Death on Gibraltar by Shaun Clarke

Author:Shaun Clarke
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008155315
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2015-10-19T15:34:51.712000+00:00

8

The cold November winds were blowing even in Spain when the shadowy SAS Controller flew in with Alan Reid, a top Intelligence operator from the RUC’s undercover surveillance team, F5, for a top-secret meeting with him and Chief Inspector José de Vega of the Málaga Special Branch regarding the presence of Sean Savage and Daniel McCann on Spanish soil. The Controller had been informed of the Irishmen’s arrival in Spain by Madrid’s Servicios de Información, the intelligence organization that had also arranged this visit to the Málaga Special Branch.

The movements of the two IRA members from Spain to Gibraltar and back to Ireland had led, over the past few months, to intense surveillance activity and cooperation between British and Spanish police, counter-terrorist and intelligence agencies. Now, having had lengthy discussions with his fellow ‘green slime’ officers in the SAS HQ in the Duke of York’s Barracks, London, and agreed to general tactics in the event of a possible IRA attack on the Spanish mainland, or indeed Gibraltar, it was the Controller’s intention to draft a counter-strategy with Spanish Intelligence and then quietly disappear from the scene, leaving the actual job of prevention to Captain Edwards and his four-man CRW team.

‘It’s our belief,’ the Controller said, opening the conversation over coffee in a well-guarded room in the Málaga Special Branch building, ‘that the changing of the guard outside the Governor of Gibraltar’s residence is the terrorists’ most likely target. By this I mean the changing of the guard and band parade ceremony of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Anglian Regiment, due to take place on 8 March 1988.’

‘Yes. I agree. What better target could there be in terms of outrage?’ Señor de Vega replied in perfect English.

‘Quite,’ the Controller said, not taking the situation as casually as his pragmatic Spanish friend. ‘Our first step, therefore, was to postpone the ceremony, ostensibly for refurbishment of the guardhouse. The real reason, naturally, is to give our Intelligence services more time to prepare for the arrival of the terrorists when they plan the actual bombing.’

‘Very wise,’ Señor de Vega said. ‘But when do you think that might be?’

‘We don’t know,’ the Controller confessed, ‘but we assume that when the same men, or other known or suspected terrorists, enter this country you’ll inform us immediately.’

‘Naturally. It is, after all, in our own interests. We cannot have such an outrage on Spanish soil – particularly as this is a British problem.’

‘I appreciate that it isn’t a Spanish problem, but we cannot prevent them from coming here. They’re legally entitled to do so.’

‘We could prevent them from coming into this country on the grounds that they’re listed as known or suspected terrorists.’

‘That remark,’ the Controller said, ‘is based on the assumption that the same people will return to do the bombing. That isn’t necessarily so.’

‘True,’ Señor de Vega acknowledged. ‘But even if they send others, we will almost certainly know – as you will – if they have terrorist links with those in Belfast. Most of

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