'A mineral water would do fine for me,' Hannah said. 'Still writing through the night, Michael?'
'The leg, Liam. Hurts like hell at night, so I can't sleep and I refuse to take the morphine.'
'I'd stick to the Bushmills if I were you.'
Eileen brought the drinks and departed. Leary went back to his stew. 'So, what's it about?'
'Brendan Murphy. Friend of yours?'
'Nobody's friend, that one. As far as I'm concerned, he's a gangster. A disgrace to the movement.'
'Would the chief of staff share your view?'
'Certainly. All the old hands want peace to work, Liam, except for people like Murphy. .'
'Who have a vested interest in keeping things going,' Hannah said.
'Exactly. Splinter groups like the Continuity IRA, the Real IRA, they all have other agendas.'
The breakfast and the Irish stew arrived and they started to eat.
'And where would Murphy be now?' Hannah asked.
'God knows, Superintendent.' Leary pulled up short. 'As you must know better than most, these days in the Republic, Ulster, and the UK, they're letting them out, not locking them up. Murphy can come and go as he pleases. He's only in trouble if he crosses the line with the Provisional IRA.'
'Would he be dealt with?'
'Certainly. No question. We're an army, Hannah, with rules and regulations. Now what's all this about and why should I help?'
'Because fifteen years ago I saved your life in County Down after you were shot. Got you over the border.'
'Liam, I paid off on that one when you, Dillon and that Yank were after Dermot Riley, and I told you he was back and probably at the farm at Tullamore, and down you went.'
And you told the chief of staff, who sent Bell and Barry down. Two walking ape men. They tortured Bridget Riley, with cigarette burns on the face.'
And Dillon killed Bell and you shot Barry in the back. We got it all from Dermot.'
'Yes, disgraceful in a man of my age.' Devlin nodded. 'All right, tell him, Hannah.'
Which she did. The underground bunker in County Louth, Fox, the Lebanese connection. Everything.
Leary sat there frowning, then said, 'Let me make one thing clear, and I'm speaking for Provos in general here. We won't give up our arms. History has shown that to be an unwise thing to do.'
'So, you're happy to think that this bunker might exist and Murphy's in charge.'
'No, I'm damn well not, and the chief of staff won't be pleased.'
'You'll tell him?' Hannah asked.
'I have no choice.'
'Ah, well, for once, you've got something in common, you two,' Devlin said. 'So what can you do, Michael?'
'We can trawl County Louth, but it's a hell of a lot of county and Murphy has a lot of hard-line friends there, so I'm not hopeful.' He frowned suddenly. 'I've just thought of something. Sean Regan. Remember him, Liam?'
'From Derry,' Devlin said. 'Shot a military policeman and cleared off to America. As I recall, the peeler recovered.'
'That was two years ago. Regan came back and was working with Murphy in Europe. Apparently, he was on a plane from Paris to Dublin three weeks ago that was diverted to Heathrow because of fog. His name came up on the computer security check and he was lifted.'
'I wonder why I don't know about this.' Hannah frowned.
'Well, according to my information, the Secret Intelligence Service picked him up at Heathrow on one of their special warrants and spirited him away. I'd have thought you'd have known that. Don't your departments share information?'
'Only some of the time.'
Devlin turned to Hannah. 'What do you think?'
'If Regan's been working for Murphy, he might well know something. Frankly, it's our best lead.'
'I can't see that there's anything else I can do,' Devlin said. 'Michael here will spill the beans to the chief of staff, and if I do get any crumbs from the table, I'll let you know.'
They got up and walked to the door. Outside, Leary shook Hannah's hand. 'Superintendent, it was a sincere pleasure, but don't let's make a habit of it,' and he walked away.
Devlin smiled. 'A decent enough stick. Anyway, back to the airport in that grand limousine of yours. I'll drop you off and the driver can take me back home.'
Leary sat in the parlour of the chief of staff's suburban home, and the great man listened while his wife served tea and scones.
'Did I do right?' Leary asked.
'Of course you did. Murphy's a poisonous animal. I've no time for him and neither has the Army Council.'
'So what do we do?'
'I'll have our people check out things in Louth, although I don't expect much from that.'
'So?'
The chief of staff smiled. 'If Ferguson's on this case with Sean Dillon. .' He smiled. 'Well, for once we're on the same side. Sean can do our dirty work for us.'
At the airport, Hannah's limousine drove into the hangar where Lacey and Parry waited. The Gulfstream was outside in the rain. As Hannah and Devlin got out, the Garda police car returned and Malone emerged.
'Liam, you old sod,' he said.
'And stuff you, too,' Devlin said genially, and they shook hands.
Malone said, 'Anything come up?'
Hannah looked uncertain, and Devlin said, 'Go on, he's on your side.'
She told him about the meeting with Leary.
Malone said, 'So anything Murphy's involved with certainly isn't official with the IRA.'
'What about this thing with Sean Regan?' she asked. 'Not a word, and I'd have known.,'
'So somebody's playing silly buggers,' Devlin said. Hannah nodded. 'I'll have to sort that out when I get back.' She held out a hand. 'Liam, you're a treasure.'
'Hell, you can do better than that, girl.' He kissed her. 'Take care, and tell Sean to watch his back.'
'That's something he's good at. Goodbye, Superintendent.'
Lacey and Parry were already inside, and Flight Sergeant Madoc gave her a hand up the steps. The door closed, the engines turned over, the Gulfstream moved away.
'A hell of a woman,' Malone said.
'You can say that again.' Devlin smiled. 'Now you can dismiss your car, join me in my luxurious limousine that the good Superintendent has loaned me, and we'll return to the Irish Hussar, where you can buy me a very large Bushmills.'
'Me, in that hotbed of Republican gunmen?'
'I seem to recall that your younger brother, Fergus, was one.'
'We don't talk about that.'
'As I said, the Irish Hussar.' Devlin smiled. 'It will do my reputation no end of good being seen in the company of the police. A great comfort to me.'
The Gulfstream climbed steadily out over the Irish Sea, and Hannah called Ferguson on her Codex Four.
'Ah, there you are. How did it go?'
She brought him up to date, Regan included. 'So there you are, sir. We should have been told. There is supposed to be interdepartmental cooperation.'
