The Trojan boy

'Meaning?'

'NORAID,’ replied Bryant. 'Misguided, interfering American clowns.'

'But that much?' said Jarvis. Twenty-five million?'

'It's an all or nothing operation,’ said Bryant.

'And where do we come into it?' asked Avedissian.

'We have assembled a rescue team comprising people of every skill known to man. Drivers, climbers, parachutists, you name it, we have it. It will be their task to recover the child. When they have done their job the boy will be handed over to you two for the return home, while everyone else guards your rear, so to speak. It will be your job, Doctor, to look after the boy's health.'

'And me?' asked Jarvis.

'You will be the link between the team and Avedissian.'

'When do we start?' asked Avedissian.

'Soon.'

'And until then?'

'You will all remain here.'

'Miss O'Neill too?' asked Avedissian.

Bryant smiled and said, 'Her too. So far her information has proved invaluable to us. There is probably a lot more she can tell us about Kell and his people. There is a suite of rooms on the second floor where you will be comfortable. If there is anything else you want, no reasonable request will be denied.'

SIX

Avedissian found himself drawn to Kathleen O'Neill. At first he managed to convince himself that his concern was medical and then, as the bruising disappeared, that it was pity he felt for her. But while it was true that she had lost more than anyone should at the one time, for she was to receive a new identity and leave the only country that she had ever known, it was also true that Avedissian felt a strong personal attraction towards her. As her injuries healed he was struck by how beautiful she really was. He knew about her hair and deep green eyes but the soft lines of her face, which had been obscured by the swelling after the beating, were a revelation and afforded her an air of serenity that he found totally captivating.

It was also clear that Bryant and Jarvis did not share his regard for Kathleen, apparently crediting her with the sins of her family. In her absence Bryant always referred to her as the O'Neill woman. Paul Jarvis was ever civil but made no overtures of friendship towards her.

Although not permitted to leave the precincts of the building the limits of their 'house arrest' did allow Avedissian, Jarvis and Kathleen the use of the garden, something that Avedissian and Kathleen made full use of while Jarvis tended to confine himself to using a small gymnasium on the top landing in his continual quest for fitness.

Avedissian's attempts to get Kathleen to speak of her family background and the philosophy behind her regard for her brother had been largely unsuccessful. He tried again as they walked together in the garden. 'You wouldn't understand,' she said, to Avedissian's annoyance.

'Why not?' he asked.

'You have no understanding of our history.'

'History!' exclaimed Avedissian. 'It's always "history".'

'It's important.'

'I would have thought that the future was a damned sight more important,' said Avedissian.

'A nice, comfortable view,' replied Kathleen.

'I want to understand. I really do,' said Avedissian.

Kathleen smiled and said, 'Let's stop talking politics shall we?'

Avedissian hesitated for a moment then agreed. He said, 'Tell me about your teaching. You are a teacher aren't you?'

Kathleen spoke readily of her job at the High School. She was obviously fond of children and her career had clearly been important to her, maybe even as important as his had been to him. Her enthusiasm made him wonder if she had yet faced the fact that it was probably over. But to point this out was something that Avedissian found he had no heart for. Instead he smiled and laughed at the tales of the High School and its pupils. 'You never married?' he asked when there was a lull in the conversation.

'No. You?'

'She died.'

'I'm sorry.'

Avedissian found himself taken unawares when Kathleen started asking him about his own life and career. Up until then she had been content to let Avedissian make all the running in their talks and he had come to accept that as the norm. Now he felt the need to become evasive and did not enjoy the feeling.

'Did you always want to be a doctor?'

Avedissian considered taking the easy way out and saying yes but did not. For some unaccountable reason he felt that he did not want to lie to Kathleen. 'No,’ he replied, hoping that the inquiry would stop there. 'That came later.'

'Later than what?'

Avedissian took a deep breath and said, 'I was in the army.'

Kathleen looked at him with surprise on her face. 'But not here?'

'Yes, here. I was an officer in the Paras.'

Kathleen looked away and they continued their walk. They had come to the rose bushes and she stopped to examine a giant yellow bloom before she asked, 'How did you like that?'

'I didn't,' replied Avedissian.

'So you became a doctor?'

'Yes.'

'Good for you.'

Avedissian was left with the feeling that he had learned nothing about Kathleen from the exchange. They returned to the house, unaware that Bryant had been watching them from a first floor window for some time.

Seeing Avedissian and the O'Neill woman walking together in the shrubbery had given Bryant an idea. Kathleen O'Neill had been his biggest stroke of luck since taking on the Irish problem and she could not have happened at a better time. Perhaps she could still be of use.

The triumph over the INLA at the very inception of a new IRA-INLA pact had made Bryant look good and it had vindicated his view that the fight should be taken to the enemy, not the other way round. Waiting to be hit first before retaliating was a schoolboy concept, a stupid public schoolboy concept. That was the trouble with the Service, he reckoned, it was full of old fools like Montrose who had never really left their bloody public schools. Still… Montrose was no longer a problem. If he could pull this operation off successfully he could circumvent the lot of them and rise to the very top, then they would have to do things his way. He asked to see Kathleen O'Neill.

'You wanted me,' said Kathleen O'Neill putting her head round Bryant's door.

'Come in. Sit down,' said Bryant in what Kathleen thought were much warmer tones than usual. 'It's about your new identity…'

‘There's a problem?'

'Not exactly,’ said Bryant, obviously stalling.

Then what?'

'I wondered how you would feel about helping us further?'

'I've told you all I can.'

Bryant raised his hand and said, 'Yes, I know, it's just that I've had an idea.'

'Go on.'

'You know just how important it is that we get the child back safely and without anyone knowing? Important for Ireland as much as anything?'

Kathleen nodded.

'Our people will need all the help they can get in bringing this off.'

'Where do I come in?'

'You know a lot of faces in the IRA. If you were on the spot it could be a tremendous help.'

'You mean I should go with the doctor and Captain Jarvis wherever it is they are going?'

'In a word, yes. The fact that you're a woman is also to our advantage.'

'How so?'

'A child travelling with a man and a woman is much more inconspicuous than a child travelling with two men,’ said Bryant.

Kathleen swithered and said, 'I'd like to know what the others think.'

'We can ask them.' Bryant picked up the phone and asked that Avedissian and Jarvis join them.

Avedissian thought that it was a good idea. Jarvis said merely that it made sense.

'Well?' asked Bryant.

'I agree,' said Kathleen.

'When is something going to happen?' asked Jarvis when the hubbub had died down.