Free A Winter of Spies by Gerard Whelan Page A

stood rooted to the spot. She spluttered a little, and could feel her face going red.
    â€˜The …’ she began, but her breath seemed to run out and she stood there with her mouth hanging open.
    â€˜I’ll bring an umbrella,’ Da said. ‘The rain is stopping, but there’s heavy weather due later.’
    But Sarah still stood there, struck dumb. Her eyes felt like they were going to pop out of her head.
    Da looked at her and, in spite of himself, had to laugh.
    â€˜Oh Janey, girl,’ he said, ‘you’re a gas character, so you are.’
    â€˜The Big Fellow!’ Sarah managed finally.
    â€˜The Director of Intelligence,’ Da said. ‘The Minister for General Mayhem, as he called himself one time. Michael Collins.’
    When he opened the front door Sarah found herself walking out after him as though in a dream. She looked with new eyes at this man who could casually drop out on a winter night to call on Michael Collins. The wholeBritish army was tearing the place asunder looking for the man, but her own Da could just go and visit him. She wondered whether she really knew Da at all.
    They stood on the top step. The street seemed deserted . The night was dark, but the rain had almost stopped. Da didn’t bother opening the umbrella. He stood looking up at the black clouds above. Not a star was visible.
    â€˜Aye,’ he said, almost to himself. ‘The heavy weather is coming.’
    Sarah knew he was talking about more than just rain.

12
  T HE B IG F ELLOW  
    KEANE’S SHOP WAS SHUT , but Da knocked on the hall door beside the shop entrance. The door was opened by a sad-eyed boy a few years older than Sarah. Sarah knew who he was – Tommy Harte. His father had been in jail with Mick after the Rising. The Hartes lived here with their grandfather, Jeremiah Keane, who owned the shop.
    â€˜I’m looking for Mr Ellis,’ Da said to Tommy Harte.
    Tommy Harte just nodded. ‘He’s above in the back room, Mr Conway,’ he said. He seemed to know Da quite well, though Sarah had never heard Da mention Keane’s before tonight. But then, she thought, why should that surprise her? Da had a whole other life she’d never guessed at.
    Tommy Harte led the way up the steep, narrow stairs. Sarah found the climb hard going. On the third landing Martin Ford sat reading a magazine. He grinned when he saw them, but the grin didn’t look very genuine. Da nodded to him without saying anything.
    â€˜Here,’ Martin said, jerking his thumb at a doorway. Da opened the door without knocking and led the way in.Tommy Harte stayed out on the landing.
    Simon Hughes was in the room with another man. Simon stood in front of a table at which the other man sat. The second man was broad and well-built. He was younger than Da, with a head of thick brown hair. He had a handsome, boyish face. He didn’t look like the pictures she’d seen of him, but she knew that this was the Big Fellow , Michael Collins.
    Neither Collins nor Simon looked up as Da and Sarah entered. The big man was sitting with his chair pushed back. He was looking down at the table, frowning. A thick lock of hair fell over his forehead. Then he looked up at Simon.
    â€˜I’ve a bit of a job,’ he said, ‘that would take the boy’s mind off things. It’s down the country – down his own way. If he can keep his head, it would be right up his street.’
    Sarah was surprised at his voice. Though she knew he was a Corkman, it was still a surprise to hear the broad accent . It was almost disappointing. In some obscure way it seemed that such a great man should speak more nicely. She was probably just prejudiced against country people, she thought, even though she had country relations herself . Besides, that man Moore spoke nicely, and he was almost certainly a spy.
    She thought of Collins’s words. Somehow she knewthat ‘the boy’ was Hugh Byrne. So