by David Lowe
‘You’re right, it is lovely here.’
‘If I was an English tourist, I still wouldn’t feel safe around here. Too many of the locals around here are raised to hate the British.’
As David spoke, Louise’s mobile phone began to ring. ‘We’re still on the B30. We’ll pull up and wait for you. Speak to you in minute.’ Louise terminated the call and said to David, ‘Pull up on the left. Stuart’s got a call from the officers watching McCrossan at the farm outside Cullaville. He left it this morning and drove to another farm that’s just across the border close to Inishkeen. Stuart wants to have a chat over what we do next.’
‘I suppose we’ll have to inform An Garda Siochana we’re coming over to their patch?’
‘I think you’re forgetting, this is not a police operation. Stuart’s chat will be about how we conduct the surveillance at the farm McCrossan’s gone to.’
Bringing the car to a stop in a lay-by on his left, David said, ‘I suppose he won’t want me to go along with you now McCrossan’s in the Republic?’
‘I think he does.’
‘If he does, now we’re going to cross the border, once I give you the nod the target’s definitely McCrossan and identify who he’s with, that’s my job done. If I stay with you, it’ll only makes things more difficult for you and I’ve no jurisdiction in the Republic.’
‘Stuart doesn’t see it like that.’
‘He better had, because I want no part in what you do after I’ve ID’d the targets for you. The less I see, the less I can be questioned about it if things go tits up.’
* * *
At the lay-by, Stuart Stroud and Lisa Greening joined David and Louise. Stuart made it clear it was still a surveillance operation and that David should go with them across the border into the Republic, ‘. . . but we won’t inform An Garda Siochana we’ll be in their patch just yet, not unless we have to. If McCrossan makes contact with whoever it is that’s going to take his place in London, we can follow them, even if they travel to Dublin to leave for London. Trust me over here we can’t afford to take anyone out. I’ve a feeling McCrossan’s realised that and to make him feel safer, he’s gone to stay with a sympathiser south of the border.’
‘If that’s the case, I’m happy with that,’ David said, ‘Seeing how you’ve got the co-ordinates of the farm by Inishkeen, I’ll follow you. Ideally we could do with changing the cars for ones with Irish plates. Having two cars with Northern Irish plates could look too suspicious if anyone’s keeping an eye out for us on the approach to the farm.’
‘That’s a good point. I’ll call through and see if we can muster one. I think we only need the one. If we can’t, we’ll have to use both of these cars. The problem is, time’s against us,’ Stuart said.
As he turned away to call the Belfast MI5 office, Lisa said sarcastically to David, ‘So, you do have your uses.’
‘It might not be my op, but I know this country well,’ he curtly answered back.
‘I forgot, you’re half Irish and you’ve got family over here. I hope you don’t have any sympathies with this outfit we’re watching. I heard McCrossan’s got a police officer tipping him off what we’re up to. It’s not you is it?’
‘I’m not biting. If you’ve already forgotten, the man we’re after tried to kill me last week.’
‘And how convenient he missed.’
David glared at the MI5 officer. Keeping his temper under control he said, ‘Being half Irish and a Catholic has been thrown at me before when we were dealing with the Provisionals. I might have Irish blood, but I have an English heart.’
‘I hope that English heart doesn’t get contaminated by that Irish blood.’
‘For such a small woman, you’ve got one big mouth. If I were you, I’d be careful how you use it, someone might knock it the other side of your head,’ David said walking up to Lisa.
‘You’re not threatening me are you DS Hurst,’ she replied, sneering at him.
‘Just what the fuck is your problem?’
‘Nothing, just remember this is our op not yours.’
‘I do and trust me, I’ll be glad when my part in it’s over and I get away from you.’
