The House by the Liffey (23 page)

‘I sympathise and I'm quite frightened for you. God go with you, Billy.'

‘He'll look after me, I know that! Thank you both for everything.'

They waved until he was out of sight.

‘Poor Bill. What a dilemma for him. I'm quite sure Androulla fell hard for him too. How could she have helped herself? Like the rest of the Butler men he's very handsome but he's such a lovely person too.'

‘True! I think it's time to start praying really hard, Isabel.'

Armed with as much information as possible about the timetable for the rescue convoy, Bill travelled eastwards through Limassol then turned north towards Nicosia. He missed the convoy but the journey was without incident. However, the traffic coming out of the city was very heavy, with people fleeing away from the advancing Turkish forces.

Wearing his blue beret and dog collar, as planned, nobody challenged him but when he was getting close to the capital, he could hear gunfire. He headed northwards and west of the Ledra Palace Hotel to Androulla's home. The sound of the gunfire was much louder now but as yet, much to his relief, no sign of Turkish troops. He drove up to the house, jumped out of the car and ran to the front door. He knocked hard but there seemed to be no signs of life. He didn't know whether to be worried or relieved. He hammered hard again but no response. He ran around to the back of the house and peered in the windows and saw a movement.

‘Androulla, it's Bill. Are you there? Please open the door.'

The back door burst open and she flew into his arms.

‘Oh, Bill, Bill. We thought the Turks had arrived. What a relief. But how did you get here? Why are you here? I thought you were thousands of miles away in Ireland.'

The tears were streaming down her face and he wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

‘I've come to take you all out of here to the British base where I'm staying with relatives. They're expecting you. But why are you still here in this dangerous place?'

‘My father. He was taken away and my mother refuses to go until he comes home. I've a horrible feeling he won't be coming home but I can't persuade her to go.'

‘I suspected that might be the situation, but they're getting very close; we must go at once. That gunfire sounds as if they're just down the street. I'll try to persuade your mother to come with us. Please understand if I put things to her quite bluntly. That may be necessary.'

They went inside where Androulla's mother was sitting on the sofa as if carved in wood, not moving, just staring into space. He sat down beside her and took her hand.

‘Mrs Nicholides, you must come with us at once. The Turkish army is almost on the doorstep. There's not a moment to lose. If you refuse to come with me then Androulla won't come either. You know what could happen to her and, yes, to you too when they arrive here. Would you like to watch your daughter being raped, maybe many times? Invading armies can be very brutal.'

She looked at him with sudden comprehension in her eyes. She still said nothing but nodded, patted him on the hand, got up and went with her daughter to collect together a few things.

‘
Please
hurry
, Androulla. They sound very close. I'll go and start up the car.'

Androulla, anticipating the possibility of eventually persuading her mother to move out, had collected together and packed a few essential items, so they were very quick and he hustled them into the car. He put Mrs Nicholides in the back with the bits and pieces of luggage so that Androulla could sit beside him. He drove off at speed, heading to where he would have a chance of joining the convoy, for he knew his timing was right. It wasn't far and at last he felt he could relax a little. It was then that machine-gun fire raked his side of the car. Sitting behind him Mrs Nicholides was killed outright with a bullet to her head and several bullets slammed through the metal of the door and into Bill's side. Androulla was untouched.

There was only the one burst of fire, no more and he thought it must have been sheer chance and bad luck that they'd been hit. At first he felt only a thump in his side but he knew he had been hit and that once the numbness of the first shock had worn off the unbelievable pain would kick in. He was determined to keep driving until they were safely away.

‘You all right, Androulla?'

‘Yes.' She sounded as if she was verging on hysteria. ‘But my mother has been hit. I think she's been killed.'

‘I can't stop yet.'

‘I know, Bill, I know!'

The pain started and he knew he wouldn't be able to go on for long. When he thought they were out of any firing line and very close to the convoy route he stopped. He was grey in the face with the agony of his injuries.

‘I've been hit, Androulla, and I can't go on. Change places with me and keep driving towards the British base at Akrotiri. My uncle is in the RAF there, Squadron Leader Tommy Butler.'

‘Oh, Bill, no! I didn't realise you'd been hit.'

‘Come round and take my place. I'll try to slide over – can't get out.'

She hurried to do as he asked and was appalled to see how much blood was on the seat and dribbling down onto the floor. She leant across, stroked his face gently and kissed him.

‘Stay with me, my darling Bill, I'll get you to some place where you'll get help.'

Trying to control her feeling of hysteria, she too drove as fast as she could and very shortly she reached a major junction and stopped. By sheer chance their timing was spot on. The convoy was approaching. Tears streaming down her face, she leapt out and waved frantically for them to stop, using Bill's blue beret. It worked. One of the leading trucks pulled in to the side and stopped, and waved on the rest of the convoy. An armed guard, a sergeant, jumped down from the back.

