The President’s Daughter by Jack Higgins

Author:Jack Higgins
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 0786509864
Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc.
Published: 2010-12-19T17:18:35.145000+00:00

Devlin parked his car on a quay on the River Liffey and walked through soft rain to the pub called the Irish Hussar. It was a pleasant, old-fashioned place with booths and a mahogany bar with a mirror behind it, rows of bottles on the shelves. Normally much favored by Republicans and Sinn Fein supporters, at that time in the morning the clientele were mainly workers of every kind tucking into a full Irish breakfast. He found his quarry, one Michael Leary, in the end booth just starting his meal.

“Liam, you old dog.”

“Same to you,” Devlin told him.

A young woman, all smiles, for Devlin was a great favorite, came to the table. “And what can I get you, Mr. Devlin?”

“The same and lots of breakfast tea, and mind I can stand the spoon in it.” He turned to Leary. “Is the work going well, Michael?”

“That thriller I did sold nicely in the airports. To be honest, Liam, I’ve cleared fifty thousand pounds in the past twelve months and it seems to be climbing.”

“And still working through the night?”

“It’s the leg. I get a lot of pain. Can’t sleep,” and he banged it with his fist.

Leary, an active member of the Provisional IRA for more than twenty years, had lost the leg when a bomb he was supposed to run across the border in an old truck had exploded prematurely, killing his two companions and taking his leg. At least the incident had kept him out of a British prison, but it had brought an end to his career as an active member of the Movement.

The young woman brought Devlin his breakfast and a pot of tea and withdrew and he started to eat.

“What is it, Liam? What do you want?” Leary asked.

“Fifteen years ago when I was sixty and should have known better, I saved your life in County Down. When the RUC peelers shot you in the shoulder, I got you over the border.”

“True,” Leary said, “but false as my left leg in one respect. You weren’t sixty, you were seventy.”

“A slight digression from the truth, but you owe me one and I’ve come to collect.”

Leary paused, frowning slightly, then resumed eating. “Go on.”

“We both know you’re still heavily connected with the organization. You were still running the intelligence section in Dublin for the Chief of Staff until the peace process started.”

Leary pushed his plate away and the young woman came and took it. “Is this IRA business, Liam?”

“Only indirectly. A favor for a friend.”

“Go on.” Leary filled his pipe from a pouch.

“You’ve still got your ear to the ground. Would you know if Dermot Riley got back in one piece? You see, last I heard, he was in Wandsworth Prison doing fifteen years, then it seems he got out. I understand that when last seen, he was using an Irish passport in the name of Thomas O’Malley.”

“Who saw him?”

“My friend, but it’s confidential.”

“Well, there’s more than one would like to see Dermot, including the Chief of Staff. All right, he’s back.

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