Chapter 27 #2
The ones that had proved that two years prior to the end of the war, the Germans were willing to offer peace on the very terms we’d claimed we wanted, with the president of the United States acting as mediator.
Documents that proved the British government had known about the offer and had known the Germans were serious, and yet had deliberately prolonged the war and death and suffering.
Thinking of the millions of people who had died—needlessly—during those two years, only to have the terms end nearly the same, made me disgusted, enraged, and almost comatose with grief.
I pressed on, resisting the urge to fall into that pit of despair.
“And I fear what the results will be here if our government is able to crush this revolution. If they’re allowed to mistreat their own citizens this way.
Our government is supposed to protect its people and preserve the rule of law, not ignore it to pummel one set of civilians and give preferential treatment to another. ”
Sidney sighed, his shoulders bowing as the truth of what I was saying struck him. “And Collins is the lynchpin.”
“I fear so,” I murmured. “That’s why the Castle wants him so badly.”
“To maim and torture him under the guise of interrogation.” He nodded somewhat reluctantly, but I trusted his words when he said, “All right, Ver. We’ll do it your way.” He turned to look at me sidelong. “But I can’t promise that if something happens to you that I won’t change my mind.”
I considered this. “That’s fair.”
He huffed a humorless laugh.
“Nothing’s going to happen to me.”
His brow furrowed sternly. “You don’t know that.”
“And you don’t know that it will.” I threaded my arm through his, watching Merrion Square speed by. “So let’s not borrow trouble.”
“That’s easier said than done.”
Willoughby was waiting for us when we arrived in St. Stephen’s Green the next day.
Apparently, he’d brought some bread with him and was tearing it into chunks to toss to the ducks floating on the pond.
He wore the same getup as the last time we’d seen him, blending in with the working-class Dubliners who were there enjoying the brisk but sunny Saturday afternoon.
“I haven’t been able to uncover anything new,” he admitted after a brief set of greetings were exchanged.
He seemed frustrated by this, something I joined him in.
“It’s difficult to know which of Ardmore’s contacts are safe to approach and which will shoot me on sight.
There are plenty who are resentful of the man, but just as many who fear him.
A fact that hasn’t been helped by the fact that Ardmore is now wanted for questioning.
” He turned toward us, arching his eyebrows to indicate he understood we were responsible for that.
“They’re all afraid of what he might reveal about them. ”
I wondered for a moment if that was another reason why O and the Castle were not making his capture a priority. What might he hold over them?
“Could one of them be hiding him?” Sidney asked.
“That’s a very real possibility,” Willoughby conceded, tossing his last bits of bread into the water and dusting his hands together.
“It seems Ardmore was also buying up unentailed estates throughout the country for a song.” A sudden gust of wind threatened to lift my Prussian-blue cloche hat from my head, and I reached up to ensure it was secure. “Do you know anything about that?”
“Sure. He asked me to look at two of them.” His lips quirked upward at one corner.
“That’s where I was a couple of times when I gave you the slip.
He plans to turn them into airfields, and he wanted my opinion as a pilot.
” Before joining Naval Intelligence, Willoughby had flown for the Royal Naval Air Service and then the Royal Air Force when it was combined with the Royal Flying Corps.
“He’s been taking advantage of the unrest to procure the land for less than what it’s truly worth. ”
Sidney frowned. “Why airfields?”
Willoughby shrugged. “It’s the future, mate.
Alcock and Brown proved transatlantic flight is possible, and they landed here in Ireland.
We’ve got passenger services now running from London to the Continent, and it’s only a matter of time before they’re flying over the Atlantic to North America. Ireland is the natural hopping point.”
And Ardmore was now poised to take advantage of that fact. All the estates he owned were in western counties bordering the Atlantic, so that whatever the most advantageous routes proved to be, he could accommodate.
“Could he be hiding at one of those estates?” I posited. “Could the explosives be stored there?”
Willoughby tucked his hands into his pockets, tilting his head in contemplation.
“It’s possible. But from what I know of Ardmore, he wouldn’t want to be so far from Dublin.
” He frowned. “Whatever he’s planning with the gelignite, it’s happening here.
He’ll want a big show, and this is where he can get it.
He may have intimated to Lieutenant Harlow that he wanted the explosives for his Cork estate, where he planned to draw the local IRA into an ambush, but I think that was all folderol. Harlow eventually figured that out.”
“And Ardmore killed him.”
This we already knew, though we’d yet to hear how Ardmore had tricked Harlow into supplying him with explosives in the first place.
I supposed he convinced him this would prevent the Crown Forces from being blamed if there was no official trail.
Not that the British government would have admitted to an official trail regardless.
Perhaps that was what had finally tipped Harlow off.
“You need to watch your backs,” Willoughby stated bluntly.
Genuine worry appeared to crease the corners of his eyes.
“Whatever danger you thought you were in before, consider it doubled.” His dark gaze met mine intently.
“I warned you that Ardmore doesn’t like to be crossed.
He’s been more lenient with you than most, but this time”—he shook his head—“you’ve proved yourself too great a risk. ”
He didn’t need to spell out what this meant. Ardmore had made that threat directly himself.
“And be aware, he’ll be looking to shift the blame.” This was stated wryly, a reminder of his current predicament. “To exactly who, I don’t know, but there are a few good candidates.”
Candidates like us and the republicans. I hadn’t failed to make that connection.
After all, there was a great deal to be gained by discrediting us and the documents Max and I had found.
We had more than our backs to watch. We also had to be mindful of our own heroic inclinations, or Ardmore would use them against us like he’d done in front of Mountjoy Prison the morning of Kevin Barry’s execution.