‘Are you in trouble, Miss?'

‘Yes,
please hurry
.' She was almost screaming. ‘We were shot at. My mother's dead and my friend's in the car, badly injured. This is his beret.'

The guard hurried to take a look at Bill. Added to the blue beret, the Union Jack on the front of the car, the clerical collar and khaki all had their effect.

‘Oh my God. I'll do what I can, Sir.'

Bill was now barely conscious. Pain and loss of blood had taken their toll. The soldier, once given the details by Androulla, ran back to report to the others and they radioed directly to Akrotiri for help, emphasising that the injured padre was nephew to Squadron Leader Butler. They got a call back remarkably quickly, saying a rescue helicopter would be on its way with medical help within minutes.

In the meantime, one of the civilian passengers in the truck, who was a nurse, realised there were injuries and jumped down and ran to the car to see if there was anything she could do. She took a horrified look at Bill and started doing her best to give him first aid without disturbing him too much, not wanting to aggravate his injuries if possible. She grabbed everything she could find amongst the luggage in the car to staunch the bleeding from his side. She realised that he had been badly injured internally and called back to the truck for the emergency first aid kit. She was so relieved to see that, thanks to it being an army kit, there were some ampoules of morphine there and talking to him all the time she explained that she was going to give him an injection of morphine. He nodded weakly.

‘It'll ease the pain, Padre.'

The sergeant hurried back to the car.

‘Akrotiri is sending a helicopter for you, Sir. Hold on there, it won't be long. As the crow flies it's not far.'

Androulla had got back beside him in the car and was sitting as close as she could, holding his hand. The morphine did ease the dreadful pain quite considerably, enough for Bill to be able to say a few words.

‘Don't think I'm going to make it, Androulla.' He paused to gather his strength a little further, enough for the words he needed to say to her. ‘Love you so much. Since the day we first met. Sorry – couldn't do anything about it.'

The tears were streaming down her face again. Her dead mother was in the back of the car, her face now covered over, and the man she loved seemed to be dying in front of her eyes. She got her arms around him as best she could without hurting him and he laid his head on her shoulder.

‘I have loved you so much too since that first meeting. Felt I couldn't live without you. And now you're so badly injured and all because you loved me and wanted to rescue me. I'll never forgive myself.'

He smiled the wonderful Butler smile.

‘You must. If I die now I'll be dying in the arms of the woman I love. Can't ask better than that. Please kiss me and then pray with me.'

She did as he asked, and, having been to college in England, had some familiarity with the prayers he was muttering, barely audibly. As he prayed he made a valiant effort to reach his breast pocket but his hand slumped away, too weak to complete its quest.

‘What are you searching for, Bill?'

‘Rosary,' he whispered.

She found it in the pocket and wound it around his hand, which seemed to comfort him.

The sergeant was right. Rescue helicopters were on standby and in a remarkably short space of time the rescue team was there and, even more remarkably, Tommy was on board. There was enough space in an adjacent car park to land and the paramedics and Tommy were at the car in seconds.

Tommy tore open the car door.

‘Bill, it's Tommy. Can you hear me?'

The head nodded.

‘They're going to lift you out and carry you to the chopper. We'll have you back in the hospital in no time. Just hang in there.'

‘Too late! Androulla?'

‘Yes, she's here and we'll take her too. Don't worry.'

They lifted him out as gently as possible onto a stretcher and into the helicopter. Tommy spoke to Androulla.

‘Come with us. I'll make arrangements for the car to be driven back to the base and for your mother to be taken to a mortuary.'

Heavily sedated, Bill did last until they reached the base at Akrotiri. The hospital staff were waiting for them and he was lifted onto a trolley and straight into the operating theatre where they did their very best for him. Tommy had asked for a priest who came and gave him the last rites after the surgery and from then on Tommy, Isabel and Androulla never left his side, with full support from Padre Johnson. Just as the sun was setting he came to briefly. Androulla held onto one hand, Tommy the other. He smiled and then gathering every scrap of energy he could muster he simply said:

‘Love you all . . . Harry!'

Then he whispered his last words:

‘
In manus tuas Domine
. Into thy hands, O Lord,' and he was gone.

The three of them were devastated. Hard as he tried, Tommy couldn't prevent the tears from rolling down his face. Quite aside from his own distress he now had the appalling task of telling Milo and Noola what had happened.

Afterwards, the Chief Medical Officer at the hospital spoke to them.

‘I'm so sorry. We did our very best to save him, but he didn't really have a chance. The bullets tore up his liver and part of his intestines. He must have been in the most frightful pain. How he lasted any length after being injured like that is extraordinary, never mind surviving until you got him here.'

‘Thank you all for what you tried to do,' replied Tommy. ‘I suspect sheer will power kept him going. He would have felt strongly about being with the family and having the last rites if at all possible.'

