To Kingdom Come Read Online Free PDF Page A

city. I live and work here. Llewelyn and I helped some of the people injured by the explosion last night. Wherever one stands on the Irish Question, all but the most extreme will agree that bombing is not the way to achieve sovereignty. There is a fatal streak of nihilismin this action, like a child losing at chess who upsets the board. I’m thinking not merely of the English citizens in hospital today but also the shocked Irish readers of The Times this morning, who see their chances for independence pushed even farther from their grasp because of a few embittered and overzealous individuals. I am for healthy debate in the House of Commons, at the proper time, not for innocent civilians being bombed. It is a Pandora’s box, and it has been opened. If we don’t nail it down immediately, we may never get the lid secured again.”
    Anderson tapped his finger on the table a few times in thought. “Granted, for the moment then, that you are offering your services for altruistic reasons. I’m wondering what you, with your limited resources, can do that the combined services of Her Majesty’s government cannot? Can you really believe you will succeed where we will not?”
    Barker gave one of his cold smiles. “An acrobat, for all his skills, employs a net to catch him if he falls. I merely suggest that you hire me to be that net. My sources are not as limited as you might believe. I shall meet with no one but you, and if I fail—or if Inspector Munro and your own agents get in ahead of me—I shall not tender a bill for my services.”
    “Munro will not appreciate your interference,” Sir Watkin put in. “How do you propose to catch the rascals?”
    “By locating and infiltrating the responsible faction.”
    Both gentlemen smiled. It seemed a rather impetuous plan, even to me.
    “I’ve done it before,” he continued, “as my dossier no doubt attests.”
    “Impossible,” Anderson said. “You are Scottish, and your assistant is Welsh. Even some of our best Irish-born agents have tried it, only to come home in a pine box. The faction cells are very close-knit. Many of the members have known one another since their school days. Sometimes they are even members of onefamily. What makes you so bold as to think you can succeed when all others have failed?”
    “Oh, come, sir. Not all have failed. What of Lieutenant Le Caron?”
    Robert Anderson jumped from his chair, as if he’d sat on a hornet. “How the devil do you know about Le Caron?”
    “Henri is a friend of mine, aside from being your best spy among the Irish for the last ten years. I trained him in hand combat for a month. He’s a good man. More important, he is an example of a non-Irishman who appears devoted to their cause; in this case, a Frenchman. Or rather, an Englishman impersonating a Frenchman, since we both know that Le Caron is not his real name.”
    I pricked up my ears. I hadn’t heard Le Caron’s name before. When had he known the Guv?
    “It seems you know an awful lot, sir, about something that is not your affair,” Sir Watkin blustered.
    “As far as I am concerned, gentlemen, it became my affair when they injured innocent London citizens and damaged public buildings. Something must be done, and I’d rather be working with the official enquiry than on my own. How long shall it be before the Irish radicals throw off their gloves and go after the Crown itself?”
    Anderson gave Sir Watkin a significant glance, which Barker noticed immediately. “They have communicated.”
    “They have,” Anderson said, removing a folded slip of paper from his pocket. “This was delivered to the Prime Minister in his office this morning. I must ask that you not mention this to anyone. It shall dampen your enthusiasm, I must warn you.”
    Barker took the typewritten note and I read over his shoulder.
    “‘Dear Mr. Gladstone, This is just a taste of what we can do. You have thirty days to propose a bill for Home Rule, or your government and the Royal