Bandit Country. Peter Corrigan

Battalion the Royal Green jackets, paused.

      ‘Yes, they do.’ He would not have been so open with any other senior officer, but Whelan was a member of the ‘Black Mafia’ himself – an ex-Greenjacket who had done his stint as CO of a battalion in South Armagh.

      ‘This is irregular, Martin – you know that. You’re asking me to initiate an operation in a vacuum. Usually it is the Tasking and Coordinating Group that comes to me…’

      ‘More Special Branch,’ said Blair with a wave of his hand. ‘This is not an RUC problem. It is the Green Army that is taking the casualties, my men that are out there in the bogs day after day and night after night, while the RUC conduct vehicle checkpoints and collar drink-drivers.’

      Whelan was silent. It was true that the uniformed ‘Green Army’ had been paying a heavy price lately for the patrolling of the border, or ‘Bandit Country’ as the men on the ground called it. And the Border Fox had made headlines both in the UK and America. He was a hero to the Nationalist population and their sympathizers across the Atlantic. Nine members of the Security Forces had been killed by him in the last eighteen months, the last only a few days ago. All of them had been killed by a single bullet from a high-calibre sniper rifle that had punched through the men’s body armour as though it were cardboard. The capture of that weapon, more importantly, the termination of the Fox’s activities, were obviously desirable.

      But Whelan did not like authorizing what were in effect assassinations. He had no moral qualms about the issue – the Fox had to be stopped, and killing him was an effective way of doing that. But he hated giving the Republican Movement yet another martyr. Political consideration had to be taken into account also. If he authorized an op against the Fox he would have to inform the Secretary of State – in guarded terms of course – of what was about to happen.

      More importantly, there was the feasibility of the operation. Intelligence in 3 Brigade’s Tactical Area of Responsibility was poor. The IRA brigade in South Armagh seemed very tightly knit and so far all attempts to cultivate informers had failed. It was impossible to proceed without good intelligence, and seemingly impossible to obtain that intelligence. Hence the Security Forces were powerless, for all their helicopters and weapons. And so the Fox continued his killing unhindered, which was why he had Martin Blair in his office, seething with baffled anger.

      ‘Damn it, Martin, don’t you think I see your point? But how can we proceed with anything when we have nothing to go on? Special Branch has drawn a blank, and your own covert op has turned up nothing.’

      ‘Then we must create our own intelligence’, Blair said doggedly.

      ‘What do you mean?’

      ‘Give me the Int and Sy Group. Let them loose in my patch. They may turn up something.’

      ‘That’s a hell of a vague notion.’

      ‘They’re doing bugger-all at the moment except interminable weapons training. I got that from James Cordwain himself. The rest of the Province is as quiet as the grave.’

      Whelan winced at his subordinate’s choice of words. Major Cordwain was OC of the combined Intelligence and Security Group and 14 Intelligence Company. ‘Int and Sy’, or more often just ‘The Group’, was another name for Ulster Troop, the only members of the SAS who were based permanently in the Province. Fourteen Intelligence Company was another pseudonym for a crack surveillance unit drawn from all units in the army and trained by the SAS themselves.

      ‘Int and Sy’s job description does not include charging in like the bloody cavalry, guns blazing.’

      Colonel Blair smiled. ‘Tell James Cordwain that.’

      ‘Indeed.’ Cordwain had taken over the Group less than a year ago. He and his young second in command, Lieutenant Charles Boyd, were a pair of fire-eaters. Cordwain had been with 22 SAS in the Falklands and was an expert in covert surveillance and the tricky business of so-called ‘Reactive Observation Posts’ – known to the rest of the army as Ambushes.

      ‘You’ve spoken to Cordwain about this, then?’ Whelan asked sharply. He did not like officers, even fellow Greenjackets, who flouted the chain of command.

      Blair stiffened. ‘Yes, sir, I did – informally of course.’

      ‘And what was his reaction?’

      ‘He thought he might have a way in.’

      ‘What is it?’

      ‘An operative of ours, based in Belfast at the moment. He used to be part of Int and Sy but MI5 have become his handlers. Been here for over a year, and has a perfect cover.’

      ‘His name?’

      ‘Cordwain wouldn’t say. But he thinks it would be possible to relocate him, weasel him into the South Armagh lot.’

      ‘He must be an exceptional man.’

      ‘Actually, Cordwain says he’s one of the best he’s ever seen. Parents were from Ballymena, so he has the perfect accent for starters. They were in the South Atlantic together.’

      Whelan got up, crossed the office to the sideboard and the decanter that stood there. He poured out two whiskies into Waterford-crystal tumblers and offered one to Blair.

      ‘Bushmills – the Irish. Bloody good stuff.’

      They drank. Whelan looked out of his office window, past the ranks of Landrovers and Saxon armoured personnel carriers, over to where the perimeter wall rose high with netting and razor-wire; it was supposed to intercept RPG 7 missiles or Mark 12 mortars, the Provos’ current flavour of the month.

      ‘We are skating on thin ice here, Martin,’ Whelan said.

      ‘Yes, sir, I know. But my men are dying.’

      ‘Yes. But MI5, they’re tighter with their operatives than E4 is with its information. They may not want to let us play with this man.’

      ‘Cordwain thinks it may be possible to bypass MI5, sir.’

      Whelan spun round. ‘Does he now? And how would we do that?’

      ‘This man, he has a personal reason for wanting to see the Border Fox brought in. One of my young subalterns was a relative of his.’

      ‘Ah yes, I remember. That was tragic, Martin, tragic. So it’s revenge this man wants. That may not make him totally reliable.’

      ‘Cordwain seems to think he is, sir, and Boyd, his 2IC, is willing to provide back-up.’

      Whelan set down his glass and leaned over the desk until his face was close to Blair’s.

      ‘You seem to have thought this out with unusual thoroughness, Colonel.’

      ‘Yes, sir.’

      ‘I am not used to being given fully-fledged covert operational plans by my battalion commanders. Is that clear, Colonel?’

      ‘Perfectly, sir.’

      Whelan straightened.

      ‘It may be we will be able to keep this under an army hat. I would certainly prefer it that way – and you say that Special Branch can give us nothing. But we must be even more discreet than usual – and I am not talking about the Paddies, Colonel. I will speak to Cordwain. I will give him the necessary authorization…’ As Blair brightened, Whelan frowned thunderously and cut him off.

      ‘But mark me, Martin, this conversation never took place. This man of Cordwain’s will be disowned by every security agency in the Province if he so much as sniffs of controversy. And Cordwain’s back-up will be on their own also. If the press – or God help us the Minister – ever find out about this we’ll be crucified.’

      ‘I understand, sir.’

      ‘Be sure that you do, Martin.’ The General tossed off the last of his Bushmills with practised ease. Now you’ll have to go, I’m afraid. I have a bloody cocktail party to go to. I have to rub noses