Dangerous Lady (46 page)

as usual, but no solid evidence of any kind. Chief Superintendent Liversey was given early retirement, as were two prominent members of the board at the Bank of England. If the police had held an Internal Inquiry they might have been given to wonder how so many high-ranking officers could afford holidays in the Seychelles and the Bahamas.

The robbery was finally knocked off the front pages by a Member of Parliament. He had been secretly photographed propositioning a prostitute who worked King’s Cross ‘rough trade’. As usual the British public much preferred to read about a good sex scandal rather than a robbery with violence and murder. The Daily Mirror called for another Government Inquiry, this time into the sex lives of prominent Tory MPs. The particular MP involved remained a favourite of Michael Ryan’s for some time. Geoffrey Ryan wrote out all he had read about the robbery in the green folder. He then placed it with the file he was gathering on Maura and Michael. One day, though he did not know when that day would be, he would use it against them.

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Chapter Twenty-six

October 1986.

Michael Ryan walked along the Embankment. He turned up his coat collar to try to warm himself. People were hurrying by. A man walked up behind him and fell into step with him.

‘Mr Ryan, you’re very late.’ He had the soft Southern Irish drawl. ‘I know. I was caught up in some last-minute work. You know how it is.’ The man, although a full head shorter than Michael, was very powerfully built. His small dark eyes continuously scanned the crowds of people as if on the look out for something or someone.

‘We need to know if you can deliver, Mr Ryan. We have been waiting this last two weeks for work That’s why I arranged this meet today. Every Garda from Belfast to Liverpool is looking for me. It’s only for yourself that I came out of me hiding.’

Michael took a deep breath. He was as good looking as ever and more than one woman gave him an admiring glance as they passed.

‘Look, Mr O’Loughlin, these things take time. Especially now. As you just said yourself, everyone is looking for you, and the people you are likely to be dealing with as well. Christ Almighty, I’m taking as big a chance as you are! All I can tell you is what I have been telling you for days. I am doing the best that I can. Everything is shitting hot bricks at the moment.’

Patrick O’Loughlin’s face hardened and he grabbed Michael’s arm.

‘Look here, Ryan, you have more than enough police and judges in your pocket. Rumour has it that you have more than your fair share of politicians as well. All I want is a few passports, that’s all. Jesus knows, we have enough guns and Semtex to rearm the bloody British Army. But it’s not guns or Semtex we’re after these days. It’s passports.’

‘Give me another couple of days. I have a big job going on in St Martin’s Wharf. I have Germans, Micks, the lot on it. I’ll get you passports and perfect watertight covers. Now let’s leave it there, shall we? I’ll be in touch in a few days. OK?’

‘I don’t seem to have much choice, do I?’

O’Loughlin nodded at Michael and, turning away from him, disappeared back into the crowd. As he walked away from Michael two men approached on either side of him. Too late he realised their intent. As his hand went inside his jacket for his weapon, he felt a gun being pushed into his side.

‘If you try anything, Pat, I’ll drop you here in the street.’

Then he was bundled into a waiting Daimler at the kerbside. As he was relieved of his gun one of the men spoke to him.

‘You’ve been grassed, Pat, me old mate. Well and truly grassed.’

Pat O’Loughlin sat back in the seat with a show of careless indifference. Inside he was like a seething

cauldron. He stared out’ at the passing buildings. Michael Ryan had double crossed him. Only he could have fingered him. Involuntarily he clenched his fists. Michael Ryan would pay. Maura got out of bed still half asleep. The low buzzing of her alarm had woken her too early, or at least that was how it felt. She stood by her bed and stretched. Pulling on a robe she went downstairs to her kitchen, picking up her mail and the daily paper as she went through her hall.

She made a pot of tea and, lighting one of the sixty cigarettes she would smoke that day, unfolded the paper. Staring out at her from the front page of the Daily Mail was Patrick O’Loughlin. She studied the picture, stunned. Then she looked at the headlines: IRA KILLER ARRESTED. Forcing her mind to work, she read the story.

