Chapter 14 #3
“It means that, if he was any good at his job, he was an expert at acquiring provisions for his battalion even under fraught or seemingly impossible circumstances,” Sidney explained.
“Provisions such as rations, clothing, equipment, weapons, and ammunition.” He paused for a moment, allowing that to sink in.
“He would have had far-ranging connections, a mastery of logistics, and strong bartering skills.”
“Even among the Germans, their quartermasters were legendary,” Alec chimed in to say, harking back to the six years he’d spent embedded with the enemy, having joined their officer ranks more than two years before the war. “You crossed one at your own peril.”
“We called ours ‘The Warlock,’” Sidney added with a shake of his head. “He managed to procure things that we swore he could only have gotten from the devil himself.”
“Does that mean you think Harlow had something to do with the phosgene?” I wanted clarification.
“Maybe.” But I could tell Sidney was placating me, so I turned to Alec.
“Or maybe he procured him something else,” Alec suggested. “Something he didn’t want anyone else to know about.”
“Or to have traced back to him,” I said, finishing the thought.
George had said Smith’s journal mentioned munitions and armaments numerous times. Could Harlow’s murder be related? Could Ardmore be planning more violence?
I wondered if Sidney had found time to peruse the pages of Smith’s journal that George had already decrypted and if he’d noticed anything significant, but I decided it would be best to ask him after Alec departed.
Not that I didn’t trust him. But part of me was a bit reticent to share everything we knew, not knowing who the information would go back to.
I’d long felt conflicted about allowing weapons like the phosgene to fall into the hands of the republicans.
I couldn’t help but feel that arming both sides with such deadly munitions was less a deterrent and more of a powder keg waiting to be lit.
And it was the civilians caught in the middle who would suffer the most.
I sank my head back against the headboard behind me, briefly closing my eyes as I suppressed the apprehension our discussion had roused in me. When I opened them, it was to find both men eyeing me in concern.
I addressed Alec. “The CX report you compiled on Ardmore about his past, his connections, his motivations. Is there anything you’ve learned since leaving London that you would add to it?”
It was evident he’d not expected this question, and I began to wonder if he was also keeping things from us.
After all, Collins had met with Ardmore a number of times, and while Alec claimed that Collins had rejected all of Ardmore’s proposals, we had no real way of knowing for certain that this was true, or even what all of those proposals had been.
Ardmore had allegedly offered the phosgene to the rebels, with strings attached, a ploy Collins had rejected.
And I knew Ardmore’s plan to covertly bankroll the Dublin Corporation—the city’s government and administration—had been foiled when other banks stepped in to advance the Corporation loans and extend their credit.
Beyond that, we had not been kept informed of Ardmore’s specific machinations with the rebels.
Alec took a step back from the bed, turning toward the windows again as he seemed to wrestle with something.
When he turned back, the gleam of the single bedside lamp cast one side of his face in light and the other in shadow.
“Ardmore doesn’t have a conscience, not like you or me.
I suspect you know that, but … he doesn’t feel any qualms at the notion of others being hurt.
” He exhaled in frustration, tugging at the bill of his flat cap in frustration.
“No, it’s worse than that. He genuinely doesn’t care.
He feels no remorse or even empathy when others suffer.
To hear him talk, humans are simply hashmarks on a ledger—easily manipulated, easily erased.
He would just as soon as rub out one person as the next, should it serve his purposes. ”
I recognized this for what it was. A warning. One I didn’t need. Not when I’d already spent four days incarcerated in the Castle. Not when Ardmore had made it clear that he’d intended to use Sidney to get to me.
I turned to my husband, the cold hand of fear once more gripping me. But not for myself, for him. For everyone Ardmore might “rub out” in an attempt to manipulate me.
My gaze returned to Alec, catching a fleeting glimpse of regret scoring his brow before it was smoothed away.
“If Ardmore is amassing weapons,” he said, “then we must be careful not to assume what his target will be. Just because the phosgene was meant for a crowd of Irish civilians, doesn’t mean that’s who will be harmed during his next objective.
” His expression darkened. “Though, I think it’s fair to suspect that whatever it is will create chaos and carnage. ”
On this point, I could only agree. And pray we could find the proof we needed to expose him before anyone else was hurt.