Angel of Death

‘Curtis here. I’m glad I caught you. I thought you might be on the way to Amsterdam tonight.’

‘How did it go?’

‘Jobert sent a man called Friar. English. Ex-army officer. He offered to meet all requirements, including some Stingers if you want them.’

‘That’s good. What was he like, this Friar?’

‘Second-rate English public school type. Black hair and moustache. Frightened to death. Said he thought he was meeting you.’

‘Why should he think that?’

‘Jobert told him he would. Apparently he did a tour with the Royal Artillery in Londonderry in eighty-two. Said you were quite famous.’

There was a moment’s pause, then Quinn said, ‘Take him out, Curtis. I smell stinking fish here.’

‘But why?’

‘Sure, I was in Londonderry in eighty-two, only not as Daniel Quinn. I used the name Frank Kelly.’

‘Jesus!’ Daley said.

‘Take him out, Curtis, that’s an order. I’ll call you from Beirut.’

Dillon was staying at the Europa Hotel in Great Victoria Street by the railway station, the most bombed hotel in Belfast if not the world. He was still wearing the rain hat when he entered the suite.

The woman who sat reading a magazine was thirty years of age, wore a black trouser suit and horn-rimmed glasses. She had short red hair. Her name was Hannah Bernstein and she was a Detective Chief Inspector in the Special Branch at Scotland Yard.

She jumped up. ‘Everything work out?’

‘So far. Have you heard from Ferguson?’

‘Not yet. When do you make your move?’

‘Daley said he’d get back to me.’ He took off his hat. ‘I need a shower. I want to get rid of this hair dye.’

She made a face. ‘Yes, it’s just not you, Dillon.’

He took off his coat and jacket and made for the bathroom. At that moment the phone rang. He raised a hand – ‘Leave it to me,’ – and picked the phone up.

‘Barry Friar,’ he said, putting on the public school accent.

‘Daley. Mr Quinn will see you tomorrow night at six.’

‘Same place?’ Dillon asked.

‘No, drive from the Europa to Garth Dock. It’s close to where you were tonight. I know you have a hire car, so use that – and make sure you come alone. You’ll be picked up. Mr Quinn will be there.’

The phone went dead. Hannah Bernstein said, ‘Now what?’

‘Daley. The next meeting is tomorrow evening at six to meet Quinn. I’m to drive there alone.’

‘It worked,’ she said. ‘You were right.’

‘I usually am.’

‘Where’s the meeting?’

‘Oh, no,’ he said. ‘I tell you, you’ll tell Ferguson and he’ll have some SAS hit squad on my case. No go, Hannah.’ He smiled. ‘I’ll be all right, girl dear. Go and do your bit with Ferguson and I’ll have a shower.’

‘Damn you, Dillon!’ But she knew better than to waste her breath in argument. She left the room, closing the door quietly behind her.

He stripped and went into the bathroom, whistling cheerfully as he turned on the shower, stood under it and watched the black dye run from his hair.

In most places in the world by the early seventies, terrorism was a growing problem, especially in Britain because of the IRA and in spite of the activities of the Security Services and Scotland Yard. The Prime Minister of the day had decided drastic measures were needed and had set up an elite intelligence unit responsible to him alone and no one else.

Brigadier Charles Ferguson had headed the unit since its inception. He had served every Prime Minister in office and had no personal political allegiance. He usually operated from an office on the third floor of the Ministry of Defence, overlooking Horse Guards Avenue, but when Hannah Bernstein rang him on the red phone, she was patched through to his flat in Cavendish Square.

‘Bernstein, Brigadier. Dillon made contact.’

‘With Quinn?’

‘No, Curtis Daley. Dillon has a meeting tomorrow night at six. He won’t tell me where. Says he doesn’t want you sending the heavy brigade in. He has to drive there alone.’

‘Awkward sod,’ Ferguson said. ‘Will Quinn be there?’

‘So it seems, sir.’

Ferguson nodded. ‘Catching him is the name of the game, Chief Inspector. Some of these Loyalist groups are now as big a threat as the IRA. Quinn is certainly the most dangerous leader to be found amongst their rather numerous factions. Sons of Ulster.’ He grunted. ‘I mean, my mother was Irish, but why do they have to be so damned theatrical?’

‘Dillon always says it’s the rain.’

‘He would, wouldn’t he? Everything’s a joke.’

‘So what do you want me to do, sir?’

‘You do nothing, Chief Inspector. Dillon wants to do things his own way as usual, get close enough to Quinn to put a bullet between his eyes. Let him get on with it, but I won’t have you in the line of fire. You provide back-up at the Europa only. If he pulls this thing off tomorrow night, get him straight to Aldergrove airport. I’ll have the Lear jet waiting to fly you to Gatwick.’

‘Very well, sir.’

‘I’ll have to go. I’ve got my weekly meeting with the Prime Minister at Downing Street in an hour.’

Hannah Bernstein checked her make-up and hair, then left her room and took the lift downstairs. She went into the bar, but there was no sign of Dillon so she sat at a corner table. He came in a few minutes later wearing a roll-neck sweater, Donegal tweed jacket and dark slacks, his hair, washed clean of the black dye now, so fair as to be almost white.

‘Half a bottle of Krug,’ he called to the barman and joined her, taking out an old silver case and lighting a cigarette.

‘Still determined to take a few years off your life,’ she said.

‘You never give up, do you, sweetheart.’ His voice was Humphrey Bogart to perfection. ‘Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world she walks into mine.’