Chapter 21

BELFAST (1968)

The year of 1968 was almost over when Danny got his marching orders from the section outside of Dublin that had administered most of his "in-house" training that was filled with sessions in defusing of explosive devices and identifying various weapons and ammunition from the current stock in their inventory. He really was not one to take great pride in the planting and activation of the explosives but he knew it was their primary weapon right now and would probably remain so for a long time into the future.

He excelled in the use of handguns and seemed to have a natural ability to sense when was the exact right moment to let loose with a barrage that eliminated the opposition. Eventually they promoted him to the "Terminator" section that took care of all internal removals and also dabbled in the Northern Ireland region to water down the ardor of the Constabulary and even restrain the Whitehall crowd from becoming too rowdy in their methods of control.

It was a cold night in the early winter that he was called in to organize a purging of an internal problem related to conflict between the labor contingent and the fanatical religious followers of the Papal Party sect that wanted secular control of the entire Island. Danny had his own set of feelings regarding the imposition of secular control but he kept them to himself. His read on the current problem was that the rabid dogs of the Papal Party were jeopardizing the delicate balance of Catholic vs Protestant relations in the south and the only way to solve the problem was to remove the worst offenders of the general truce.

He decided that he only had to take "care" of three of the most grievous culprits and matters would sort themselves out without further interference from on high. It came down to the O'Malley's and the firebrand Timothy Leary with his shocking white hair and his deep booming voice that sounded like he was sent from God in person.

Danny kept a record of their movements and it was no problem at all to deduce that they would be in an exposed position almost the entire weekend whilst they were participated in the protest march against the "Fox Hunting" crowd that saw the sport as a reflection of heritage rather than some sort of upper class and mostly Protestant dominance over the Catholic masses. He knew that the protest group was loosely comprised and that he was easily accepted in their numbers having distributed notices and taken parts in some disorderly conduct run-ins with the local law enforcement. It was enough to allow him access and yet not enough to put him on the radar screens of the Constabulary or the chess-players in Whitehall watching developments all across the region.

He watched the trio of troublemakers heading out to the other side of the bridge that the horses tended to avoid because the gaps in the planks could damage their hooves. Most of the riders just jumped the small stream looking for a soft landing on the other side. They were waiting there with their firecrackers hoping to scare the mounts into dumping their riders in the water or in the mud to make a sight when they straggled back into the rally point looking forlorn and down in spirits.

The O'Malley's was a fine pair of fools. Danny was not quite certain which one was more ignorant, the father or the son. They would both be equally at fault if one of the riders broke their back and was paralyzed for life or worse yet, broke their neck and with a funeral shortly after. The other one called Timothy Leary was more mean spirited in his attitude and Danny could almost see the evil intent swirling around his unshaven face and his beady red eyes showing the effects of too much ale the night before. There were a lot of rumors floating about that he was one to make the girls cry if he got them alone by themselves and he was ever bragging about his ability to get any girl's knickers down either by hook or by crook and they never complained to the authorities.

He decided it would be better to take care of them all before they had a chance to do their damage on both horse and human at the crossing. Danny slowly screwed on his silencer not wanting the sound of shots to do the same kind of damage that the three miscreants were planning in their uneducated little minds. It was simple to merely walk up behind them all innocent like with the handgun inside his newspaper and give then each a quick double tap straight up into their brain cavity like he was splitting melons for an afternoon snack. He was careful about walking away slowly because he did not want to arouse suspicion. The three men were slumped against the waist-high hedge like they were in hiding and nothing looked out of order.

Danny watched the clumps of horsemen and horsewomen ride past him and he stayed well out of the way to show he had no intention of interfering or obstructing their progress. There was a pair of police cars at the end of the narrow lane and he just nodded to the bored patrolmen and walked quickly to the bus stop to get as far away as possible before discovery of the grim evidence was found behind the hedge. He was reasonably certain it would all be blamed on some ardent supporters of the fox hunting obsession and he would be well out of it without any problem at all.

He had considered dumping the handgun and silencer but it was a real beauty of a piece and he hated to lose it even if it meant it could mean the rest of his life in prison. Besides, all he had to do was to switch the barrel and the firing pin and it would be almost impossible to tie that particular weapon to the triple killing except in the sense that it was the same caliber. If he could evade the police for about seventy-two hours, he would be rid of the residue evidence and the old clothes would make nice cleaning rags for the rag-man who didn't care where the stuff came from.