Solo - Jack Higgins [45]
'That's for them to discuss.'
Kelso opened the door, pushed his way back through the crowd and returned to the taxi he'd left waiting. As it drove away, he was sweating slightly.
In the snug, Murphy sat thinking for a while, then he leaned over the bar and called the landlady. He offered her a couple of pound notes.
'Change these for ten-pence pieces, Norah, love. I want to call Belfast.'
'Sure and you can use my phone, can't you?'
'Not for this one, I can't. You never know who might be listening.'
She shrugged, gave him the silver from the till and he went out of the side door and walked down the street to the public telephone box on the corner.
The following morning, just after nine, there was a knock at Katherine Riley's study door. As she glanced up, Mikali appeared.
'When did you get in?' she demanded.
'Flew up this morning in my new second-hand Cessna. Got a couple of days to spare, then concerts in Paris, Berlin, Rome. Afterwards, I thought of going to Hydra for a while. Can you spare the time?'
'I don't know.' She was in his arms now, aware of that surging physical excitement that never failed. 'I've got one hell of a work load this term.'
'All right, then this morning. If you're an especially good girl, I'll let you fly the Cessna.'
'I'm better than you are, John Mikali, and you know it,' she said, for flying was a passion they mutually shared. 'Just give me ten minutes to change.'
'Five,' he said and sat on the desk and lit a cigarette as she went into her bedroom. 'So, you've been busy this week? Doing what?'
'The same old routine,' she called. 'Except for the Hoffmann girl. I saw her yesterday in rather strange circumstances.'
'Is that so?' He went and leaned against the door. 'Tell me about it.'
Later, as they walked out to the car, he made an excuse, went back inside the college, stopped at the first public phone and dialled Paris.
When Deville answered, he said quickly, 'The man Morgan, I want the complete file. Everything there is to know. The works, including photo. Can your people in London supply this?'
'Of course. You can pick it up at the London post box there any time after seven this evening. Do I take it you are experiencing trouble?'
'He's been to see the German package, not that it got him anywhere. My information is he's now gone to Ulster looking for a lead that might help him trace the tool employed.'
Deville chuckled. 'He's running in the wrong direction. A blind alley.'
'Of course,' Mikali said. 'But it's as well to be prepared. I'll keep in touch.'
7
The Europa Hotel in Belfast stands in Great Victoria Street, rising twelve storeys above the railway station next to it. Since it had opened in 1971, more than twenty-five separate bombing attacks had been made on it by the IRA.
Morgan remembered that interesting statistic as he stood at the window of his room on the fourth floor and looked down to the bus station and the Protestant stronghold of Sandy Row.
A cold east wind blew in from Belfast Lough, driving rain across the mean streets of the devastated city. He was restless and frustrated. This was his second day here and nothing had happened.
He had stayed in the hotel, only left his room to go down to the dining-room or the bar, had spent most of the previous night sitting in the darkness by the window, a night punctuated by the sounds of bombs exploding or the occasional rattle of small-arms fire.
He was worried because this was Friday and in less than forty-eight hours, at 4.00 a.m. on Monday 31 July, Motorman was to go into action: the biggest operation mounted by the British Army since Suez. A planned invasion of all the so-called no-go areas dominated by the IRA in Belfast and Londonderry. Once that went into operation, O'Hagan would be certain to drop completely out of sight for a while, might even run south to the Republic if he wasn't lifted.
In the end, he could stand it no more, pulled on his jacket and took the lift down to the foyer. He told the desk clerk that he'd be in the bar, sat himself on a high stool and ordered Irish