Page 161 of Hang on St. Christopher

“I was contracted to take out a man and a woman.”

“What man and what woman?”

“Alan Locke and Eileen Cavanagh.”

“Which you did.”

“Which I did.”

“Why?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Try me.”

“You’re not authorized to know.”

“Maybe not, but you’re going to tell me anyway,” I said, shutting off the tape recorder and putting the barrel of the gun behind his kneecap.

“All right! All right! Put the gun away. I’ll tell you.”

I turned the tape on again.

“Speak.”

“Brendan O’Roarke,” Donnolly said.

“What about him?”

“Alan Locke and Eileen Cavanagh were assassins working for him.”

“So?”

Donnolly sighed. “For the last year, the British, Irish, and American governments have been in negotiation with the IRA Army Council about an end to the Troubles.”

I had to conceal a gasp. This was news to me. Not even a hint of such a thing had leaked into the press.

“Continue,” I said.

“In a few months or early next year, the IRA is going to announce a ceasefire and a cessation of military activities. In return, the British are going to set up a power-sharing assembly and begin the release of all IRA prisoners.”

“They’ve agreed to this?” This kind of offer had been on the table since the 1970s, but there had never been any traction before.

“The IRA Army Council is split. Seamus and Brendan O’Roarke are two of the most powerful hardline holdouts.”

I understood it all now.

“Brendan O’Roarke had been in the process of organizing a coup d’état in the Army Council, and the CIA was asked to stop him?” I asked.

“Not quite. We have not yet been given permission to operate on the soil of the Irish Republic, so we can’t hit O’Roarke directly...”

“But O’Roarke’s assassins in Northern Ireland were fair game?”

“O’Roarke set up a team in Northern Ireland in anticipation of taking out three of his rivals in the IRA Army Council. He was planning a midnight coup. The Brits and Irish couldn’t possibly be involved in taking out these assassins. Far too hot for them. So they asked us.”

“And you said yes.”

“The Agency said that it would look into it.”