had vindicated his view that the fight should be taken to the enemy, not the other way round. Waiting to be hit first before retaliating was a schoolboy concept, a stupid public schoolboy concept. That was the trouble with the Service, he reckoned, it was full of old fools like Montrose who had never really left their bloody public schools. Still… Montrose was no longer a problem. If he could pull this operation off successfully he could circumvent the lot of them and rise to the very top, then they would have to do things his way. He asked to see Kathleen O'Neill.
'You wanted me,' said Kathleen O'Neill putting her head round Bryant's door.
'Come in. Sit down,' said Bryant in what Kathleen thought were much warmer tones than usual. 'It's about your new identity…'
‘There's a problem?'
'Not exactly,’ said Bryant, obviously stalling.
Then what?'
'I wondered how you would feel about helping us further?'
'I've told you all I can.'
Bryant raised his hand and said, 'Yes, I know, it's just that I've had an idea.'
'Go on.'
'You know just how important it is that we get the child back safely and without anyone knowing? Important for Ireland as much as anything?'
Kathleen nodded.
'Our people will need all the help they can get in bringing this off.'
'Where do I come in?'
'You know a lot of faces in the IRA. If you were on the spot it could be a tremendous help.'
'You mean I should go with the doctor and Captain Jarvis wherever it is they are going?'
'In a word, yes. The fact that you're a woman is also to our advantage.'
'How so?'
'A child travelling with a man and a woman is much more inconspicuous than a child travelling with two men,’ said Bryant.
Kathleen swithered and said, 'I'd like to know what the others think.'
'We can ask them.' Bryant picked up the phone and asked that Avedissian and Jarvis join them.
Avedissian thought that it was a good idea. Jarvis said merely that it made sense.
'Well?' asked Bryant.
'I agree,' said Kathleen.
'When is something going to happen?' asked Jarvis when the hubbub had died down.
'Almost immediately,' replied Bryant. 'We know roughly where the boy is. You, Jarvis, will be leaving tonight, the other two tomorrow afternoon.'
Jarvis asked where he would be going.
'The United States,’ said Bryant.
'How do I make contact with the team?' asked Jarvis.
'I will brief you when we are alone,’ replied Bryant. He turned to the others and said, The operation will be conducted on a need-to-know basis. No member will be told anything that he or she does not absolutely need to know. It's safer that way. You can't be betrayed by someone who doesn't even know who you are or what you're doing,’
'But…’ began Avedissian.
'When the time comes you will be contacted,’ said Bryant, discouraging any more questions about procedure.
'And if something goes wrong?' insisted Kathleen.
'You will be given a telephone number to call. Now you really must excuse me.’
Avedissian and Kathleen said goodbye to Paul Jarvis just after nine and came indoors to eat on their own. By mutual agreement they moved the table closer to the window where they could see the garden in the twilight of what had been a long summer's day. Avedissian found himself taking continual sidelong glances at Kathleen and was caught doing so on one occasion. 'Is anything wrong?' she asked.
'I was just thinking how well you had recovered from your injuries,’ replied Avedissian settling for the half- truth.
'Thanks to you,’ said Kathleen. 'I'm grateful.’
'I did very little,’ said Avedissian.
Kathleen walked across the room and Avedissian noticed that the stiffness had left her limbs. She exuded the kind of exciting sensuality that seemed to him to be peculiar to certain women in their early thirties when experience, personality and an understanding of men combine to endow them with an attractiveness that captivates men of their own age and can prove almost irresistible to boys on the verge of manhood. The Indian summer of Kathleen O'Neill, thought Avedissian.
'What are you thinking about?' asked Kathleen, returning to the table with wine glasses.
'I was wondering when you were last truly happy,’ replied Avedissian.
Kathleen looked surprised but did not fend off the question. 'I suppose it must be ten, maybe twelve years. I've had the occasional day, of course, but for a period of sustained happiness or contentment, which I assume you meant?'
Avedissian nodded.
'It is certainly all of that. Why do you ask?'
'I wanted to know.'
'Trying to find out if I have a conscience?'
'Maybe, I don't know. I just wanted to ask you.’
'I suppose, being a doctor, you sleep the sleep of the just every night with a conscience whiter than arctic snow?'
'I am a struck-off doctor. They say I murdered a child. My wife committed suicide in the aftermath.’
'My God,’ said Kathleen. 'I had no idea. How awful.’
'Perhaps I shouldn't have said that all at once. Your jibe about my conscience got through.'
'Will you tell me?'
Avedissian told Kathleen O'Neill of the past three years.
'So happiness is not a prominent feature in either of our lives,’ said Kathleen when he had finished.
Avedissian smiled and refilled their glasses. ‘To the future,’ he said, holding up his glass.
'To the future,’ replied Kathleen.
They had finished their meal and were drinking coffee when Bryant came into the room with some papers in his hand. 'Dr and Mrs George Farmer,’ he announced. 'Going on holiday to the States with their son David.’
'But who…?'
'David is the son of one of our people. You will meet him at the airport. He will fly out with you and enter the States on your passport then someone will take him from you and bring him back across the Atlantic. But, to all intents and purposes, Dr and Mrs Farmer will have entered the States with their son David. No one will be surprised when they leave with him.’
'Only it will be a different boy,’ said Kathleen.
Bryant nodded and said, 'Is there anything you would like before I say good-night?'
Avedissian, who had always replied no to this question before, said, 'Yes, yes there is. I'd like a bottle of Gordon's gin, a supply of Schweppes' tonic and one…’ He paused to look at Kathleen who nodded. 'No, two crystal glasses.’
'I'll see what I can do,’ said Bryant. 'Anything else?'
Kathleen shook her head. Avedissian said that there wasn't.
'How did you find out that the boy was in the United States?' Kathleen asked Bryant.
Bryant touched the side of his nose and said, 'Need to know… remember?' He left the room.
Five minutes later one of the staff entered with a tray carrying all that Avedissian had requested. Kathleen accepted her drink and said, 'What shall we drink to this time?'
