Owen came up the connector from the west with two soldiers.
His uniform was black down one side where he had been dragged along the road, and his hands were raw. He was breathing hard. But he was walking.
He heard what the officers at the jeep were saying, and he stopped.
He looked back up the road toward the junction. James saw him look at the petrol station, at the building and the burnt vehicle, at the place where he had pointed out the lane that morning.
He did not say anything about it.
"Ma'am," he said to Farrell. "What happens to the kit at the petrol station? The British boxes. And the wounded, have we got them all? Carey went down the road. But there was a lad from Cronin's section hit by the houses on the east. I don't know if he got out."
Farrell looked at him.
"Find out," she said. "Get Dunne and go round every section. I want every wounded man counted before we move. And tell the sergeant at the pumps to rig what he can't carry, so they can't use it."
"Ma'am."
