Death on Gibraltar. Shaun Clarke

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СКАЧАТЬ exercise was to annihilate those men.’

      ‘I believe the proper word is “neutralize”,’ the SMIU leader put in, feeling obliged to defend the operation he had helped to set up.

      ‘My apologies,’ the Secretary responded testily. ‘To neutralize those men. Does that explain why there were ambush teams outside as well as inside the building and why some of the local townsfolk were shot up – with one actually killed – by the SAS?’

      ‘Those were unfortunate accidents,’ the Controller replied firmly, ‘but they weren’t caused by an unnecessary display of fire-power on our part. The GPMG assault groups positioned in the copse were placed there because it was believed at the time – erroneously, as it turned out – that the IRA bomb team would approach the police station by way of the football pitch across the road from Armagh. The reason for having other troopers hidden elsewhere, including behind the wall of the church and in the town itself, is that we had also been informed that the IRA bomb would be set off by a timer or a remote-control device. We therefore had to be prepared to shoot at any point where a terrorist, irrespective of where he was located, looked as if he was about to do a button-job.’

      The Secretary looked perplexed.

      ‘Detonating the bomb by a small, radio-control device hidden on the person and usually activated by a simple button,’ the SMIU leader explained. ‘Which means it can be done by a demolitions man some distance from the target. In the event, a simple fuse was used, which meant that those placing the bomb at Loughgall had to stay with it until the last moment and then personally light the fuse.’

      ‘That explanation doesn’t help us,’ the Secretary said, sounding aggrieved. ‘The widow of that dead man, now left with three fatherless children, is claiming compensation from our government and will doubtless get it, albeit in an out-of-court settlement.’

      ‘That man wasn’t the first, and he won’t be the last, civilian casualty in the war in Northern Ireland.’ Again, the shadowy SAS Controller was being firm and not about to take the blame for an action he still deemed to have been justified. ‘Sometimes these unfortunate accidents can’t be avoided.’

      ‘True enough,’ the Secretary admitted with a soulful sigh. ‘So, let’s forget about Loughgall and concentrate on what we believe it will lead to: a bloody act of retaliation by the IRA.’

      ‘Do you know what they’re planning?’ the Controller asked him.

      ‘We have reason to believe that the target will be soft,’ the SMIU man replied on behalf of the Secretary, ‘and either in southern Spain or Gibraltar – the first because it has thousands of British tourists as potential victims, the second because the IRA have often publicly stated that it is a potential “soft target” and, even better from their point of view, one strongly identified with British imperialism.’

      ‘Do you have any specific grounds for such suspicions?’

      ‘Yes. We’ve just been informed by the terrorist experts from the Servicios de Información in Madrid that yesterday two well-known and experienced IRA members, Sean Savage and Daniel McCann, arrived in Spain under false names. Savage is a shadowy figure of no proven IRA affiliations, though he’s been under RUC surveillance for a long time and is certainly suspected of being one of the IRA’s best men. McCann is widely known as ‘Mad Dan’ because of his reputation as an absolutely ruthless IRA fanatic up to his elbows in blood. It’s our belief that their presence in Spain, particularly as they’re there under false passports, indicates some kind of IRA attack, to take place either in Spain – as I said before, because of the enormous tourist population, presently running at about a quarter of a million – or in their oft-proclaimed soft target of Gibraltar. If it’s the Rock, where there are approximately fifteen hundred service personnel, then almost certainly it will be a military target.’

      ‘Do we know where they are at the moment?’ the Controller asked.

      ‘No,’ the SMIU leader replied, sounding slightly embarrassed. ‘We only know that they flew from Gatwick to Málaga. Though travelling under false passports, they were recognized by the photos of criminal and political suspects held by the security people at Gatwick. However, when we were informed of their presence at Gatwick, we decided to let them fly on to Spain in order to find out what they were up to. Once in Spain, they were supposed to be tailed by the Spanish police, who unfortunately soon lost them. Right now, we only know that they hired a car at Málaga airport and headed along the N340 towards Torremolinos or somewhere further in that direction. The Spanish police are therefore combing the area between Torremolinos and Algeciras and, of course, we’re checking everyone going in and out of Gibraltar. I’m sure we’ll find them in good time.’

      ‘So what happens when they’re found?’ the Controller asked.

      ‘Nothing,’ the SMIU man told him. ‘At least not just yet. We just want to observe them and ascertain what they’re planning. Should they remain in the Costa del Sol, then naturally we must be concerned for the safety of its thousands of British residents and tourists. On the other hand, if they cross the border into Gibraltar, our suspicions about the Rock as their soft target will be, if not actually confirmed, then certainly heightened.’

      ‘What if they simply have a holiday and then fly back to Northern Ireland?’ the Controller asked.

      ‘We’ll let them go, but keep them under surveillance, whether it be in the Province or somewhere else. We’re convinced, however, that they’re not on the Costa del Sol to get a suntan. We think they’re there to gather information about a particular target – and our guess is that they’ll materialize quite soon on Gib.’

      ‘To cause damage?’

      ‘Not now, but later,’ the SMIU leader said. ‘These men have entered Spain with no more than suitcases, so unless they meet up with someone, or pick up something en route, we have to assume that this is purely a scouting trip.’

      ‘Given all the questions you’ve just asked me about the Loughgall affair,’ the Controller said, smiling sardonically at the Secretary, ‘can I take it that you’re considering future SAS involvement?’

      ‘Yes.’ The Secretary leant across his desk to stare intently at the Controller. ‘If the terrorist outrage is going to be on Spanish territory, the scenario will place enormous constraints upon us – notably in that we’ll be totally dependent on the cooperation of the Spanish police and the Servicios de Información. This problem, unfortunately, will not go away if the IRA plan their outrage for the Rock, since any attack there will almost certainly have to be initiated on the Spanish side of the border, which will again make us dependent on Spanish police and Intelligence. Either way, they won’t be happy with any overt British military or Intelligence presence on the scene; nor indeed with the possibility of an essentially British problem being sorted out, perhaps violently and publicly, on Spanish soil. For this reason, as with the Iranian Embassy siege, we’ll be caught between making this a police matter – in this case the Spanish or Gibraltar police – or a military matter undertaken by ourselves. If it’s the latter, we’ll have to persuade the Spanish authorities that we can contain the matter as an anti-terrorist operation run by a small, specially trained group of men, rather than having any kind of full-scale action by the regular Army. That small group of men would have to be the SAS.’

      ‘Quite right, too,’ the Controller said.

      The Secretary smiled bleakly, not happy to have handed the Controller a garland of flowers. ‘While undoubtedly your SAS have proved their worth over the years, they are not the only ones to have done so: the Royal Marines, for instance, could possibly СКАЧАТЬ