Harry had been restless all day on Sunday. He couldn't settle to anything and, having spent quite a lot of the morning with little Johnny, eventually suggested to his father that they should go for an afternoon row in the double skulls. Milo never turned down an opportunity to maintain and hone his rowing skills and was delighted to join Harry. They had a good workout and then Harry had gone to spend some time with Sarah, in the ongoing efforts of all the family to keep her spirits up and help her recovery. He still had the fidgets and Sarah noticed.

‘Something wrong, Harry?'

‘No. I just can't seem to relax today – don't know why.'

Like the rest of the family she was aware of the uncanny closeness of the twins and just wondered.

Everybody had heard about the Turkish invasion of the north of Cyprus the previous day, just as they had heard about the New EOKA coup that had taken place five days previously. Knowing that Tommy and family with Bill were safely lodged in the RAF base they had no concerns about family members. However, feeling so restless, Harry now began to wonder if there was something bothering Bill. It was the only way he could account for his mood. On the other hand he was sure Bill would phone him and tell him if something was wrong with anybody. Maybe it's got nothing whatsoever to do with Bill, he argued to himself.

He didn't sleep too well and next morning felt quite rough. Obviously I'm going down with some sort of summer flu, he thought. From the time he arrived in the office he felt tense, then, quite suddenly, he got a severe pain in his side. His worry about Bill returned. As soon as Milo was free he went into his office.

‘So sorry, Dad. I feel very rough. I thought I was coming down with something yesterday and I honestly can't keep going. I've got a bad pain in my side. There's no way I can see clients.'

‘It's most unlike you to be ill but I must say you do look rough. Don't worry. I'll make arrangements to share you clients between the rest of us. Perhaps Paddy would take a look at you. Are you all right to drive home?'

‘Yes. I'm sure I'll manage.'

Even though he knew how often it happened, totally absorbed in his work, it didn't strike Milo that Harry might be registering something wrong with Bill. Harry got home within the half hour to find that Noola was out, which disappointed him since he would have been grateful to share his worries with her. The pain suddenly started to ease until it was a dull ache and then stopped, but he still felt dreadful. Anxiety about Bill grew until he had no doubt whatsoever that something was very wrong with his twin. He spoke to him aloud:

‘What is it, Billy? What's happening to you?'

He decided to call Tommy's direct line in Akrotiri but could get no answer. This worried him even more, although he realised they must all be very taken up with the crisis. He now felt desperately tired and wandering into the sitting room sank into a comfortable armchair facing across the lawn and down towards the river, his and Bill's favourite view from the house. He drifted off into a light doze and then woke with a start. Someone had called him. He felt as if his heart was being torn in two. Something inside him seemed to die and he knew. He leapt to his feet and cried out loud again:

‘Oh, Billy, Billy, what's happened? You haven't left us, Billy,
please, please
no
.'

He ran to the phone. He tried to contact Tommy again but no luck so he called Milo on his restricted private line and spoke to him, trying hard to hold down his feeling of panic.

‘Dad, I'm not going crazy, but do you remember when I was ten, Sarah and I went climbing and I fell out of the old chestnut tree and broke my arm?'

‘Yes – but…?'

‘And do you remember that, although he was out in a canoe with Tommy, Billy knew I'd broken it, even which arm I'd broken and felt so much pain he had to stop paddling?'

‘Yes, I do, Harry. What are you trying to tell me?'

‘I know that something dreadful has happened to him. I've tried to call Tommy, but I can't get any answer and I don't know what to do.'

Milo didn't doubt him for a second.

‘I'll be home as soon as possible. Keep trying to get Tommy. See if you can get a general number for RAF Akrotiri and turn on the radio and television to see if there's any news that might help.'

Milo suddenly remembered he had a number for Chuck Wilson, now back in the UK, and he called him. No answer there either, so he headed for home as fast as he could. Harry was waiting for him with a face that would have made a ghost look animated.

‘Oh, Dad. I can't get through to anybody. I just know something awful has happened.'

‘I believe you, Harry. We'll keep trying until we get through to somebody. And I do understand how you're feeling.' He put his arm around Harry's shoulders. ‘He's your twin brother but he's also my son.'

Harry told him the full story of his dreadful day and ten minutes later the call came through.

‘It's Tommy. Is that Milo?'

‘Yes, Tommy, and we know that something pretty dreadful has happened. It's Bill, isn't it?'

‘I'm so very sorry, Milo, to be the one to tell you this.'

‘He's dead?'

‘But how could you have heard already? It only happened within the last hour. I called you as soon as I could.'

‘Harry knew. I think he felt it exactly at the moment it happened.'

Exerting every possible element of self-control he could muster, he listened to the details. Before Harry's eyes the life seemed to drain out of his father and he knew he would watch the same thing happen to his mother, with similar effects on the rest of the family.