Chapter 412 — The Ultimatum Expires III (Bonus)

Chapter 412: Chapter 412 — The Ultimatum Expires III (Bonus)

`[CORK EXPLOSION — GOVERNMENT CONFIRMS ATTACK LINKED TO BRITISH ULTIMATUM]`

That was the banner by six o’clock.

The first twenty-four hours were over. The King had done what he said he would do.

Ireland had one day left.

---

The last day passed quickly.

The emergency services worked in Cork through the night. The investigators added a third scene to the first two. Security agencies chased every lead they had and some they didn’t, because none of them were sure anymore which was which.

The government met again, and again. The Defence Forces moved things quietly in the dark that the news was asked not to film. The Department of Foreign Affairs was on the phone to every capital it could reach.

Some of them answered. France condemned the King’s threats in a statement. Germany condemned them in a longer one. The European Commission called an emergency session. Washington said it was *deeply concerned* and *monitoring the situation closely*, and nothing else. Nobody sent a ship. Nobody promised anything that would actually arrive.

The pressure on the government after Cork was enormous.

Half the cabinet wanted to refuse on the spot, to stand up in front of the cameras and say *no*, so that the country could see the state was not going to bend to a man murdering people in shopping streets. The other half wanted to hold it to the last hour, because a refusal on the spot might bring the invasion forward to before the Defence Forces were ready.

The Taoiseach heard all of it.

Then, late on the second day, he decided.

Ireland would not surrender its sovereignty.

Nobody in the room called it a victory. Everybody in the room knew what the King had said refusal meant. They also knew what yes would mean. It meant British soldiers in the Department of Defence and British officials in the Bureau, and the Tower in the middle of Dublin answering to London. It meant the end of the country.

They would announce it shortly before the deadline. They would use every remaining hour to get ready.

---

James watched it at Guild Zero, in the founders’ room, with the other three.

The Taoiseach spoke from Government Buildings, standing at a lectern with the harp behind him and the flag beside it. He looked as tired as everyone else in the country.

He began with the dead. He named the festival and Cork, the Minister, and the families. He said he knew how frightened people were. He said he was frightened too, and James believed him.

Then he said it.

"Ireland rejects the demands made of it by the British Crown. We will not surrender our independence. Not to threats. Not to violence. Not to anyone."

He did not call the British people anything. He said they had nothing to do with this, that many of them had spent the last two days saying so, and that he thanked them. He did not promise that it would be easy. He did not promise that it would be quick.

"We will defend this country," he said. "We will find the people who did this. And we will work with every friend we have in the world to keep our people safe."

That was all.

Finn nodded once at the screen.

"Good," he said quietly. He did not say anything else.

Maeve was already writing. James could see the list growing down the page. Staff contact numbers, the building’s emergency plan, what happened to the recruits.

Cillian did not say anything. He was watching the corner of the broadcast, where the clock was still running.

James understood what had just happened.

For two days the King had been threatening them with what would happen if Ireland did not answer.

Ireland had answered.

Now they would find out whether he meant the rest.

---

It was after nine that evening.

The refusal had gone out. Every news channel in the world had played it a hundred times. The Defence Forces and the emergency services were on the highest alert they had. The Gardaí were stopping cars on the motorways into every city.

James stood at the window of the founders’ room.

From there he could see the Tower, over the roofs, in the middle of the city. It was lit up against the night sky, as it had been every night of his life since it arrived. White light ran up the length of it into the clouds. For years it had been the most dangerous thing in his world and the best thing in it. Everything he had, and everything he had lost, had come out of that building.

Tonight the danger was outside it.

Behind him, the television was still on.

"—the British Crown has as yet issued no response to the Irish government’s rejection of the ultimatum," the presenter was saying. "We’re expecting—we don’t know what we’re expecting, frankly."

Finn sat at the table with his phone in one hand, reading a long message from somebody at Emerald Spire and then another. Maeve had the guild’s emergency contact list on her laptop and was going down it a line at a time, ticking. Cillian sat with his arms folded, watching the screen, and did not say anything.

Nobody made a speech. The decision had been made by people whose job it was to make it. All they could do was wait and see what came of it.

On the screen, the clock reached its last minute.

`00:00:59`

James took out his phone.

There was nothing new from O’Shea. There was only the message from two hours ago. *All agencies on alert. Will be in touch.*

He wrote to his mother and Nyra.

*Stay inside tonight. Ring me if anything happens. Anything. Love you.*

He sent it, and put the phone in his pocket.

On the television, the presenter had stopped talking about France and Germany. He had turned in his chair to look at the clock in the corner of his own screen, and he had stopped talking altogether.

Nobody in the founders’ room was talking either.

`00:00:10`

James realised he was holding his breath.

`00:00:05`

`00:00:03`

`00:00:02`

`00:00:01`

The numbers changed.

`00:00:00`

The forty-eight hours were over.