answered.
‘ Do you not trust me or something?’
‘ I’ve been let down a lot since I came out of prison’.
‘ Yes, well don’t mark me out because I don’t deserve it, Derek. We’ve known each other thirty years and it’s because I share the same principles with you that I resigned from the UDP’.
‘ It’s funny we’ve known each other thirty years, Peter’ said Derek, grinning in a way that he knew was spooking Irvine from the look on Irvine’s face. So he grinned some more. ‘ I mean, I haven’t seen you for twenty of those, the twenty that I spent inside’.
Peter Irvine felt hot and more than a little uncomfortable. ‘ Yes, well, first of all I want your assurance that there’ll be no more little displays like just now, Derek, if you please. Your release from gaol could prove to be useful for us both but not if there’s any more of your violence towards me’.
Derek had kept his grin. He was enjoying this. ‘ Don’t threaten me, Irvine. I don’t respond well to threats. Just ask the people who tried to get the better of me inside if you don’t believe me’.
‘ I’m not threatening you, Derek. Now let’s just put this aside and get down to some business. I promise you, you will want to hear what I’ve got to say’.
Peter knew that Campbell was volatile, unpredictable, a wild card, but if his plan to rip apart the sickening consensus between the British and Irish governments was going to work, then the unpalatable truth was that he needed Derek Campbell.
‘ Yes, well, sit down, please, gentlemen’.
Derek and Freddie sat down on the long sofa in Peter’s lounge, whilst Peter sat in the armchair.
‘ Now what we say within these four walls goes no further’ said Peter. ‘ Are we all clear on that?’
Derek and Freddie nodded their agreement. This must be big, thought Derek, judging by the look on Irvine’s face. It was a look he’d seen back in the old days when Irvine had ordered the killing by the Ulster Defenders of over a hundred men. During the republican hunger strikes of the early eighties Irvine had once assembled an army of local protestant thugs in the hills above Ballymena who’d then gone down into the Catholic estates and given them the message that they weren’t welcome in the largely protestant town. Thanks to his friends in the R.U.C no action had been taken against him or the perpetrators of the violence, but when republicans had hit back he’d gone on television to assert that it was proof that the two communities couldn’t live together in peace.
‘ I know you have contacts on the mainland, Derek … ‘
‘ … and I have my own uses for them, Irvine’. He filled him in on the discovery of the Judas and what he was going to do to make him pay. ‘ Him and his filthy wee pervert friend will burn in hell believe me’.
Peter snorted. ‘ Homosexual scum shouldn’t be allowed to walk the same streets as decent people’
‘ Well there’ll be two less before long’ said Freddie.
Peter stood up and paced around the room. Campbell could settle his own little private war if that’s what he needed to do but there was a much bigger picture going on. He rubbed his chin and took a deep breath. Campbell would need to listen and listen good.
‘ The job I’ve got for you to do, Derek, is about much more than the killing of one perverted supergrass and his bum boy, important as that may be’.
‘ Nothing could be more important to me at this moment in time than that, Irvine’.
‘ Well wait until you hear what I’ve got in mind, Derek. The IRA used the city of Manchester back in 1996 to gain momentum for their evil cause. Well we’re going to use it to smash the Good Friday agreement and save the future of our beloved Ulster’.
Lynne pulled a face
‘ Do you not trust me or something?’
‘ I’ve been let down a lot since I came out of prison’.
‘ Yes, well don’t mark me out because I don’t deserve it, Derek. We’ve known each other thirty years and it’s because I share the same principles with you that I resigned from the UDP’.
‘ It’s funny we’ve known each other thirty years, Peter’ said Derek, grinning in a way that he knew was spooking Irvine from the look on Irvine’s face. So he grinned some more. ‘ I mean, I haven’t seen you for twenty of those, the twenty that I spent inside’.
Peter Irvine felt hot and more than a little uncomfortable. ‘ Yes, well, first of all I want your assurance that there’ll be no more little displays like just now, Derek, if you please. Your release from gaol could prove to be useful for us both but not if there’s any more of your violence towards me’.
Derek had kept his grin. He was enjoying this. ‘ Don’t threaten me, Irvine. I don’t respond well to threats. Just ask the people who tried to get the better of me inside if you don’t believe me’.
‘ I’m not threatening you, Derek. Now let’s just put this aside and get down to some business. I promise you, you will want to hear what I’ve got to say’.
Peter knew that Campbell was volatile, unpredictable, a wild card, but if his plan to rip apart the sickening consensus between the British and Irish governments was going to work, then the unpalatable truth was that he needed Derek Campbell.
‘ Yes, well, sit down, please, gentlemen’.
Derek and Freddie sat down on the long sofa in Peter’s lounge, whilst Peter sat in the armchair.
‘ Now what we say within these four walls goes no further’ said Peter. ‘ Are we all clear on that?’
Derek and Freddie nodded their agreement. This must be big, thought Derek, judging by the look on Irvine’s face. It was a look he’d seen back in the old days when Irvine had ordered the killing by the Ulster Defenders of over a hundred men. During the republican hunger strikes of the early eighties Irvine had once assembled an army of local protestant thugs in the hills above Ballymena who’d then gone down into the Catholic estates and given them the message that they weren’t welcome in the largely protestant town. Thanks to his friends in the R.U.C no action had been taken against him or the perpetrators of the violence, but when republicans had hit back he’d gone on television to assert that it was proof that the two communities couldn’t live together in peace.
‘ I know you have contacts on the mainland, Derek … ‘
‘ … and I have my own uses for them, Irvine’. He filled him in on the discovery of the Judas and what he was going to do to make him pay. ‘ Him and his filthy wee pervert friend will burn in hell believe me’.
Peter snorted. ‘ Homosexual scum shouldn’t be allowed to walk the same streets as decent people’
‘ Well there’ll be two less before long’ said Freddie.
Peter stood up and paced around the room. Campbell could settle his own little private war if that’s what he needed to do but there was a much bigger picture going on. He rubbed his chin and took a deep breath. Campbell would need to listen and listen good.
‘ The job I’ve got for you to do, Derek, is about much more than the killing of one perverted supergrass and his bum boy, important as that may be’.
‘ Nothing could be more important to me at this moment in time than that, Irvine’.
‘ Well wait until you hear what I’ve got in mind, Derek. The IRA used the city of Manchester back in 1996 to gain momentum for their evil cause. Well we’re going to use it to smash the Good Friday agreement and save the future of our beloved Ulster’.
Lynne pulled a face