On Dangerous Ground by Jack Higgins Read Free Book Online Page B

bomb in London in the city’s financial center, an item about Hong Kong, the British Colony in China which was to revert to Chinese control on the first of July, nineteen ninety-seven. It seemed that the British governor of the colony was introducing a thoroughly democratic voting system while he had the chance and the Chinese government in Peking was annoyed, which didn’t look good for Hong Kong when the change took place.
    He threw the paper down, bored and restless, got up and went outside. The elevator doors opened and Father O’Brien emerged. “Ah, there you are, Doctor. I’ve done what I could for the poor man, but he’s not long for this world. He’s from the Highlands of Scotland, would you believe? His daughter is married to an American.”
    “That’s interesting,” said Jackson. “I always imagined the Scots as Protestant.”
    “My dear lad, not in the Highlands,” Father O’Brien told him. “The Catholic tradition is very strong.” He smiled. “Well, I’ll be on my way. Good night to you.”
    Jackson watched him go, then got in the elevator and rose to the third level. As he emerged, he saw Sister Agnes, the night duty nurse, come out of room eight and go to her desk.
    Jackson said, “I’ve just seen Father O’Brien. He tells me this Mr. Tanner doesn’t look good.”
    “There’s his chart, Doctor. Chronic bronchitis and severe emphysema.”
    Jackson examined the notes. “Lung capacity only twelve percent and the blood pressure is unbelievable.”
    “I just checked his heart, Doctor. Very irregular.”
    “Let’s take a look at him.”
     
     
    Jack Tanner’s face was drawn and wasted, the sparse hair snow-white. His eyes were closed as he breathed in short gasps, a rattling sound in his throat at intervals.
    “Oxygen?” Jackson asked.
    “Administered an hour ago. I gave it to him myself.”
    “Aye, but she wouldn’t give me a cigarette.” Jack Tanner opened his eyes. “Is that no the terrible thing, Doctor?”
    “Now, Mr. Tanner,” Sister Agnes reproved him gently. “You know that’s not allowed.”
    Jackson leaned over to check the tube connections and noticed the scar on the right side of the chest. “Would that have been a bullet wound?” he asked.
    “Aye, it was so. Shot in the lung while I was serving in the Highland Light Infantry. That was before Dunkirk in nineteen-forty. I’d have died if the Laird hadn’t got me out, and him wounded so bad he lost an eye.”
    “The Laird, you say?” Jackson was suddenly interested, but Tanner started to cough so harshly that he almost had a convulsion. Jackson grabbed for the oxygen mask. “Breathe nice and slowly. That’s it.” He removed it after a while and Tanner smiled weakly. “I’ll be back,” Jackson told him and went out.
    “You said the daughter lives in Queens?”
    “That’s right, Doctor.”
    “Don’t let’s waste time. Send a cab for her now and put it on my account. I don’t think he’s got long. I’ll go back and sit with him.”
     
     
    Jackson pulled a chair forward. “Now, what were you saying about the Laird?”
    “That was Major Ian Campbell, Military Cross and Bar, the bravest man I ever knew. Laird of Loch Dhu Castle in the Western Highlands of Scotland as his ancestors had been for centuries before him.”
    “Loch Dhu?”
    “That’s Gaelic. The black loch. To us who grew up there it was always the Place of Dark Waters.”
    “So you knew the Laird as a boy?”
    “We were boys together. Learned to shoot grouse, deer, and the fishing was the best in the world, and then the war came. We’d both served in the reserve before it all started, so we went out to France straight away.”
    “That must have been exciting stuff?”
    “Nearly the end of us, but afterwards they gave the Laird the staff job working for Mountbatten. You’ve heard of him?”
    “Earl Mountbatten, the one the IRA blew up?”
    “The bastards, and after all he did in the war. He was Supreme Commander in South East