Murray stretched his arms out. “More important than you thought, maybe? Maybe they were afraid you’d break information out of him. Maybe they just wanted to keep their perfect record. Maybe something else?”
Owens nodded. In addition to the close working relationship Scotland Yard had with the FBI, Owens valued the opinions of his colleague. Though both were experienced cops, Murray could always be trusted to have a slightly different slant on things. Two years before Owens had been surprised to learn how valuable this might be. Though he never had thought about it, Murray had used his colleague’s brain the same way on several occasions.
“So what might that make Miller?” Owens wondered aloud.
“Who can say? Chief of operations?” Murray waved his glass.
“Awfully young for that.”
“Jimmy, the guy who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was a full colonel in the Air Force, and twenty-nine years old. Hell, how old is this O’Donnell character?”
“That’s what Bob Highland thinks.” Owens stared into his glass for a moment, frowning again.
“Bob’s a smart kid, too. God, I hope you can put him back on the street.”
“If not, we can still use him in the office,” Commander Owens said positively. “He does have a fine brain for the business of investigations — too good to be lost now. Well, I must be off. New Year’s Eve, Dan. What do we drink to?”
“That’s obvious. A successful investigation. You’re going to get that source, Jimmy, and he’s going to give you the information you need.” Murray held his glass up. “To a closed case.” “Yes.” Both men emptied their glasses.
“Jimmy, do yourself a favor and give it a night off. Clear the old head out and start fresh in the morning.”
Owens smiled. “I’ll try.” He picked up his overcoat and walked toward the door. “One last thing. It hit me on the drive over. These chaps, the ULA, have broken all the rules, haven’t they?”
“That’s true enough,” Murray replied as he locked up his files.
“There’s only one rule they haven’t broken.”
Murray turned. “Oh? What’s that?”
“They’ve never done anything in America.”
“None of them do that.” Murray dismissed the idea.
“None have had much of a reason before.”
“So?”
“Dan, the ULA might have a reason now — and they’ve never been reticent about breaking the rules. It’s just a feeling, no more than that.” Owens shrugged. “Well. Good night, and a happy new year to you. Special Agent Murray.”
They shook hands ceremonially. “And to you, Commander Owens. Give my love to Emily.”
Dan saw him to the door, locked it, and returned to his office to make sure all his secure files were locked up properly. It was pitch dark outside at — he checked his watch — quarter to six.
“Jimmy, why did you say that?” Murray asked the darkness. He sat back down in his swivel chair.
No Irish terrorist group had ever operated in the United States. Sure, they raised money there, in the Irish neighborhoods and saloons of Boston and New York, made the odd speech about their vision for the future of a free, united Ireland — never bothering to say that as committed Marxist-Leninists, their vision of Ireland was of another Cuba. They had always been shrewd enough to know that Irish-Americans might not feel comfortable with that little detail. And there was the gun-running. That was largely something in the past. The PIRA and INLA currently got most of their weapons on the open world market. There were also reports that some of their people had gotten training in Soviet military camps — you couldn’t tell a man’s nationality from a satellite photograph, nor could you recognize a specific face. These reports had never been confirmed sufficiently to be released to the press. The same was true of the camps in Libya, and Syria, and Lebanon. Some people, fair-skinned people, were being trained there — but who? The intelligence got a little confused on this point. It was different with the European terrorists. The Arabs who got caught often sang like canaries, but the captured members of the PIRA and INLA, and the Red Army Faction, and Action-Directe of France, and all the other shadowy groups gave up their information far more grudgingly. A cultural thing, or maybe they could simply be more certain that their captors would not — could not — use interrogation measures still common in the Middle East. They’d all been raised under democratic rules, and knew precisely the weaknesses of the societies they sought to topple. Murray thought of them as strengths, but recognized the inconveniences that they imposed on law-enforcement professionals . . .
The bottom line was still that PIRA and INLA had never committed a violent crime in America. Never. Not once.
But Jimmy’s right. The ULA has never hesitated to break a rule. The Royal Family was off-limits to everyone else, but not the ULA. The PIRA and INLA never hesitated to advertise its operations — every terrorist group advertises its operations. But not the ULA. He shook his head. There wasn’t any evidence to suggest that they’d break this rule. It was simply the one thing that they hadn’t done . . . yet. Not the sort of thing to start an investigation with.
“But what are they up to?” he said aloud. Nobody knew that. Even their name was an anomaly. Why did they call themselves the Ulster Liberation Army? The nationalist movement always focused on its Irishness, it was an Irish nationalist movement, but the ULA’s very name was a regional expression. “Ulster” was invariably the prefix of the reactionary Protestant groups. Terrorists didn’t have to make all that much sense in what they did, but they did have to make some sense. Everything about the ULA was an anomaly. They did the things no one else would do, called themselves something no else would.
They did the things no one else would. That’s what was chewing on Jimmy, Murray knew. Why did they operate that way? There had to be a reason. For all the madness of their actions, terrorists were rational by their own standards. However twisted their reasoning appeared to an outsider, it did have its own internal logic. The PIRA and INLA had such logic. They had even announced their rationales, and their actions could be seen to fit with what they said: To make Northern Ireland ungovernable. If they succeeded, the British would finally have enough of it and leave. Their objective, therefore, was to sustain a low-level conflict indefinitely and wait for the other side to walk away. It did make conceptual sense.
But the ULA has never said what it’s up to. Why not? Why should their objective be a secret? Hell, why should the existence of a terrorist group be a secret — if they’re running operations, how can it be a secret; then why have they never even announced their existence, except within the PIRA/INLA community itself? This can’t be completely unreasoned action, he reminded himself. They can’t be acting completely without reason and still be as effective as they’ve been.
“Damn!” The answer was there. Murray could feel it floating at the edge of his consciousness, but his mind couldn’t quite reach that far. The agent left his office. Two Marines were already patrolling the corridors, checking that the doors were locked. Dan waved to them on the way to the elevator, his mind still trying to assemble the pieces into a unified picture. He wished that Owens hadn’t left so soon. He wanted to talk this one over with Jimmy. Maybe the two of them could make sense of it all. No, he told himself, not “maybe.” They’d find it. It was there, waiting to be found.
I bet Miller knew, Murray thought.
“What a dreadful place,” Sean Miller said. The sunset was magnificent, almost like one at sea. The sky was clear of the usual urban pollution, and the distant dunes gave a crisp, if crenelated, line for the sun to slide behind. The odd thing was the temperature range, of course. The noon temperature had reached ninety-two — and the locals thought of this as a cool day! — but now as the sun sank, a cool wind came up, and soon the temperature would drop to freezing. The sand couldn’t hold the heat, and with the clear, dry air, it would just radiate away, back to the stars.
Miller was tired. It had been that sort of day: refresher training. He hadn’t touched a weapon in nearly two months. His reactions were off, his marksmanship abysmal, his physical condition little better. He’d actually gained a few pounds on prison food, something that had come as quite a surprise. In a week he’d have that run off. The desert was good for that. Like most men born in the higher latitudes. Miller had trouble tolerating this sort of climate. His physical activity made him thirsty, but he found it difficult to eat when it was so hot. So he drank water and allowed his body to turn in on itself. He’d lose the weight and harden his body more quickly here than anywhere else. But that didn’t make him like the place.