'All we have got is that he has been known to go there for a weekend. What we do know is he varies his departure from Santiago de Compostela. Sometimes he turns up for a flight to Madrid or Barcelona, some days he does not. But he always flies in.'
        'Always?' Eamon queries.
         This flusters McAllister. 'Well, we don't know that, actually. We do know he comes in on a flight at the beginning of every month.'
        'It's a perfect set-up,' Davin interjects. Is he, Eamon thinks, trying to cover up something? Is some, or all, of what McAllister is telling me not right? 'As we know Flash speaks the local lingo as well as Spanish. He fits, blends in with the locals.'
        They tell Eamon about Fernando Griffin's background.
        'Spanish mother, who came from Vigo in Galicia. She met Sean Griffin, Fernando's father, who was a sailor in the British Merchant Navy. They married and after the boy was born, they used to come back to Galway on holidays, where his family lived. The father was killed in Galway. Got knocked over, hit his head on something and died. An accident. Fernando stayed on in Galway for some time, then went to live with his mother who was back in Vigo, where she worked as a teacher. Young Fernando spent every summer in Galway with his uncles, aunts and cousins; they are a big family, the Griffins. And in time he started to drift our way.'
        'When?' Eamon asks.
        'Late 80s,' Davin answers. 'Smart kid, took a degree in French and Spanish. But fond of the bright lights, women, wine.'
        'And we took him?'
        'Yes and no. He was a bit too obvious. On the other hand, he had languages, connections in Spain and he looked Spanish. We kept him in play, a reserve player. In time, he did some contact work with ETA in the Basque country. From there he was the obvious man to send to Cuba and Colombia.'
        'Okay.' Eamon nods and wonders how much else went on he did not know about during his last years on the Army Council.
        Then Davin tells him what he wants him to do in Galicia.