He huddled forward so he couldn’t be overheard. “This won’t be easy,” he started. “Are you sure you need to be part of this? Can’t I just call you to join me once I have dealt with him?”
Her look was enough to answer his question.
“Okay. It is a small house with a front door on the street. There is no way to approach the house unseen. I will secure him and then call for you to join me. You can then deliver the coup de grace. ”
“He’s a Muppet but dangerous,” Sam warned. “Take care.”
“A Muppet?” Eduardo frowned. “You mean like Kermit the frog?”
“I mean he’s a fool but he’s known as a hard man so please be careful.”
“I like that you want me to take care,” Eduardo said appreciatively. “I assure you Sam I share your concern for my health and will take great care. Please also do not act impetuously. I too care for you. Now I shall have one more coffee and then be on my way.”
Sam screwed up her face. “I don’t know how you can put so much sugar in such a small drink. It must taste like treacle. And it’s very bad for your health,” she admonished him.
Eduardo pushed his chair back and stood. “I can see I have a lot to teach you,” he smiled.
Miller was dwelling on the contents of the report on his desk from an old Special Branch colleague in Ireland. As a result of the upsurge in violence on the mainland, he had asked Special Branch to rattle cages and push all their informants to discover who the hell was responsible. It was being put about on the streets of Belfast that Connor had gone missing and was suspected of joining the Real IRA. The suggestion was that he could be responsible for taking Maguire and Murphy across the sea and causing the recent troubles. It made some sense to Miller. Connor could be the man Murphy had mentioned Maguire meeting. After the demise of his team, Connor had then killed Bancroft by himself before going after Tom Ashdown for some sort of revenge. And had Connor been behind the attack on Murphy? Perhaps removing someone he rightly didn’t trust.
His thoughts were interrupted by his mobile ringing. He recognized the voice at the end of the line asking him if he could please call back urgently when he was free to speak. Miller realized that it wasn’t a discussion to be had in the office. He left his office and walked towards Victoria until he found a phone box, which afforded him privacy and some protection from the cold. He dialled the number back on his mobile. He listened intently to his old friend from Special Branch in Ireland, his excitement steadily growing.
They had arrested a senior member of the IRA, carelessly caught with a large stash of cocaine in the boot of his car. Just what he was doing transporting drugs so openly was still a complete mystery. He had been spotted with a broken rear light and if he had pulled over, the police officer would have politely pointed out the fact and continued on his way. Instead the man had accelerated away with the police car in hot pursuit. Driving an underpowered saloon he had not gone far when he was cornered by three police cars at a junction and forced to stop. The quantity of drugs was sufficient to have him put away for many years and having been to jail before he wasn’t keen to return.
The man had tried bartering for his freedom with snippets of information but the local police weren’t interested. Then he asked to see a senior member of Special Branch because he had something very important he wanted to trade for his freedom. The piece of information in question was that the IRA had a highly placed informant in MI5. In fact the suggestion was that the informant was so senior he could access and pass on absolutely anything demanded of him. If such an informant did exist, then it would explain how the killer found out details of the route for transporting Murphy to Court. It also meant that the same person had the death of not only Murphy but also more importantly three police officers on his hands.
Miller’s brain was racing as he listened, analysing what he was hearing. The informant was unlikely to be passing information for any ideological reason so they must be blackmailing him. Unless it was pure greed and he was being well paid. At the moment Special Branch had disclosed this information solely to Miller and currently only unofficially. They too knew that if someone senior in MI5 was indeed the IRA’s contact, then it was vital they kept this information to the fewest people possible. However, they wouldn’t be able to sit on the info for long.
Miller wasn’t sure how the revelation about an MI5 informant, fitted with his analysis that the IRA wasn’t responsible for the attacks on Bancroft or the actress. Perhaps the two weren’t connected. Was this informant simply helping the IRA gain retribution against the renegades? Or was their some other agenda?
There was also the further very real possibility that the man they had arrested was playing Special Branch and intentionally pointing the finger of blame at an entirely innocent person, just in the hope of causing some disruption in the security services and securing his freedom. In
