Rogue Wolves E-Book

James Quinn

• Herausgeber: Next Chapter
• Kategorie: Abenteuer, Thriller, Horror
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

He is known as The Master. A spy, double agent and freelance assassin, he has been at the top of his game for decades. The Master has worked for Nazis, Communists, intelligence agencies and terrorists alike. No one knows his true identity.

Now, the world's most secretive assassin has disappeared, and several intelligence networks want him captured, interrogated and "redacted".

Jack Grant, now a contract agent for the French Secret Service, is assigned to track the Master down. Hot on his heels is a deadly and beautiful CIA bounty hunter who's more than capable of hunting down both of them.

But the Master has an agenda of his own, and he's ready to begin a war that will engulf them all.

Leseprobe

Rogue Wolves

The Redaction Chronicles Book 3

James Quinn

Copyright (C) 2018 James Quinn

Layout design and Copyright (C) 2019 by Next Chapter

Published 2019 by Next Chapter

Edited by Lorna Read

Cover art by http://www.thecovercollection.com/

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the author's permission.

Also by James Quinn

A GAME FOR ASSASSINS

THE CHRISTMAS ASSASSIN

SENTINEL FIVE

GORILLA WARFARE

For Niki, Without whom the brave and beautiful Eunice 'Nikita' Brown would not exist. xxx

“We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness” Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

CLASSIFIED: TOP SECRET

OPERATIONAL/INTELLIGENCE/SOURCE – INTERNAL TERMINOLOGY PROTOCOLS/2846457

Rogue Wolf: an operative, agent or source that has violated orders and is classed as out of control by their parent intelligence network.

Redaction: terminology used to describe the assassination and state-sanctioned killing of enemy operatives, extremists and rogue agents.

Prologue

Antigua, Caribbean – September 1965

The diver had spent the past week swimming along the same stretch of the Antiguan coastline. It was a beautiful stretch; clear waters, perfect vacation brochure beaches, quiet atmosphere. It was the perfect place to relax and maybe even to retire to. One day…

And why not? he was older now, with the free time and resources to be able to do that. Maybe he would retire here completely, leave the USA behind once and for all. Maybe write a novel here? Be like that Fleming guy and write spy stories. Well, they did say write what you know about. Didn't they?

Richard Higgins had once been one of the CIA's shining stars – in fact, he had risen to the lofty heights of Assistant to the Deputy Director of Operations. He had been a Cold Warrior of the old school. A spy's spy.

Until the fall….

To him, the fall was born out of duty and the desire to do the right thing. Some people, he was sure, viewed it as an act of revenge. And while many may have secretly sympathised with him, as professionals, they would cast a disapproving eye.

Richard Higgins lifted his body out of the warm water and looked around at the coastline. There was nothing for miles, only tranquillity and peace. The only other 'neighbour' was a small sailing boat, bobbing about, anchored a mile away in the distance. It was seemingly empty.

Should he go for another swim? Perhaps a bit further this time, maybe out towards the edge of the reef. Why not? Swimming was part of his daily exercise regime while he vacationed here. He jumped in the water again, feeling it swirl around his body and began to swim away from the shore with powerful strokes.

The 'fall' had been forced upon him. The illegal operation that he had been a part of had come unstuck, the sources blown and the operation had come to the attention of the CIA. Higgins was left between a rock and a hard place.

He had been called in and grilled by the interrogators from the Agency's Office of Security. He had held out as long as he could but it was a wasted effort. They already knew everything, anyway. It was a cluster-fuck.

Then, while sitting in his interrogation room, at the 'Farm', the CIA's secure compound in Virginia, the door had opened and in had walked his erstwhile boss, the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, Roy Webster. Webster was the second in command of the entire Agency, answering only to the Director of Central Intelligence himself.

He had hated Webster on sight.

Higgins had been given a choice. Tell us what you know and we let you retire gracefully and with full pension. Fuck us about and you'll spend the rest of your life in the Penitentiary.

So of course he did as he was told. Really, he had no choice. His accomplices were dead and the illegal operation was blown sky-high. Better to retire with a few dollars to spend and try to rebuild his life post-Agency than to fight for a losing cause. He signed the usual confidentiality agreement stating that if he ever spoke out and embarrassed the CIA or the American government, he would be buried in the deepest and darkest hole they could find.

So his life over the past four months had consisted of long walks, vacations and very little else. But he was okay, he could adapt… eventually.

He had made it out to the farthest part from the beach; any further and he would be hitting the open ocean. For a man in his sixties, Higgins was wise enough to know his physical limitations and he decided to turn back, satisfied that for today, at least, his physical exercise was complete. Besides, it was nearly lunchtime and all this exercise had made him ravenous.

It was when he was halfway back that he suddenly felt a huge tug on his leg, causing him to be pulled beneath the waves. His first thought was shark attack! But even in the shock of the moment, his mind was aware enough to know that there was no pain in his leg from a shark bite, no blood, nothing. It was as if he had been grabbed by a giant octopus.

The shock of suddenly being pulled beneath the waves by this strong force made him gasp involuntarily and, as a consequence, he pulled a large amount of water into his lungs. He started to panic, his arms flailing, and his legs desperately trying to kick out as he was sucked down into the depths.

But he couldn't kick out. Whatever it was that had him was incredibly strong and was pulling him further and further down. He looked around, letting his eyes acclimatise to being underwater, trying to see what kind of beast was determined to drag him down to a watery grave. He blinked and saw, not a monster of the ocean, but a human form wearing goggles, breathing apparatus and flippers.

A frogman!

The eyes behind the mask were invisible and the panicked reflection of Richard Higgins was the only thing that shone in them. The frogman was huge, strong, and powerful. He took a hold further up Higgins's legs, so that he had both of them wrapped up in one strong arm, restricting the panicking man's attempts to swim back to the surface.

The only thing that Higgins could do now was to flail his arms to try to give himself some power. But his strength was ebbing, he was worn out, the last trickles of adrenaline had left his system and his body's oxygen reserves were almost zero.

The frogman, aware of Higgins's situation, jerked on his body once more and began to pull him down towards the ocean floor. Once they had reached the bottom, and with Higgins exhausted, the huge frogman clamped one powerful hand around Higgins's throat and pushed him down on his back, onto the ocean floor.

Higgins tried to gather up a last ounce of strength to fight back, but he knew it was useless. The frogman's hand was holding him in place, choking him, knowing that it would be mere seconds before death would come for his victim.

The frogman continued to press down, putting his full weight onto the man's body. Higgins bucked and kicked a few more times, then, as his body went limp, the frogman began to relax the pressure. He knew that as soon as he released his grip on the dead man's throat, the body would start to rise to the surface. The frogman estimated that the dead man would be found washed up on the beach further down the coast at the next turning of the tide.

And then it was done. The frogman let go and simply swam away in a different direction, leaving the drowned corpse to its own devices.

Almost a mile away, the frogman climbed out of the water and into his little rowing boat that he had anchored up the coast. He stood to his full height of just over six foot five and stripped off his diving gear, wetsuit and goggles. Then he dried himself off and put on shorts, deck shoes, short-sleeved shirt and sunglasses. He had transformed himself into just another vacationer.

His task, as requested by the CIA, was complete. It was the easiest million dollars that he had earned in a long time. He had been given the contract and had almost smiled at how easy it would be. No need for weapons, ammunition or any of the other tools of covert assassination. No, not this time. All that was needed was timing and pure brute strength. And he had that in spades.

His other great skill was that he was able to make organised murder look like either an accident or natural causes. In this case, the body of the dead man would be found and it would be assumed that he had simply swum out too far and drowned, or had a heart attack.

He cared not.

But what he did care about was who he had killed today.

The Agency had informed him that his target was a low-level agent who had blown an operation in Europe and needed to be removed. The name had been Phillip John, an American black market dealer in Berlin. But the moment that he had seen the photograph of his target, he knew instantly who the man really was. He knew because it was his job to know and that was why he was the best in the business.

The target had been the Assistant to the DDO, Richard Higgins. The CIA had ordered the murder of one of its own senior officers. Now, that was a useful piece of intelligence that he had acquired… very useful indeed. Who knew, maybe one day he would be able to use that snippet of information for his own gain.

But for now, he would store it in his vast memory, along with all the other useable intelligence that he had of the assassinations, espionage and general skulduggery that he had performed for the great and the good of the secret intelligence war.

Chapter One

Palais de la Méditerranée Casino, Nice – March 1973

The casino at 3 a.m. was a subdued bustle of activity, tension and devil-may-care opportunity for the rich and powerful of Nice. It was half empty, the frivolous players having long ago retired to their hotels, suites and villas and only the most steadfast gamblers still remained.

It was a world that Jack 'Gorilla' Grant had skirted around the edges of many times in his life, but had never belonged to and probably never would. In truth, he had no desire to, either. To him, being here dressed in dinner jacket and black tie in the early hours of the morning was just a job, nothing more. It was certainly not a place he would want to frequent by choice. In many ways, he regarded himself as something of an inverted snob.

And what a job it was! He sipped at his glass of heavily watered down Black Label and turned his attention to the centre roulette table, one of six ornate tables that made up the main room. There was the usual assortment of old gamblers and losers, once-rich aristocrats now hoping to reclaim their former fortunes by luck and chance. But it was the man at the head of the centre table that drew the eye.

He was of Hungarian descent, corpulent and middle-aged. His tie had been loosened and, even at this distance, it was obvious that he was sweating beneath the fine cut of his expensive suit. And while his face smiled openly, his eyes had the dead look of a midnight torturer.

Scattered about at various points in the vicinity were the Hungarian's bodyguard team. They did nothing to blend in and, in Gorilla's not so humble opinion, a blind man could have spotted them a mile away. Gorilla thought the protection team were flagging. He knew that they had been on the go for several days now on their entertainment jaunt to the South of France. For them, it had been a whirlwind of excursions, lunch dates followed by hours of hanging around the hotel of the 'Principal', and then off out again for dinner at one of the most exclusive restaurants in Nice, before finally spending the last three nights at the casino. Add in the odd French hooker and the Hungarian kept his security detail on pretty much a full-time itinerary.

Up until recently, the Hungarian had been a colonel in his country's security apparatus, but a recent defection to the French Secret Service, along with a host of intelligence 'product' that he had brought with him, had turned him into the SDECE's new best friend.

Gorilla had been assigned this job several days early, presumably after the Hungarian had spent weeks locked away with his case officers, being de-briefed somewhere. This was the Hungarian's treat for being a good boy. Grant wasn't part of the 'official' protection team. The Hungarian's bodyguards had been supplied by the DST, the French internal Security Service. Gorilla thought that they looked sloppy and off their game, too busy chatting, preening themselves and being distracted by every woman that walked across the casino floor. Well, they were French after all.

Gorilla was there as the eyes and ears of the French Secret Service, the SDECE. They needed a good man on point, able to keep an eye out should things get a bit violent and he was the contract man that people came to when things got unpleasant. He was also deniable if anything went wrong.

The bodyguards and the Hungarian didn't even know of his existence. He was doing what he was good at, keeping out of sight, staying hidden and watching the scene with his gunman's eyes. In the trade, Gorilla's role was known as protective surveillance. If anything went down, the bodyguards would be there to whisk their VIP away to safety and protect him – or take a bullet for him.

Gorilla, on the other hand, was there to run interference and do the killing of the assassin, quietly and unofficially, then disappear into the shadows once more. Beneath his jacket he had an official SDECE identification card in a false name and a 9mm Heckler & Koch P9 semi-automatic pistol.

He had a perfect vantage point on the upper balcony, with a clear view of the gaming tables and the patrons of the casino. He could see the winners, the losers, the grifters and the hookers, all keen to latch onto the gentleman who had just had a big win. From a professional point of view, it was unparalleled. He had his back to the wall, perfect vision on the access and entry points, and if, God forbid, he should have to draw and fire, he had a perfect sniper point to take anyone down.

But for now, everything looked normal. The gamblers were gambling, the bodyguards were pretty much switched off and the Principal looked happy, especially now that his 'date' for the evening, a tall, lithe blonde woman in her thirties, was snaking her arms around his waist in a seductive way.

Gorilla took one more sip of his drink. It was good, but it would be the only one he would have tonight. Alcohol slowed you down, made your reactions foggy and, in Gorilla's line of work, seconds counted. Gorilla's mantra had always been that seconds could be the difference between a bullet in your head, or in the enemy's head.

He glanced down as the cheer from the main table filled the subdued atmosphere of the room. Evidently the Hungarian had just won big! He was clapping his hands together like a fat child about to be let loose on a cake. The blonde hooker had slithered her way around to his front and was kissing him while his hands were running over her ass.

He took a last sip at his drink and reflected on his working career. Over the past few years, things had gone well for Jack 'Gorilla' Grant. He had been recruited by the French several years earlier, after a series of prolonged meetings over many months, to work for them as a contract agent. He wasn't a full-time staffer, there was no way that the SDECE hierarchy would allow that, but for an experienced field agent and Redactor like Gorilla Grant, there were always rules that could be bent, if not broken, to ensure that he was on board.

His reputation as an expert small arms specialist had preceded him and the French were always involved in some kind of skulduggery where an experienced assassin was needed. So far, it had been an interesting three years for him. He had an apartment in Paris, the pay was good and the 'jobs' were interesting, to say the least.

He returned to his chore of scanning the crowd once more and observing his VIP for the night. It was then that it happened. And later, when his senses had returned to him and he was able to analyse the events clearly, he remembered that it was when the Hungarian threw his cards down on the gaming table that the event happened.

Because, at that exact moment, the explosives beneath the gaming tables in the casino all detonated at the same time. There was the deafening crump of the explosion, then the numerous blast waves, a brief smell of airborne chemicals from the plastique… and then the screaming started.

Up on the balcony, the blast had shattered the cocktail bar and had thrown Gorilla backwards, knocking a nearby table over onto him. But even in the fugue from the blast, he was still professional enough to roll with the shockwave and have his weapon drawn and up, looking for targets.

He rolled onto the flat of his stomach, the upturned table offering cover and concealment for now. He flicked off the safety and kept his finger off the trigger until he saw a possible target. His ears were ringing still and the smell of smoke and burning flesh was nauseating. He could just make out the brutalised remains of the cocktail waiter and barman who had served him only moments before.

Ignoring the scene of horror mere feet away, he forced himself to snake forward on his belly to peer down at the charnel house that lay beneath him. It was a maelstrom of bodies and blood. The explosives, while not large, had done enough damage in a small space to decimate the majority of the patrons of the casino. A woman in a blue cocktail dress had lost most of her lower limbs and was screaming, a tall black man was spread-eagled across a chair, clearly dead, his face peppered with metal. Elsewhere, bodies were strewn at unnatural and ugly angles.

Then, at the far end of the room, the main doors to the gaming room slowly opened, causing the smoke to billow upwards in the draught. It was a dramatic entrance, almost biblical in its grandeur, thought Gorilla. He watched as three killers, armed with stubby-looking machine-pistols, moved in formation, spreading out across what was left of the large gaming room. Gorilla noted with a professional eye that they looked alert and precise. One man was guarding the exit door, ready to move or kill, while the others scattered around the room, looking for any survivors, fingers off their triggers but barrels pointed and ready.

Then, through the black smoke of the fire, another figure emerged. One that was tall, slender and masculine and, like his cohorts, dressed in an expensive business suit. His face was covered in a black balaclava which completely hid his identity and in his hand he held a Russian-made Tokarev pistol.

He gave a murmured order to his tame gunmen and they set about moving among the dying and the wounded – executing them one by one. Single bangs reverberated around the room, followed by screams, followed by more shots.

The tall figure carefully made his way through the abattoir of bodies until he reached what was left of the centre gaming table. He reached down with one leather-gloved hand and lifted back a quarter of the wooden frame. Beneath it, disfigured but still very much alive, was the body of the Hungarian. The man was panting deeply; his body was hyperventilating and his clothes were covered in the blood and fleshy remains of his blonde escort. The hooker had taken the brunt of the blast.

The tall figure crouched down and carefully, almost lovingly, wiped away with a gloved finger a smear of blood that had coagulated in the Hungarian's eye.

“I… I told them nothing. I swear…” said the Hungarian, through blood-encrusted lips.

The assassin gazed down at the burnt and broken man and said clearly, “Colonel, you did well to survive our little booby-traps. However, it is of no consequence. To betray me is to court death… and death has found you.”

There was a moment of understanding on the Hungarian's face. The massacre in the casino had been carried out purely in order to get near to him and kill him. The assassin took a small, match-box-sized device from his jacket pocket and carefully placed it onto the Hungarian's forehead. He then squeezed the side of the box to activate the device and stood well back. The amount of explosives inside the box was small, minimal; it wouldn't even have blasted open a lock on a door.

But against a human head it was devastating. One moment the Hungarian was staring back at his killer in horror, the next, there was a pop and the Hungarian's head had blown apart, leaving a bloody pulp from the neck up.

Game on, thought Gorilla, as he raised his weapon, took a bead on the nearest gunman below him and fired, taking him out with a single, clean head shot. The killer dropped. Gorilla quickly turned his aim to the man nearest to the doors. The H&K barked three more times as he put rounds into the killer's chest.

The final gunman was in position behind a marble pillar, but, with the execution of his team members, he had quickly sprung into action, darting for cover. It was only the tall assassin who remained stock still. He simply raised his weapon and pointed it in the direction of where the shots from the balcony had been fired from. He held his fire as, from that position, he wouldn't have been able to see the person shooting down on him anyway. Instead, he simply held the weapon in place, finger ready on the trigger in case a target presented itself.

He looks like he doesn't care if he could be killed or not. That's some control, reflected Gorilla. Seconds later, he heard the heavy pounding of footsteps on the staircase that led to the upper balcony.

Gorilla knew what was coming. He was ready. He simply rolled onto his back, braced his feet against the floor, knees bent, and punched out the H&K two-handed along the length of his body, between the 'V' made by his thighs. His trigger finger was ready.

A figure wearing sunglasses and business suit emerged at speed towards the top of the staircase. Gorilla just had enough time to make out the shape of an unidentified machine-pistol before he fired, taking out the front of the gunman's cranium. The killer slithered to the floor and Gorilla heard the sickening thuds of his body rolling slowly back down the staircase.

With the last gunman down, Gorilla rolled onto his stomach, then nimbly jerked his body up so that he was kneeling, protected behind the stone balustrade. He risked a glance and just in time caught the back of the tall assassin moving out through the service exit. As an afterthought, the man discarded the balaclava over his shoulder and went on his way, out into the night.

Gorilla Grant was up and running, hitting the staircase, taking the steps three at a time, one hand guiding him on the handrail and one hand holding the H&K out front as a precaution. He hit the lower floor running, dodging in and out of the bodies and heading for the same service exit that the assassin had used. He shoulder-barged the exterior door open, his weapon up and searching for targets.

The service exit led out into a side street at the rear of the Casino. He led with his pistol up and ready, scanning the dark street ahead of him. Nothing. