Martin? Kathleen sounded distressed. Cant we stay together?
I dont think so, Kate. Your uncle will have his plans and the Army Council and Reid to consider. One trip back home to dear old Ireland has been exciting enough for me. Ill say goodbye, Michael. He shook Ryans hand.
The girl grasped his arm, reached up, and kissed his cheek. God bless you, Martin, and thanks for all youve done.
I didnt have the chance to pay you, Ryan said. Im sorry.
Not to worry. Keogh smiled. It was a great ploy.
He started to walk away and Ryan called, Who are you, Martin, who are you really?
God save us, there are days in the week when I dont know that myself, and Keogh turned into the trees.
HE DISAPPEARED AND Ryan said, Off we go, girl. Well find a road, follow it, and see where we are.
He led the way up through the trees, a ghostly passage as dawn came so that it was comparatively easy to see the way. They came to a narrow country road in a few minutes. There was a turning opposite and a signpost.
You stay here in shelter and Ill see where we are.
He walked through the rain to the signpost, examined it, and came back, standing beside her in the shelter of the trees to light a cigarette.
Drumdonald three miles to the left. Scotstown five miles the other way. We might as well go for the shorter walk.
They stayed there for a moment and she said, All for nothing. We dont even know where the Irish Rose went down.
Dont we? He laughed and took another black instrument from his pocket that looked rather like the Howler. Another gadget that young electronic genius at Queens University found for me. Its called a Master Navigator. I gave him Marsh End and Kilalla and he programmed in their positions. This thing has given a constant reading of course and position all the way across. I know exactly where the Irish Rose went down.
My God, she said, and you never told me.
There are things I keep close to myself.
So what do we do now? Reid will be looking for us and that swine Scully.
And the Army Council, Ryan said. No, time to take a trip, I think. They say Americas grand at this time of the year. Well get to the safe house at Bundoran. False passports there. You know how careful I am. Theyre always in stock.
But money, Uncle Michael, what about that?
Oh, I wasnt exactly honest with Martin. I still have the second fifty thousand pounds I was to pay Tully in an envelope in my breast pocket.
My God, what a man you are.
It should keep us going for a while. When it runs out Ill think of something.
Such as?
Ive robbed banks in Ulster and got away with it. No reason I cant do the same in America.
Sometimes I think youre a raving madman.
And sometimes I am, but lets get going. He took her arm and they started along the road to Drumdonald.
There was silence, only the rain, and then Keogh stepped out of the trees where he had sheltered while listening to the conversation.
You bloody old fox, he said softly and there was a kind of admiration there.
He turned and started to walk the opposite way toward Scotstown.
IT WAS SIX oclock in the morning and in Dublin Jack Barry was half awake, lying in the big bed beside his wife, when the portable phone hed placed at the side of the bed sounded. He slid out of bed, picked it up, and went into the bathroom.
Yes.
A reverse charge call for you from a Mr. Keogh. Will you take it?
Of course, Barry said.
A moment later Keoghs voice sounded in his ear. That you, Jack?
Where are you?
A public telephone box in a village called Scotstown on the Down coast.
Whats going on? I have twenty men from the County Down Brigade waiting at Kilalla.
Send them home, Jack, the Irish Rose wont be coming.
Tell me, Barry ordered.
Which Keogh did. When he was finished, Barry said, Christ, what a ploy and to end like that.
I know. Quite a fella, Michael Ryan.
I was thinking, Barry said. Standing in the trees listening to him talk to his niece you could have shot the bugger and taken that Master Navigator thing. Wed have known the location of the damn boat then.
A major salvage operation to get that gold up, Jack.
That sounds like an excuse. Have you gone soft on me?
I liked him, Jack, and I liked the wee girl. The bullion didnt reach its destination, the Loyalists wont be able to arm for a civil war. Let it end there.
Barry laughed harshly. Damn you, right as usual. Scotstown, you say? Theres a pub there called the Loyalist, but dont believe it. The landlord, Kevin Stringer, is one of our own. Ill phone him now and tell him to expect you. Ill send a car for you later.
Sounds good to me.
Watch your back.
Keogh came out of the phone box and stood there for a moment in the rain thinking of Michael Ryan and his niece, aware with some surprise that he wished the enemy well, then he lit a cigarette and went down the village street in search of the pub.
NEW YORK STATE
IRELAND
LONDON
WASHINGTON
IRELAND
1995
SEVEN
PAOLO SALAMONE WALKED across the grass with his lawyer, Marco Sollazo. In spite of the Sicilian names, they were both good Americans born and bred. There the similarity ended.
Salamone was off the streets of New Yorks Little Italy and hed followed the usual Mafia route. First as one of the boys, the piccioti, gaining advancement and respect. Hed acted as an executioner three times, which had gained him entry into the family of Don Antonio Russo as a sicario, a specialist assassin. Hed been to prison twice on comparatively minor matters including drug dealing. His downfall occurred two years earlier when on taking out one of Don Antonios competitors, a street policeman had unexpectedly arrived on the scene. Salamone in a gun battle had received a bullet in the leg, which had put him down. Unfortunately, his own bullet had killed the police officer, who just happened to be a woman. His sentence of twenty-five years instead of life reflected the skill of his lawyer, Don Antonios nephew, Marco Sollazo.
The only reason Salamone had been transferred to Green Rapids from the Ossining Correctional Facility was because he had taken a full nursing course and was therefore thought of more use in the Green Rapids medical facility.
Marco Sollazo was thirty-five, a saturnine, rather handsome man in an Armani striped suit and college tie, dark hair swept back. A product of Groton and Harvard Law School, carefully nurtured by his uncle, he was Don Antonios pride and joy.
Marco, you told me there was a chance youd get me a rehearing. Involuntary manslaughter. Now you tell me I could be here another twenty-three years.
Im doing my best, Marco said. Its difficult.
Yeh, well Im doing my best. I know plenty about the Family, but I dont speak out.
Paolo, I dont think Don Antonio would be pleased to hear you speak like that. It would distress him.
Paolo said hastily, Heh, dont get me wrong, Id never betray my Godfather. Its just, like, I could do with some help here.
I know, I know. Marco sounded sympathetic. Ill explore every avenue. I mean, the Don has much influence. Who knows?
Salamone plucked at his arm. What if I give you something good? Something real good?
And what would that be?
There were prisoners and their visitors wandering everywhere on the grass and Salamone pulled Sollazo over to a bench and sat down. He pointed across to a man who was in his mid sixties with gray hair. The young, dark-haired woman with him seemed about twenty-five.
Liam Kelly, he calls himself. The woman is his niece, Jean Kelly. Shes a theater nurse down at Green Rapids General Hospital.
So?
Hes doing twenty-five for shooting a policeman in Pleasantville ten years ago when he was robbing a bank. I met him in Ossining, then he had an angina attack and they moved him down here because of the hospital. I followed a few months later to join the staff. You see, weve got a good facility here, but Green Rapids is very special. Any problem and we send the patient straight down there.
So where is this leading?
The other month he had an attack. I should tell you theyre Irish, but not the usual kind. That funny accent they have in the north of Ireland. Anyway, hes not in good health and he got a fever. They had him on a drip in a private room. I was night nurse at the time and had to check him out.
So?
When he was delirious he said all sorts of crazy things. Kept going on about some ship called the Irish Rose, and then he would say he was the only one who knew where it had gone down, the only one who knew where the gold was.
There was a long pause. Sollazo sat there frowning. The only one who knew where the gold was? He said that?
Thats right.
So what did you make of it?
Salamone was enjoying himself. I went to the prison library. Weve got a great computer service here. I tapped in the Irish Rose name, and bingo.
Go on, Sollazo told him.
There was an item in the New York Times in the autumn of nineteen eighty-five. It seems a truck carrying fifty million pounds in gold bullion was knocked off up in the northwest of England on the coast. It said police inquiries indicated that it had put to sea on a ferry called the Irish Rose.
Then what?
The ship disappeared, but lifebelts and what was left of a lifeboat were washed up on the Irish coast. End of story.
And it said nothing about who was behind it?
Not a word.
Interesting, Sollazo said. Lets take a walk.
They strolled across the grass and passed the bench where Kelly and his niece were sitting, heads together. She glanced up casually and Salamone said, Hi, Liam.
Hows yourself, Paolo? was the reply.
Sollazo and Salamone passed on and Kathleen Ryan said, her accent more American than Irish now, Who was that one, Uncle Michael?
Paolo Salamone. Hes a nurse in the hospital. Weve something in common. Were both doing twenty-five years for shooting a policeman, only in his case it was for shooting a policewoman. Anyway, how are you?
Im fine. They keep me busy at the hospital.
Still no man in your life?
Too much bother. She smiled. Lucky I managed the job at Green Rapids. At least I can see you regularly.
And for how long, another fifteen years? He shook his head. You cant waste your life like this, Kathleen. He was angry now and stood up. God, how could I have been so stupid? A small-town bank, I said. A piece of cake and then that policeman came round the corner.
It was just one of those things.
Well, thank God you managed to drive off and get the hell out of it.
He took out a pack of cigarettes and lit one. She said, You know you shouldnt smoke.
So I can extend my life a year or two here in good old Green Rapids Detention Center? He grinned wryly and dropped the cigarette to the ground. All right, Ill be good. Come on, Ill walk you to the gate.
There were a number of people going in the same direction and she noticed Salamone and Sollazo. They reached the security exit and paused. Ryan kissed her on the cheek. Thanks for coming.
Ill see you Friday.
She went through security and approached her car. As she unlocked her door she saw Sollazo walking towards a silver Porsche. He glanced at her casually, then looked away. For some reason it made her feel uncomfortable, and she got in her car quickly and drove off.