Christmas at Butler Ranch by Heather Slade

Author:Heather Slade [Slade, Heather]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sparrow Publishing
Published: 2021-12-15T18:30:00+00:00

Belfast, Northern Ireland, June 1972

My undercover assignment was for the CIA and MI6 jointly, serving on the security team for the UK’s Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. My real objective, though, was to infiltrate the Provisional Irish Republican Army in such a way that would allow me to get close to the organization’s leaders.

I preceded the secretary into the building where a secret meeting between him and representatives from PIRA would be taking place. As we were to be the first to arrive, I drew my sidearm when I entered the room and there were two men already seated at the negotiation table.

“Stand down,” the secretary instructed us. While I holstered my gun, I didn’t take my eyes off the men who had been among my primary targets for the past twelve months.

While I’d expected the organization to be represented by high-ranking members in order to negotiate a ceasefire, I’d received no intelligence indicating it would be by PIRA’s chief of staff along with the Belfast Brigade’s Commanding Officer.

Their presence made one thing abundantly clear—PIRA was in far greater turmoil than British and US intelligence believed.

I listened as the secretary laid out the first-round proposal for a ceasefire.

When I heard what the republicans were requiring in order to agree to it, I knew the meeting would go nowhere. The first, and completely unrealistic, demand was a total British withdrawal from Northern Ireland within three years.

Second, and equally absurd, was that all republican prisoners were to be released regardless of the charge against them.

The British government might as well not have scheduled the meeting at all, given they themselves were offering next to nothing besides allowing a peaceful republic opposition dismantle.

While the secretary promised to bring the counteroffers back to the British government, everyone in the room—including the two men from PIRA—knew full well it was only a stopgap to temporarily end the violence and carnage that began in the spring of 1970.

The ceasefire lasted a total of thirteen days, ending with what was dubbed the Springhill massacre, during which British snipers killed five and wounded two.

Within five days, another twelve deaths occurred, some on the British side, some PIRA, and the others were civilians.

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