Chapter 19

(MOLLY'S STORY – LONDON 2005)

Molly had been reading the report on the Brighton bombing in 1984 and she kept coming back to the mysterious suspect that seemed to be putting obstacles in the way of the bombers at every turn. That was quite surprising to her because she had assumed they were all working to the same objective of terminating the Prime Minister with extreme prejudice. Now, she was of the opinion that there were different agendas at work in the days leading up to the explosion and that two supposedly similar groups were actually working at cross purposes.

She had an entire section now working for her and it seemed like researching the finer details of the bombing would give them insight into the best approaches in negotiating the end to the troubles once and for all.

It meant she had to spend extra hours organizing the timeline charts and the table of organization that seemed so elusive in the early days. Now she had a better feel for both the structure and the nature of the IRA's mission and it didn't make for good reading inside the confines of Whitehall.

When Danny happened to hear her lament one rainy Sunday morning that she was totally uncertain about what really happened in Brighton in 1984, he lowered his morning paper and looked at her with a sad look in his eyes. She could tell he wanted to say something but was reluctant to interfere with her work effort knowing how much she hated unsolicited help in any form.

Still, he wandered over with a cup of tea for her after a decent interval and perused her charts and maps of the mess with a wary eye and a sense of confidence that she found alarming considering the circumstances. They generally did not get into the past regarding anything from politics or religion and especially old boyfriends and old girlfriends wherever they might reside.

"This is all hearsay, of course, but you have a few inconsistencies in your assumptions regarding the table of organization and the timeline of the operation in Brighton."

She slowly drank her tea and stirred the sugar up to the top because she liked the taste of a little sweet early in the morning.

"Well, perhaps I could use a little non-attributable background to bolster my assumptions in the report. Anything you might add could be put down to anonymous interviews."

He took her magic marker and looked at the organization chart that was nearly three feet high and three feet wide on the whiteboard.

With a twist of his wrist, he drew a line through several of the names located in the south and in Belfast as well as the operation site right in Brighton.

"All of these fellows were either dead or missing and not involved with the operation. If I put a (D) they were deceased, and where I put a (M) that means they were missing. Now, understand that missing means a lot of things. It could mean the man decided to call it a day and took a boat to the States or he just changed his name and joined the French Foreign Legion. It just means in terms of the IRA, they didn't have the slightest what happened to the lad. Now if you see me put a (N/I) after the name, it means they were most certainly active in 1984 but they were not involved in any way with this particular operation.

Molly was surprised at the number of (D) (M) and (N/I) names removed from her sacrosanct report. It was her baby and she couldn't stand to be wrong. The fact that Danny was so sure about his information convinced her that he was giving her the straight scoop and only trying to see her report become more accurate in its entirety.

Then, he added a number of names to the southern region and a few names to the Belfast region and even three names to the Brighton area that she had never heard of before. After all three of the names, he added the remark, (No longer Active). She wanted to ask if that meant the man was deceased but didn't want to interrupt because he wasn't finished with his corrections.

He took the names in the south and split them into three separate lists marking them as Republic, Northern Ireland, and External. Then he made a note in the left hand bottom corner to explain the organization was split into a Southern Affairs section, a Northern Affairs section, and a special unit for operations outside the territory of Ireland. It was the first time she had ever heard of such an arrangement and she wondered what pub he was drinking in to garner that information.

Then he drew a big line slanted at an angle all the way through the Brighton operational information and changed the timeline to a point much earlier than she thought possible. He changed the type of explosive and the means of delivery from the U.S.-made explosives to the Eastern European preferred explosives and she knew that her original gut reaction to the forensic report was now confirmed. He noted a least a half-dozen locations on the structure where the explosives were made useless and put a note to indicate they were changed to scale back the force of the explosion. The only possible conclusion was that the perpetrators did not want to cause catastrophic damage to the hotel and were really not interested in terminating the Prime Minister. It was a plausible explanation for the limited success of the operation was that the original planning had changed sometime during the implementation period and the operation was changed to reflect a change in heart about causing a permanent rift in relations with the UK.

Danny repeated his original words of caution by stating in an uncharacteristic monotone that all of the changes to the detailed report were strictly "word of mouth" and should be considered unsubstantiated "hearsay" when sourcing was disclosed. He knew she really didn't want to know where he got his information from and she didn't ask.

The debacle at Brighton flashed into his mind and he was disturbed that he had allowed it to come to the front of his mind when he had spent all those years storing it away out of thought and out of mind like an unwelcome aunt with a terrible embarrassing laugh. The fact that blood was spilled and his reputation was shattered because of his inability to see things in the old way was a cross he had to bear in silence and he hoped some enterprising lad with a thirst to make a name for himself didn't stumble on his trail and make a mess for him.