"Higgins, Jack - Savage Day" - читать интересную книгу автора (Higgins Jack)

'The Army is at war with the IRA, it's as simple as that.'

'Or as complicated.'

'Exactly. When we first moved troops in during '69 it was to protect a Catholic minority who had certain just grievances, one must admit that.'

'And since then?'

"The worst kind of escalation. Palestine, Aden, Cyprus. Exactly the same only worse. Increasing violence, planned assassinations, the kind of mad bombing incidents that usually harm innocent civilians more than the Army.'

"The purpose of terrorism is to terrorize,' I said. 'The only way a small country can take on an empire and win. That was one of Michael Collins's favourite sayings.'

Tm not surprised. To make things even more difficult at the moment, the IRA itself is split down the middle. One half call themselves official and seem to have swung rather to the left politically.'

'How far?'

'As far as you like. The other lot, the pure nationalists, Provisionals, Proves, Bradyites, call them what you like, are the ones who are supposed to be responsible for all the physical action.'

'And aren't they?'

'Not at all. The official IRA is just as much in favour of violence when it suits them. And then there are the splinter groups. Fanatical fringe elements who want to shoot everyone in sight. The worst of that little lot is a group called the Sons of Erin led by a man called Frank Barry.'

'And what about the other side?91 asked. 'The Ulster Volunteer Force?'

'Don't even mention them,' he said feelingly. 'If they ever decide to take a hand, it will be civil war and the kind of bloodbath that would be simply too hideous to contemplate. No, the immediate task is to defeat terror-

ism. That's the Army's job. It's up to the politicians to sort things out afterwards.'

'And what am I supposed to be able to achieve that the whole of Military Intelligence can't?'

'Everything or nothing. It all depends. The IRA needs money if it's to be in a position to buy arms on anything like a large enough scale. They got their hands on some in rather a big way about five weeks ago.'

'What happened?'

'The night mail boat from Belfast to Glasgow was hijacked by half-a-dozen men.'

'Who were they? Proves ?'

"No, they were led by a man we've been after for years. A real old-timer. Must be sixty if he's a day. Michael Cork. The Small Man, they call him. Another of those Irish jokes as he's reputed to be over six feet in height.'

'Reputed?'

'Except for a two-year sentence when he was seventeen or eighteen, he hasn't been in custody since. He did spend a considerable period in America, but the simple truth is we haven't the slightest idea what he looks like.'

'So what happened on the mail boat ?'

'Cork and his men forced the captain to rendezvous off the coast with a fifty-foot diesel motor yacht. They offloaded just over half a million pounds' worth of gold bullion.'

'And slipped quietly away into the night?'