,” I ordered.

Crabbie shook his head. “I’m staying with you, Sean,” he said firmly, which meant that was the end of the conversation.

“All right, Lawson, you’ll take the others and crawl to the first Land Rover, and when you see the smoke and hear me firing you run like fuck down the road. If I’m right, the border is only a few hundred meters that way. There won’t be a checkpoint on this road. It’ll just be a couple of stone bollards. Get over the border and keep going. Keep going all the way to the River Newry, and when you see a house or a farm, go in and call Newry RUC.”

Lawson shook his head and was about to say something, but before he could speak, another mortar round landed on the embankment behind us, just ten feet to our right. It thudded into the damp earth and exploded, throwing muck and huge clumps of turf on top of us.

“Sir, their firing position seems to be on a rise behind the stone wall to the left side of the hill there,” Lawson said. “So if we can get to the sheugh on the left hand side of the road, we should be in a blind spot. We could crawl to the hedge there and return fire and help you, sir.”

“No, Lawson, just run. You won’t be able to hit them. They’re elevated, they’re behind a wall, and they have a machine gun. Just fucking run, okay? It’s your job to lead these men and women to safety. Do you understand me, son?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay, folks, listen up. Do everything Sergeant Lawson tells you to do, and you’ll get out of this in one piece!”

“Yes, sir!” some of them replied.

“Remember, Lawson, down on your bellies all the way to the first Land Rover, and as soon as you see the smoke and us shooting and them returning fire, you hightail it out of there.”

“Yes, sir.”

He started crawling along the ditch, and the others followed him. When I was satisfied that Lawson had gotten the two men and two women all the way to the first Land Rover, I handed Crabbie one of the MP5s and put the other in front of me.

I examined the first tear-gas canister and read the instructions. It was longer and heavier than a Coke can, with a pin at the top. You just pulled the pin and threw it.

“How’s your arm?” I asked Crabbie.

“Better than yours, I think, I played cricket for Ballymena. Fast bowler.”

I had never played cricket in my life, but the words “fast bowler” sounded impressive. I handed the first of the canisters to him. “Just pull the pin and throw it, it says.”

Crabbie smiled.

“Listen, Crabbie, about what happened, the things that were said, I, I...” and the words failed.

Crabbie nodded. “I understand, Sean. We’re brothers, you and me.”

“Yeah.”

He pulled the pin and impressively tossed the can toward the other side of the street. It ignited in midair, and immediately the road was full of milky-blue tear gas.

I tossed the second canister, with a less impressive arc, and Crabbie chucked the third. Fortunately for us, the wind was blowing from the south, and the gas blew right up the hill where the IRA men were hiding. Immediately, they began firing into the gas cloud.

“Now!” I screamed, and we shot through the magazines on our MP5s. The return fire grew more frenzied, and another shell landed just a few meters from us on the road.

I looked down the sheugh to where Lawson was supposed to be, and he and the others were now running down the road toward the border.

I shot the last of the MP5 into the cloud of tear gas, fire spitting from the muzzle into the grainy dark. I wouldn’t hit anything, but it would give the fuckers something to think about.

“Come on!” Crabbie said, and we crawled down the sheugh toward the first Land Rover.

In between coughing and swearing, the IRA men were all shooting into the tear gas cloud fifty meters behind us.

“Let’s go,” Crabbie said, and we got out of the sheugh and ran down the road.