‘Due to information received, Patrick O’Loughlin, wanted for the bombing of a military base in Surrey where four soldiers died, was picked up by the police as he walked on the Embankment yesterday. He is also an escaped prisoner. He was given four life sentences for sectarian killings in Belfast. The man he was seen with yesterday is still being sought by the police …’

Maura’s mind was racing. O’Loughlin had met Mickey yesterday and any policeman worth his salt would have recognised Michael Ryan. The ones who were not in their pay tried to make their careers by nicking him. She pulled deeply on her cigarette, got up from her seat and went to the telephone on the kitchen wall. She rang Michael’s number. It was answered almost immediately by his boyfriend. ‘

‘Get Mickey, now!’

‘But he’s in the shower …’

‘Well, get him out then!’ Her voice was harsh.

Richard Salter pursed his lips. He did not like Maura and she did not like him. Placing the receiver on the small coffee table he went into the bathroom. Michael waved him away, soap running down his body as he washed his hair.

‘Mickey love, your sister’s on the phone. She says she must speak to you now.’

Michael stood under the water for a couple of seconds to get rid of most of the soap. Then pulling a towel from; the rail he put it around his waist, knocking Richard flying as he hurried out of the bathroom. He picked up the . phone, dripping water everywhere. ‘What is it, Maws?’

Richard watched as Michael’s face changed from undisguised shock to seething rage. He ran back to the kitchen , to finish making the breakfast. Whatever that sister of his was saying had certainly given Michael the hump! Still, he reflected as he scrambled eggs, at least he had not done Ten minutes later, as he placed breakfast on the table, he! heard the front door slam. Michael had gone without even s kissing him goodbye! Richard sat at the table with his face set in a frown. Damn that bloody bitch! He looked at Michael’s fluffy scrambled eggs and, smiling, picked it up and scraped it on to this own plate. Waste not, want not, that was his motto.

Michael got into his car, his mind working overtime. As he made his way through the busy morning traffic his rage subsided. Maura had said that they had to think this thing through calmly, and she was right. He had a niggling suspicion in the back of his mind about who had grassed him up. His face set into a hard frown. From what Maura had told him the paper had more or less said that whoever had been with O’Loughlin had been responsible for his

being picked up. Joe Public didn’t know who that was but the IRA did. And that could mean big trouble. He had been dealing with them for years.

He carried on driving out of London towards Essex. He could not understand why Maura lived in that great big house out in the sticks. He pulled into her drive and got out of the car. She already had the front door open. He kissed her on the cheek. She put her finger to her lips and he followed her through the house to her kitchen, where her daily woman, Mrs MacMullen, was pulling on her coat.

‘You’ll be paid for today, Mrs Mac, but I need the house to myself.’

‘Oh, that’s all right, lovie. I don’t mind.’ She smiled at the pair of them and walked out of the kitchen. They both stood silently until they heard the front door slam.

‘She let herself in while I was in the shower. Sorry about that. Coffee?’

Michael nodded.

‘Look, Maws, whoever fingered me was very close to home. The only ones who knew about the meet were me, you and Geoffrey.’

Maura shrugged, not taking in what he was saying. ‘It could have been someone from O’Loughlin’s end.’

Michael sat at the table. ‘Why would one of the Micks want to set me up?’ .

She turned to face him. ‘Well, it certainly wasn’t me!’ Her voice was cold.

‘I know that, Princess. That leaves only one other person …’

When Maura realised what he was saying she began to shake her head in disbelief.

‘No. Not Geoffrey. For Christ’s sake, Mickey, he’s our brother.’ ” .

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She poured out the coffee with trembling hands. ‘I think that Geoffrey has tucked me up, Maws. It’s a gut feeling. He ain’t been right for a long time now. Whoever grassed to the old Bill knew exactly where we were meeting, everything. I only knew an hour beforehand myself. You know I have the phones swept once a month. They’re cleaner than the Russian Embassy’s. No, whoever it was, was close to home. There’s no doubt about that.’

‘It could have come from O’Loughlin’s end.’ Her voice was sad. Even as she spoke she knew that Michael was right. She sat down heavily, as if very weary. ‘So, Mickey, what are you going to do?’

He sipped his tea. ‘What do you think? I can’t let this go.’

Maura bit on her thumbnail. ‘You don’t know for sure yet, Mickey.’

‘Listen, Maws, there’s a few things that have been bothering me for a while. He asked to be put back into the clubs, didn’t he? He didn’t want to work with William any more. Right?’

Maura nodded her head slowly.

‘Well, the takings were right down. I asked him about it and he said that all the clubs were in the same boat. Then I find out that the New Rockingham Club and the Pink Pussycat have nearly doubled their takings. So I know that he has his hand in the till. He was also seen with Old Billy Bootnose, a known nark. Richard saw them.’

Maura flapped her hand at him. ‘I’m sorry, Mickey. For all Geoff’s faults he ain’t a grass. As for your Richard …’ Michael bellowed at her, ‘Oh, Maws, grow up for fuck’s sake! It’s staring us in the face. Richard works in and around London, picking up garbage for the gossip columns. There ain’t nothing that he don’t know or can’t

find out. You might not like him but that don’t alter the facts. Geoff is selling us out. Not just me. I bet you any money you like, it’s you as well.’

‘So what’s the next step?’ Her voice was small.

‘Let’s just say he won’t be going home to dinner with that snot-nosed bird he’s got himself

Maura gave Michael a level stare, then shook her head, ‘No, Mickey. You can’t! Not your own flesh and blood. For me, Mickey. For Mum. Don’t do it.’

Michael placed his hand over her smaller soft one and squeezed it.

‘I can’t let this go, Maws.’ His voice was quiet now. Final. Maura looked at him wildly, trying to think of a solution to the problem.

‘Mickey, please. I’ll sort this out.’ She forced conviction into her voice. ‘I’ll get rid of him to another country. He can go to Spain, look after our holdings there. I’ll sort it out with him, I swear. He’ll toe the line. He must know that you’ve tumbled him. I’ll be responsible for him.’

‘All right. All right.’ Michael’s voice was annoyed. ‘You’ve got twenty-four hours to get rid of him. If he’s still around after that, then he’s dead. You can tell him that from me. Now I have got to go and square it all with Kelly. You can bet your life they all think it was me fingered O’Loughlin.’

He stood up abruptly and Maura was reminded just how big and dangerous he could be. He kissed her on the forehead and left the house. She sat for a few minutes letting all he had said sink in. Then, lighting another cigarette, she went to the phone and called Geoffrey. Her heart was so heavy, she felt physically sick at the turn of events. If Geoffrey refused to leave the country he was a dead man.

Michael drove to Le Buxom. Although they had offices all over London, the club would always be his favourite place. He had built an empire from these tiny offices and always felt safe here. He had never enjoyed working on the building projects, always feeling more at home with the seedier businesses. To all intents and purposes they were legitimate, valid excuses for spending money. They paid tax, they paid VAT. But deep in Michael’s heart it would always be the clubs, the betting offices and the robberies that were his forte. Unlike Maura, he had never lost touch with his poverty-stricken roots. He only had to close his; eyes to see once more the cockroaches, the bare floors, and his mother’s ever-swollen belly.

Michael wanted money that would astound the senses, money that would be a never ending pit to draw from. He wanted to be like the educated villains he had met through Templeton. He wanted to wear his riches like a cloak, he wanted to be able to buy anyone and anything that he desired. And with the gold heist and the docklands’ holdings he would be able to do that. He knew that they had pulled off one of the biggest scams in the history of English crime. That the police were no nearer solving the case of the stolen gold than they were to solving the murders of Jack the Ripper. He had been secretly pleased with himself. Now Geoffrey was going to ruin that.

He had an insight into himself that would have amazed and confused his sister. He knew in his heart that Geoffrey was his Achilles heel. If he ever got caught or called in for questioning, he knew that it would be because of Geoffrey. None of the other boys would ever dream of trying to implicate him or Maura. But Geoffrey would.

In 1980 Garry had been identified at the scene of a robbery. He had appeared at the Old Bailey, accused of armed robbery. Michael had retained the best barrister in

London, Douglas Denby QC. Garry had walked free, but Michael knew that if he could have been persuaded to chat to the police about his eldest brother, the boy would never even have had to go to court. Yet Michael had not been worried. He knew that even if Garry got fifteen years, he still would not open his mouth to anyone. Not so Geoffrey. Geoffrey reminded him of a snake, fooling its quarry into a false sense of security, before pouncing on it and destroying it. He had a viper in his camp and his sister could not see it. And the sad part was, Geoffrey wanted to destroy her more than he did Michael.