Authors: David Lowe
‘I’ve not been insubordinate sir. I’ve only passed on my observations and opinions. And you did just ask me if I had learnt anything from what happened,’ David said adding in a surly tone, ‘sir!’.
‘Don’t come the smart arse with me.’ Not wanting to enter into a discussion with the DS, Edge looked at his watch and said, ‘George just get on with the update on the West Yorks job.’
George repeated the main facts he gave to David’s team in the briefing and David informed Paul Edge he was arranging a shift rota for the surveillance including the observations at the targets’ respective workplaces as well as the address in Prestwich adding he would submit the authorities to conduct covert surveillance with the chief constable once their meeting had finished. Knowing Hurst was an officer the chief constable respected, Edge contorted his face even further to show his dislike for the DS. On finishing the briefing George and David got up to leave his office, but just before he left the room, David said to Edge, ‘Seeing how it’s the first chance we’ve had to talk since I came back from my injury, thanks for asking sir. When I got injured it hurt like hell for the first few weeks but I’m feeling much better now.’
Showing disinterest, without acknowledging David’s presence, Edge picked up another file and for a few seconds started to thumb through it. Looking up at David, he said, ‘Close the door on your way out.’
‘You arrogant shit.’ David slammed the door to Paul Edge’s office and ran a few paces down the corridor to catch up with George.
As the door shut George turned round and said, ‘Leave it, forget him and go sort out Steve and the rest of your team while I go and order the coffees. I’ll meet you in ten minutes.’
* * *
Seeing David enter the coffee shop, George raised his hand to show David where he was sitting. David reciprocated the gesture and walked over to the table to join George who shoved a coffee in his direction, ‘Here you are. A triple espresso and you should’ve seen the look the bloke behind the counter gave me when I took half a dozen sachets of that brown sugar you’re so partial to. Now what’s up?’
‘Seeing McCrossan’s only part of the story. As you know, Debbie and I went to my parents at the weekend to celebrate Peter becoming a QC. On Saturday morning I went with Debbie, Siobhan and me Mum to the market. We were in a café when I saw Rory O’Byrne arguing with a stallholder right outside the café. One thing that’s stuck in my mind from the war in Ireland was the times PIRA told us how they don’t make threats only promises. Me and Debbie followed him while Debbie got a couple of MI5 officers to tail him. I thought that would be it then I joined my Dad in his local to watch the England game when in walked O’Byrne and McElvaney. I thought they were going to get me so I confronted the bastards. Basically I told them to get out of the pub. They refused, so I forced them out of the pub and told them not to come near me or mine again.’
‘When you say “you forced them out of the pub” I take it you mean that you had a fight? Did you fight both of them on your own?’ George asked thinking this could have been a set up by the Irishmen and the possible ramifications of a complaint being made about one of his officers fighting with the two men.
‘Well yes, it was a fight, but a couple of the lads who live by Dad’s were in the pub and gave me a hand in sorting them out.’
‘This is starting to sound like a scene from a John Wayne western. What damage did you and your drinking associates do to them?’
‘After head-butting and ramming O’Byrne’s head on the bar, I think I broke his nose and as well as cuts on his head, he may have a couple of broken ribs. McElvaney may struggle to have any more kids and he took a few blows to the ribs as well. It was in self-defence, honest. O’Byrne went to hit me so I got in there first. McElvaney was coming at me with a broken glass when one of the pub regulars stopped him.’
‘If they’re here legitimately and make a complaint of assault, this is just the ammunition Edge needs. Regardless of the SO15 investigation into Irish dissident groups and McCrossan shooting at you and Steve, if he gets his way, it won’t be you out of the Branch, it’ll be you out of the police. Why didn’t you just walk out of the pub?’