Before the argument could escalate, Stuart finished his call to the Belfast office and said, ‘There’s no way we can get a car on Irish plates in the next hour or two. I suggest Lisa and I go in first and meet up with our two who are already watching the farm in Inishkeen.’ Stuart handed a small piece of paper to David and said, ‘I’ve got the co-ordinates here. Put these into your sat-nav. We’ll park up a safe distance away and RV so we can sort out the best obs spots we can take up. I’ll give you a shout when we see a good place to park up.’ Stuart walked back to the car he was using. Opening the driver’s door, he shouted back, ‘Give me a ten minutes start and we should meet up within half an hour.’
‘OK,’ Louise said, ‘see you later.’
* * *
‘It’s been twenty minutes since I heard from the two we had watching McCrossan. I’ve tried to raise them but they’ve not got back to us,’ Stuart Stroud said to David and the other two MI5 officers outside their cars parked a quarter of a mile away from the farm by Inishkeen. ‘We can see the roof of the farmhouse from here. It’s just by the trees over there on the left,’ he added pointing to building. ‘We’ve been here for just under a quarter of an hour and just before you arrived, I went to have a reccie to see if I could find them, with no joy. There’s a clump of trees over there on the right about five hundred yards from here. I went over there before and you get a good view to the front of the farmhouse. I suggest Lisa and I move in as close as we can to the farmhouse from the back, while you two go over by the trees and keep an eye on the front of the house. As soon as you see any movement, let us know. We’ll try and get as close as we can to the back of the building. There’s a barn to the left hand side of the front of the farmhouse, we’ll use that as cover. Don’t try to contact us unless you see anything or you hear from me.’ Both David and Louise nodded that they understood. ‘Right,’ Stuart said, ‘you two go off to the tress, but stay low, Lisa and I’ll set off towards the rear of the farm.’
David and Louise walked across the narrow lane and climbed over the dry-stone wall that surrounded the fields. Crouching, they ran over to the trees where both of them lay down using the thick growth of ferns beneath the trees as extra cover. Once they settled in by the ferns, David took his small spy glass out from his jacket and raised it to his right eye. Focusing it with his left hand until he had a clear view of the house, he slowly scanned the area around the front of the farmhouse. It was quiet. Apart from a couple of hens strutting around the front door occasionally bending down to pick up the odd morsel of food, no one was to be seen. There were not even any cars parked near to the farmhouse. ‘Can you see anything?’ Louise asked.
‘Not a thing, there’s not even any vehicles near the farmhouse,’ David said passing Louise the small spyglass. As she put it to her eye, David said, ‘I just hope he hasn’t moved to another location and your two officers are following him. One reason we’ve not been able to contact them or they us is their phones might not be able to pick up a signal here as we’re on the Republic’s mobile system.’
‘Possibly,’ Louise said as David took out his phone to see if it was picking up a signal.
‘There again, we’re just over the border, so we should be able to get a signal from the masts in the North. I’m getting a signal on mine. Is yours?’ he asked.
Louise checked her phone, ‘Yes.’
‘Something’s not right. If they’re around here, the other two would also get a signal on their phones. I’ve been on enough ops to know that no one disappears without giving a situation report.’
Putting the spyglass back to her eye, Louise saw the front door of the farm open slowly. With the door only being partially open, Loui
se said, ‘Someone’s coming out of the front of the house.’ Putting the spyglass on the ground, she reached for her phone.
‘Ring Stuart and tell him we’ve got movement,’ David said picking up the spyglass. Putting it to his eye he watched as the front door opened enough to allow a male in his early twenties to come out of the farmhouse. Standing on the doorstep he began looking around, mainly in the area David and Louise were keeping observations.
Louise’s call was answered, but it was not Stuart. ‘Are you the back-up for these two MI5 officers we found?’ Momentarily surprised, she was not expecting a male with a strong Northern Irish accent to answer her call.
‘Who are you? Where are the officers?’ Louise asked her voice a little shaky realising her two colleagues could be captured by members of this Real IRA terror cell.
‘They’re alive for the moment. Don’t piss me about or they’ll die. How many of you are there?’ the Irishman asked.
‘What is it?’ David asked quietly.
Louise pointed to the front of the house and continued to talk on the phone, ‘How do I know they’re still alive.’
‘As I’m sure you’re already doing, keep watching the front door.’
David kept his eye on the front of the house. The man in his twenties stood on the doorstep pushed the door so it opened fully. Once open, Stuart Stroud and Lisa Greening walked out of the house with their hands clasped behind their heads. David took his Glock out of its holster, taking the safety catch off he whispered to Louise, ‘Keep him talking, I’ll go down there on the right using the hedgerow as cover. If you can, try and follow me.’
Making a quick assessment of the scene, David guessed he had to cover at least six hundred yards. Looking again towards the farmhouse, he saw three armed men behind the two MI5 officers. He watched through his spyglass as they forced the officers to go down on their knees and two of the men stood, one behind each officer with a pistol pointed to the back of their heads. Sean McCrossan was the third armed man who was on the phone talking to Louise. Hurst’s blood pumped round his body even faster. He knew he had to stay calm, just like in 1996 when McCrossan had a pistol pointed at Steve Adams’ head. Once more David was in a similar situation to the first time he came into contact with the Irishman.
Covering the phone with her hand, Louise said, ‘Perhaps we can negotiate with them?’
‘I know McCrossan and the IRA too well. Your two other colleagues are already dead, and if we surrender to them, not only will Stuart and Lisa be killed, we will be as well. Buy me some time and keep McCrossan talking while I get down there, then follow me.’
Chapter EighteEn
‘Yew Tree Farm’, near Inishkeen,
09.40 hours, Friday, 6th July
Having run just over six hundred yards to the side of the farmhouse and struggling to suppress his heavy breathing, David Hurst tentatively looked around the corner of the building. He was sure the four Real IRA operatives had not seen him approach. Standing in front of the farmhouse, McCrossan was looking towards the farm entrance, shouting, ‘Hurst, I know you’re there. Give yourself up and your friends will live.’ This confirmed David’s belief they had no idea he was so close. Not being able to get a good view of all four of the men surrounding the two MI5 officers, David was momentarily frustrated. He could only see McCrossan walking around, Stuart Stroud who was still on his knees with his head bowed with the gunman standing behind him, his pistol pointed to the back of Stuart’s neck. He knew from this angle he could only take out McCrossan. Somehow he had to move so he could take out the two gunman first who posed the biggest threat to the MI5 officers.
Glancing up to the clump of trees he used as cover, there was no sign of Louise. He looked back at McCrossan, who raised his phone to his mouth. David could just about hear him say to Louise, ‘Tell Hurst to walk slowly towards the house with his hands up and this’ll be all over. It’s only him I want.’
‘Don’t fall for it Louise, he’s lying’ he said to himself. Knowing he had no time to waste, he looked over to his left and saw a large dog kennel. Estimating it to be about ten yards away from where he was standing, he studied the kennel area. It looked like there were no dogs in it. With the commotion going on outside the farmhouse, if there were, he knew they would be barking. He could see it was large enough to provide him cover to make a better assessment on how to approach the four men. The only problem was getting to the kennel unseen. He knew the longer he stalled, the more likely it was one of the MI5 officers would be killed by the gunmen in order to draw him out.
At that moment, the man in his twenties walked away from David towards McCrossan. As they began to talk to each other, both had their backs to him. Knowing this was the moment to make his move, quickly and as quietly as he could, crouching down, he ran over to the rear of the dog kennel. Once behind the kennel he had a clear shot of McCrossan, the man in his twenties and the one standing behind Stuart Stroud. Deciding his first rounds should be at the gunman with his weapon pointed at the back of Stuart Stroud’s neck Hurst stood up and raised his Glock pistol. Aware of beads of sweat flowing down his forehead onto his eyebrows he was keeping his grip relaxed on the weapon while uncertainty briefly went through his mind. Having only an hour on the range with the Glock, he had never used it in anger. That moment quickly passed. Hurst focused on what he had to do.
