What I did know was that with the millions that Sinn Fein might make off of Ahwere, I could expect a renewed push to get the English out of Northern Ireland. What weaponry might they buy with the money? What kind of damage would they do?
I tried to tell myself it was all in the name of freedom, but I wondered at the one, too. There were families in country that went back hundreds of years. Were they any less Irish? Did they even want to be free of the English government?
But Ireland should be for the Irish, right?
My head hurt. I rubbed my temples.
The reality of the Troubles was that people who were just trying to live their lives got caught up in the cross-fire. I was tired of seeing it. And if I went through with this sale, I knew I’d see more of it.
But now if I didn’t go through with it, I’d have the Irish Republican Army gunning for me. Not to mention Niall and his boys. Which wasn’t quite the same thing, no matter how much they wished it so.
Maybe I should go ahead and make the sale. Take the money. Give Niall the pittance he thought he had coming and just go. I had an uncle in Canada that no one knew about. I could just leave forever.
“Ye all right, lass?” Niall asked me from behind the wheel of the car.
I watched the tall, green grass flit by outside my window.
“Fine,” I told him. It wasn’t my first lie and it far from my last.
The Inspector’s eyes were cool and appraising. His fixed stare regarded me not as a woman, but as a criminal. Or perhaps merely as Irish. Who knew with the goddamn Peelers?
“And why should I believe a word of what you’re telling me, missy?” he asked. “Given the crowd you’ve always run with?”
“It doesn’t matter what ye believe,” I told him. “What matters is that what I just told ye is going to happen, will happen.”
He continued to stare at me, but I could see his mind working behind those eyes. “Perhaps I should just roust your entire crew right now. Find myself a pretty prize.”
“Oh, that’s right smart,” I snapped. “And give up a chance to put away a major player in the IRA? Good career move, that. Now ye’re thinking.”
He didn’t reply.
“Besides,” I said, “I didn’t tell ye where that prize is hidden.”
He shrugged. “I think we both know that if I rounded up Niall and his boys, one of ‘em would crack.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. But ye’d still miss out on the Sinn Fein part of this situation. And that’s where the real score is, now isn’t it?”
He continued to stare at me, his eyes like a pair of searchlights looking for the break in the prison wall. “I’m still wondering why you’re here,” he said softly.
“Look,” I said. “It’s simple. I want out. I want a new life. This is my way out.”
“Selling out the lot of them to be free, is it?”
“Call it whatever,” I said. “Do ye want to arrest these fecks or not?”
A touch of a smile lighted on his lips. “Oh, yes. I do.”
“Fine, then,” I said, handing him a slip of paper. “Here’s where I’ll meet ye. It’s a lighthouse. I’ll have the merchandise and the IRA boys will be right behind me.”
“What about Niall and his crew?”
“Their fingerprints are all over the casket. Even an eejit from London should be able to make that stick.”
His smile didn’t fade. “Very well. Don’t be late.”
Three days later, I was in a small van with Sean, headed for the meet. Ahwere was wrapped in blankets and strapped into the back of the van with heavy chains hooked to huge eyelets on the floor. It’d taken the three of them two hours to get the golden casket loaded and another half hour to wrap and strap her. She wasn’t moving.
I made a show of glancing down at my watch.
“We’re a bit early yet,” I said.
“Better early than late,” Sean said back.
“Aye, but if we get there too early, it’ll be our nerves that eats us both up before the others even show.”
“So what do ye want me to do? Drive slower?”
I shook my head. “There’s a pub in the next town. Let’s stop for a brief pint.”
Sean hesitated. “Well…”
“Come on,” I cajoled. “It’ll take a bit of the edge off.”
“I don’t know,” Sean said. “If Niall knew we stopped — ”
“Niall isn’t here, the feck. It’s yer arse and mine on the line tonight. I’d say that makes it our decision whether to have a pint or not.”
Sean nodded slowly. “Aye, I suppose yer right about that.”
“It’s settled then.”
“’Tis.” Sean eyed me for a moment. “I thought ye had something going on with Niall, ye know?”
I shook my head. “In his dreams, perhaps.”
“No?”
“Not at all.” I looked away. “Besides, it isn’t Niall I fancy. Never was.”
I glanced back in time to see his eyes bug out. I smiled shyly and directed him to the pub. He smiled back and rested his hand on my knee.
Christ, men were so feckin’ stupid at times.
The pub was smaller than most in the city, but just as full. I made sure we found a table that was far from the loo but close to the door. Sean didn’t pay any attention. He was much more interested in pressing his knees against mine once we’d sat down and ordered a pint.
We drank our pint and talked about nothing at all. I played my move carefully. Sean may have always seemed to me to be the biggest pretender of all of Niall’s crew, but the reality was that he’d put the Yank to his dirt nap, so he wasn’t fooling about. I let him paw at me a bit under the table and feigned some excitement at his brusque, clumsy touches.
After a bit, he slid his jacket off his shoulders. I felt for the keys to the van in the pocket nearest me.
Empty.
“Are ye warm, then?” I asked him.
He smiled lustfully. “Aye. A bit.”
“I’m a bit chilled myself,” I said. I pointed at his coat. “Do ye mind?”
His smile grew. He draped the coat over my shoulders. It reeked of cigarette smoke, spilled Guiness and his body odor.
The keys were in the right pocket.
I smiled back at him.
As we neared the bottom of our pint, he glanced at his own watch. “It’s about time we headed onward.”
“Aye, ‘tis.” I dipped my chin and looked up at him with as lustful a gaze as I could muster, given the stench that surrounded me. “But I’m afraid this pint hasn’t quite taken the edge off.”
“No?” he asked.
I shook my head slowly. “No,” I replied in a husky whisper.
His eyes widened with understanding. “Well, perhaps in the van — ”
“No,” I whispered. I moved my eyes toward the door to the loo, then back to him. “In there.”
His eyes went even wider. “Are ye crazy, lass?”
I shook my head. “No. Unless, of course, ye’d rather not — ”
He stood. “No, no, no. In there will be fine.”
I smiled. “You go first. Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll be in.”
He grinned stupidly. “I always knew ye fancied me, Shae.”
“Get on in there, ye eejit.” I gave him a playful smack on the shoulder. “And stop grinning like that. The entire pub will know what’s up.”
He tried to suppress his grin, but couldn’t. I watched as he ambled over to the loo and walked inside.
I waited three seconds, then grabbed his keys. I shrugged the stinky coat from my shoulders and went straight for the door without looking back.
The van started immediately. I pulled out onto the lane and drove away, leaving Grinning Sean and his hard on behind.
The meet was in a field about a half kilometer from the coast. As I rolled to a stop, I spied a single car already parked at the edge of the meadow. Two men stood smoking cigarettes and waiting.
I was late.
I turned off the van’s engine. A cherry coal from one of the men’s cigarettes flared in the darkness. My stomach fluttered. I took a deep breath. Suddenly, my whole plan seemed foolhardy. And to try to pull it off without a gun?