‘This is the point I’m coming to. Debbie contacted Craig MacDonald and got a couple of MI5 officers to tail them. They’re staying at a flat close to the safe house we first came across in the nineties. As a result of Debbie doing some more digging yesterday, we believe they could be checking out the Liverpool area for one of the Irish dissident groups. Jimmy told me O’Byrne and McElvaney are working for some bloke based in Cheshire. On top of that, since Wednesday SO15 have McCrossan as their number one target. Although he hasn’t been seen since he had a pop at me and Steve, as a result of their enquiries they’ve found out he’s changed address in London. They turned over four addresses last Friday but drew a blank. When I was speaking to Ben Solaru from SO15, he said that while they’ve not seen McCrossan they’re getting closer to finding him. That may help in finding out what O’Byrne and McElvaney are up to.’
‘OK first things first. Keep your fingers crossed O’Byrne and McElvaney don’t go running to the local police,’ George said concerned for his DS, ‘They could have been setting you up. Going into the pub they knew it would wind you up and you’ve given them just the ammunition they need to cause you problems and, if need be, get you out of the way. I have to admit, it seems more than a coincidence that these three have popped up within days of each other. What else did Jimmy O’Leary have to say?’
‘Not much. He had no idea McCrossan was this side of the Irish Sea. It was him who text me during the briefing. I rang him on my way here and he wants a meet later this morning as he’s found out some information that he thinks could be useful.’
‘Well you’d better go and see him and take Steve with you. I’ll do a report that you contacted me yesterday and I sanctioned your meet with O’Leary yesterday and today. Don’t worry. I’ll act as handler,’
‘I’m sorry about this morning but I didn’t want to miss Jimmy getting in touch.’
‘I realise that now. As much as I didn’t want to, I had to make a show of you in front of the others, especially with having Jerry over from West Yorks.’
‘Don’t worry George, I know that.’
‘What time’s the meet with O’Leary?’
‘Half ten at the Starbucks in St. Anne’s Square.’
‘Does he want paying?’
‘We never mentioned money and in the past he’s never wanted paying.’
‘I just hope this isn’t the start of mainland campaign by the Irish’
‘It could be,’ David said taking a sip of his coffee, ‘when I go over to Ireland to see my relatives with Mayo and Sligo being close to the border with the north, I still get the odd comment alerting me to the fact it’s not all a bed of roses over there since the Good Friday agreement. There are some youngsters who missed out on their chance to fight for the cause and there are a couple of old PIRA operatives struggling to make a legitimate living. If you ask me, the embers of dissent in Ireland could easily be ignited and become a major flame sweeping through parts of Ireland, especially in the north. You only have to look at events over the last few years, the killing of the PSNI bobby in Omagh, the bombings in Derry and the declaration by the Real IRA that they will kill more PSNI bobbies and they want to kill the Queen. Only recently the PSNI have arrested a number of Real IRA suspects including that job in south Armagh where the PSNI also found explosives and firearms. On top of that was the Michael Campbell job where Campbell was caught in a sting operation by Lithuanian police and British security officers buying explosives and firearms for the Real IRA in Lithuania.
‘As I can’t stop thinking about it, it’s affecting my focus on this West Yorks job. I was wondering if you could pull me off it and give me a few days grace to help SO15 with their investigation. I’m not hopeful Debbie will uncover concrete intelligence in the next day or two. I’ve no idea what Jimmy’s got for me and whatever he passes on this morning will need verifying. Surely being a possible target should be enough for you to swing it?’
‘Not with Edge. I’ll have to have a think about how I can get you off from the West Yorks job for a few days while you chase up this Irish angle. I could work on phrasing it in such a way Edge would have no choice but to give you a week to follow up these Irish lads so you can see what they’re up to.’
‘That’s all I’m asking for. If you could give me a week and let me borrow Steve, you can have Alex Bullard acting DS. She’s got enough service and experience behind her and she has passed the sergeants’ exam. I’m not saying that you have her acting DS for the week, but in my absence she can run the show with the Al Qaeda doctor and dentist for a week. If anything significant happens you can easily recall Steve and I.’
‘Well, she was acting for the five months you were off while that hip of yours got mended and she did a great job running the team. I could contact Craig MacDonald and get him to tell Paul Edge that you have to go to London for a few days for a meeting in chambers with the barrister who is prosecuting the Chechen job. That trial’s in a few weeks isn’t it?’
‘Yes.’
‘Also I could bullshit Paul Edge and tell him that you’re also chasing up a few leads with SO15 and Thames House over our doctor and dentist. The trouble is, we’re not leading this investigation and the Senior Investigating Officer is the head of West Yorks ISB. I know her very well. If I ask her as a favour to play along, she’ll do it just in case Edge tries to check up what you’re up to, something he’s likely to do for no other reason than he hates your guts.’
‘Sorry we’re late Jimmy. Do you want a refill?’ David asked as he and Steve joined Jimmy O’Leary in the coffee shop in St. Anne’s Square.
‘You’re not that late boys, but another large cappuccino would go down nicely. Make sure there’s plenty of those chocolate sprinkles on the top,’ Jimmy said as Steve sat next to him while David made his way to the counter.
‘Have you got anything useful for us?’ Steve asked.
‘All in good time. How are you doing yourself?’
‘Not bad thanks Jimmy, and you?’
‘Life’s always good to old James O’Leary. Are you still married to that good looking girl . . . Lena isn’t it?’
‘It is and we’ve been together twenty years now. We learnt a couple of weeks ago that our fifth child’s on the way.’
‘Congratulations. How about David, is he still married?’
‘No, he got divorced a few years ago, but he’s been living with this nice girl for the past seven months. They’re well suited and he’s never been happier. He still gets to see his three kids and they’ve taken to her really well.’
‘Talking about me again,’ David said placing the coffees on the table.
‘Steve was telling me you’ve been on the tackle and got shacked up with a nice young lady. If she gets on well with your kids are you going to make an honest woman of her?’ Jimmy asked as David sat down and handed out the coffees.
Pouring the contents of six sachets of sugar into his triple espresso then stirring it, David kept looking at his coffee and said, ‘Not yet.’
‘How much time do you want? If you’ve been living together for seven months you should know by now if you’re going to get along,’ Jimmy said.
‘I’ve thought about it, but seeing how things are going along nicely at the moment, I don’t want to spoil it.’
‘You mean you’ve never talked about marriage to each other. She most probably feels the same as you. That said you look happy enough. It’s nice to know my old friends have been doing well for themselves. Steve here said he’s got another little one on the way.’
‘I’m made up for him,’ David said, ‘and he’s asked me to be godfather. So that’ll be two of Steve’s children I’ll be godfather to.’
‘Being a good Catholic boy, I know you’ll take those duties seriously,’ Jimmy said.
‘He does,’ Steve said, ‘he even takes my eldest, Mary to Mass.’
Wanting to know what Jimmy had found out was getting the better of David. Knowing the tendency of the Irish to talk for an eternity before getting to the point, he cut the small talk dead. ‘Now you’ve caught up with what we’re up to, what have you got for us Jimmy?’
‘Always the impatient one Davey, but under the circumstances I can understand why. Danny and Rory haven’t done that well since the ceasefire. They worked on and off, you know piecemeal stuff. From what I heard, they could never settle. Rory was in Strabane, close to his home town of Lifford working on a job a couple of years ago when he met up with some of the old hands that are now in the Real IRA. Apparently temptation got the better of him and he offered his services to aid their cause. That’s the trouble in peacetime, there’s not a big of demand for an explosives expert, unless it’s demolition work!’ Jimmy began to laugh at his own feeble joke, but the officers remained straight faced. Seeing they were not in the mood for humour, he continued to pass on what he learnt. ‘Rory contacted Danny and word has it the two are now working for the Real IRA. Over the last few months they’ve been instructing the younger recruits in explosives as well as other skills in terrorist activity.
‘I haven’t got the name of their contact over here, yet. I’m still working on that one, but I heard he has a few bob of his own, lives in Cheshire and his fingers are in quite a few pies in the northwest of England. Word has it he’s from the north and is an ex-Provo who’s done well for himself here on the mainland. If they’re working for him, it can only be a front. I made some calls back home and another little bird told me they’re testing the water to see what the security’s like over here. You boys will know this, but the Muslims haven’t helped their cause one bit. You guys and the likes of MI5 are on top of things much more than you were during the Troubles. Regardless, word has it the Real IRA are looking to have a hit on the British mainland. And it’s to happen soon.’