Engrossed in what they were doing, the men didn’t notice him. Using this stroke of luck, Hurst fired at the gunman standing behind Stroud. Hitting him in the side of his chest, the gunman fell instantly, dropping his weapon. Causing confusion amongst the Real IRA, that confusion was exacerbated by the hens outside the front of the house clucking loudly as they frantically tried to fly away. Looking around in panic, McCrossan tried to see where the shots had come from.
Realising either Hurst or Louise had made it down to the farmhouse, as the gunmen were distracted, Stroud seized the moment. Seeing the gunman behind Lisa Greening turning and raising his pistol towards Hurst, in one move, picking up the weapon his captor dropped, Stroud aimed it at the gunman. Three rounds fatally pounded into the gunman’s chest. Watching in horror as another of his comrades fell, McCrossan raised his pistol at Stroud. Knowing Stroud was an easy shot for McCrossan, David aimed at his old adversary. The young member of the terrorist cell caught sight of Hurst, but through fear, no words of warning could come out of his mouth. David fired three rounds into McCrossan’s body. The man in his twenties looked around in panic, eyes bulging at the horror unfolding before his eyes. With hens scrabbling around the scene aimlessly, the sheep frightened by the gunfire in the field next to the farmhouse bleating while running away to the far end of the field, his three blood splattered comrades lying on the floor told him he had no choice but to surrender.
‘Don’t move,’ Hurst shouted to him. ‘It’s over. You’re under arrest.’ Keeping his Glock trained on the young man, Hurst slowly walked towards the man who was too frightened to move a muscle. ‘Slowly, raise your hands.’
Once more the young Irishman looked behind him. He could see the British security services had the upper hand. ‘OK, OK, don’t shoot. I give up. I’ll do what you say.’
Before David Hurst could give further instructions two shots rang out, one entering the back of the young man’s skull. Falling instantly to the ground, pieces of bone and brains flew off in all directions like a watermelon hitting the ground, some of which splattered on Hurst’s face and the front of his shirt. For a moment all was still. None of the officers moved. Disturbed by the gunshot, all that could be heard was the distinctive cawing of a number of crows flying away from the nearby trees. David looked up at the dead man to see Lisa Greening standing in front him holding the pistol the gunman had pointed at her just a few moments earlier.
Statuesque, with both her hands on the pistol she was unable to take her eyes off the man she had just killed, David stormed up to her. ‘You mad bitch,’ he sho
uted, ‘he’d surrendered. He wasn’t even fucking armed and he was only a kid!’
Unable to move, she stood there silently looking at the young man, prone on the ground with only half of his head attached to his neck. Like a miasma in the air, David could taste the young man’s blood. He was in no mood to talk. Stuart Stroud ran over to Greening. Putting his arm around her he took the pistol out of her hand. ‘Leave it,’ he shouted over to David, ‘leave her to me.’
‘She hasn’t just shot him’ he shouted at Stroud. ‘she’s fucking murdered him, the lad gave himself up.’
Raising the palm of his left hand reinforcing to David he should not approach Lisa, Stroud calmly said, ‘OK, so she’s cocked up and it’s down to me to sort it out. This is not the time or the place to have the inquest.’
Running down the driveway to the farm to join the officers from the cover she was using, Louise Dorman shouted, ‘David! Watch out!’
David instantly turned round to see McCrossan had managed to sit up and was slowly raising his right hand holding his pistol towards Hurst. David aimed his Glock at McCrossan who started smiling feebly at the Special Branch officer. Seeing how his chance to shoot Hurst in the back had gone, keeping hold of the pistol the Irishman lowered his hand slightly. A surreal silence that broke out as the two men glared at each other. No words were exchanged. Louise stopped running and like the other two MI5 officers, she stood perfectly still. The three knew just one move by one of them could force McCrossan to fire his weapon. Keeping his pistol trained on the Irishman, Hurst’s face was expressionless. His old enemy was laying there, blood slowly trickling from his chest wounds onto the ground. In the standoff David was willing McCrossan to make the first move so he could finish him off.
