“England’s Time of Trouble is Ireland’s Opportunity.”

(Wolfe Tone 1798)

A Killer in Training

Ballyristeen, Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland, 1936

“Hold the gun still now, boy. Squeeze the trigger gently, like your first time pattin’ a colleen’s sweet butt,” coached Captain Moore.  “Mind the kickback.  The Webley is a strong heavy weapon, two pounds of iron and lead.  300,000 of them were turned out during the Great War alone.”

In the distance, Mt. Brandon hovered 3000 feet above Dingle, a peninsula in the southwest corner of Ireland.  Two miles from the town, the village of Ballyristeen ran up to the raw beauty of the mountains.  Mick brought empty tin cans of vegetables and beans from the cottage and spaced them evenly to shoot at during the summer evenings. Mick’s Uncle Dan had recruited the veteran of the Irish Republican Army, to give the youngster coaching in firing a gun. The old man had the drinker’s face, broken capillaries spreading out from his nose like overripe strawberries.

Published: March 2008:

Brother Sleeper Agent: The Plot to Kill F.D.R.

Copyright © 2008 Jack O’Keefe, Ph.D.

Outskirts Press, Inc.

http://www.outskirtspress.com

ISBN: 978-1-4327-1745-2

Reviews: (coming soon)