"So what about the third side, the Germans?"

"We have come into possession of their plans for Operation Green, the invasion of Ireland, rumored to have been at the invitation of the Dublin government. Quite detailed. But I daresay the time has passed for its implementation. We are no longer spread so thin now that you Yanks have joined us."

"OK, so what's the problem? The IRA hasn't given the English a free pass because you're fighting a war. But except for Sean Russell, none of them have been able to exploit the situation. And he's dead. What do you need me for?"

O'Brien said, "Six weeks ago we intercepted a message from Tom Barry, the IRA intelligence director, to Joe McGarrity in America, head of Clan na Gael. Do you know of him?"

"I've heard the name." I didn't mention that I'd heard the name when Uncle Dan introduced me to him. Joe McGarrity had had Sunday supper at our home when he was in Boston a few years ago, along with an IRA man named Seamus Rafferty. Raising money for the Cause. I wanted to find out what this was about but I didn't think they'd keep me in their confidence if they knew the Boyle household was a regular gathering place for the Irish Republican movement. To us, Republican didn't mean Wendell Willkie, it meant a united Ireland. Free of the English. I did my best to make my replies neutral, free of politics, to keep them talking. At least listening to Subaltern O'Brien's voice was pleasant.

"The message was 'Ask Clan na Gael to rush supplies.'"

"Supplies for what?"

"Five days ago, a U.S. Army arms depot at Ballykinler in Northern Ireland was raided. They got away with fifty of the latest models of the Browning Automatic Rifle and over two hundred thousand rounds of ammunition. What do you think it's for, Lieutenant Boyle?"