“What — er, I beg your pardon, ma’am?” Ryan blinked a few times as his brain tried to catch up with his ears.
“The Victorian Order is a recent development intended to reward those persons who have rendered personal service to the Crown. Certainly you qualify. This is the first case in many years that an heir to the throne has been saved from almost certain death. As an historian yourself, you might be interested to learn that our own scholars are in disagreement as to when was our most recent precedent — in any event, you will henceforth be known as Sir John Ryan.”
Again Jack thought that he must look rather funny with his mouth open.
“Your Majesty, American law –”
“We know,” she interrupted smoothly. “The Prime Minister will be discussing this with your President later today. We believe that in view of the special nature of this case, and in the interest of Anglo-American relations, the matter will be settled amicably.”
“There is ample precedent for this,” the Duke went on. “After the Second World War a number of American officers were accorded similar recognition. Your Fleet Admiral Nimitz, for example, became a Knight Commander of the Bath, along with Generals Eisenhower, Bradley, Patton, and a number of others.
“For the purposes of American law, it will probably be considered honorary — but for our purposes it will be quite real.”
“Well.” Ryan fumbled for something to say. “Your Majesty, insofar as this does not conflict with the laws of my country, I will be deeply honored to accept.” The Queen beamed.
“That’s settled, then. Now, how are you feeling — really feeling?”
“I’ve felt worse, ma’am. I have no complaints — I just wish I’d moved a little faster.”
The Duke smiled. “Being wounded makes you appear that much more heroic — nothing like a little drama.”
Especially if it’s someone else’s shoulder, my Lord Duke, Ryan thought. A small bell went off in his head. “Excuse me, this knighthood, does it mean that my wife will be called –”
“Lady Ryan? Of course.” The Queen flashed her Christmas-tree smile again.
Jack grinned broadly. “You know, when I left Merrill Lynch, Cathy’s father was madder than — he was very angry with me, said I’d never amount to anything writing history books. Maybe this will change his mind.” He was sure that Cathy would not mind the title — Lady Ryan. No, she wouldn’t mind that one little bit.
“Not so bad a thing after all?”
“No, sir, and please forgive me if I gave that impression. I’m afraid you caught me a little off balance.” Ryan shook his head. This whole damned affair has me a lot off balance. “Might I ask a question, sir?”
“Certainly.”
“The police wouldn’t tell me where they’re keeping my family.” This drew a hearty laugh. The Queen answered.
“It is the opinion of the police that there might exist the possibility of a reprisal against you or your family. Therefore it was decided that they should be moved to a more secure location. Under the circumstances, we decided that they might most easily be moved to the Palace — it was the least thing we could do. When we left, your wife and daughter were fast asleep, and we left strict instructions that they should not be disturbed.”
“The Palace?”
“We have ample room for guests, I assure you,” the Queen replied.
“Oh, Lord!” Ryan muttered.
“You have an objection?” the Duke asked.
“My little girl, she –”
“Olivia?” the Queen said, rather surprised. “She’s a lovely child. When we saw her last night she was sleeping like an angel.”
“Sally” — Olivia had been a peace offering to Cathy’s family that hadn’t worked; it was the name of her grandmother — “is a little angel, asleep, but when she wakes up she’s more like a little tornado, and she’s very good at breaking things. Especially valuable things.”
“What a dreadful thing to say!” Her Majesty feigned shock. “That lovely little girl. The police told us that she broke hearts throughout Scotland Yard last evening. I fear you exaggerate, Sir John.”
“Yes, ma’am.” There was no arguing with a queen.
Chapter 3
Flowers and Families
Wilson had been mistaken in his assessment. The escape had taken longer than anyone at the Yard had thought. Six hundred miles away, a Sabena flight was landing outside of Cork. The passenger in seat 23-D of the Boeing 737 was entirely unremarkable; his sandy hair was cut medium-close, and he was dressed like a middle-level executive in a neat but rumpled suit that gave the entirely accurate impression of a man who’d spent a long day on the job and gotten too little sleep before catching a flight home. An experienced traveler to be sure, with one carry-on flight bag. If asked, he could have given a convincing discourse on the wholesale fish business in the accent of Southwestern Ireland. He could change accents as easily as most men changed shirts; a useful skill, since TV news crews had made the patois of his native Belfast recognizable the world over. He read the London Times on the flight, and the topic of discussion in his seat row, as with the rest of the aircraft, was the story which covered the front page.
“A terrible thing, it is,” he’d agreed with the man in 23-E, a Belgian dealer in machine tools who could not have known how an event might be terrible in more than one way.
All the months of planning, the painstakingly gathered intelligence, the rehearsals carried out right under the Brit noses, the three escape routes, the radiomen — all for nothing because of this bloody meddler. He examined the photo on the front page.
Who are you, Yank? he wondered. John Patrick Ryan. Historian — a bloody academic! Ex-Marine — trust a damned bootneck to stick his nose where it doesn’t belong! John Patrick Ryan. You’re a bloody Catholic, aren’t you? Well, Johnny nearly put paid on your account . . . too bad about Johnny. Good man Johnny was, dependable, loved his guns, and true to the Cause.
The plane finally came to a stop at the Jetway. Forward, the stewardess opened the door, and the passengers rose to get their bags from the overhead stowage. He got his, and joined the slow movement forward. He tried to be philosophical about it. In his years as a “player,” he’d seen iterations go awry for the most ridiculous of reasons. But this op was so important. So much planning. He shook his head as he tucked the paper under his arm. We’ll just have to try again, that’s all. We can afford to be patient. One failure, he told himself, didn’t matter in the great scheme of things. The other side had been lucky this time. We only have to be lucky once. The men in the H-blocks weren’t going anywhere.
What about Sean? A mistake to have taken him along. He’d helped plan the operation from the beginning. Sean knows a great deal about the Organization. He set that worry aside as he stepped off the aircraft. Sean would never talk. Not Sean, not with his girl in her grave these past five years, from a para’s stray bullet.
He wasn’t met, of course. The other men who had been part of the operation were already back, their equipment left behind in rubbish bins, wiped clean of fingerprints. Only he had the risk of exposure, but he was sure that this Ryan fellow hadn’t got a good look at his face. He thought back again to be sure. No. The look of surprise on his face, the look of pain he’d seen there. The American couldn’t have gotten much of a look — if he had, an identikit composite picture would be in the press already, complete with the moppy wig and fake glasses.
He walked out of the terminal building to the parking lot, his travel bag slung over his shoulder, searching in his pocket for the keys that had set off the airport metal detector in Brussels — what a laugh that was! He smiled for the first time in nearly a day. It was a clear, sunny day, another glorious Irish fall it was. He drove his year-old BMW — a man with a business cover had to have a full disguise, after all — down the road to the safehouse. He was already planning two more operations. Both would require a lot of time, but time was the one thing he had in unlimited quantity.
It was easy enough to tell when it was time for another pain medication. Ryan was unconsciously flexing his left hand at the far end of the cast. It didn’t reduce the pain, but did seem to move it about somewhat as the muscles and tendons changed place slightly. It bothered his concentration however much he tried to shut it out. Jack remembered all the TV shows in which the detective or otherwise employed hero took a round in the shoulder but recovered fully in time for the last commercial. The human shoulder — his, at any rate — was a solid collection of bones that bullets — one bullet — all too easily broke. As the time for another medication approached it seemed that he could feel every jagged edge of every broken bone grating against its neighbor as he breathed, and even the gentle tapping of his right-hand fingers on the keyboard seemed to ripple across his body to the focus of his pain until he had to stop and watch the wall clock — for the first time he wanted Kittiwake to appear with his next installment of chemical bliss.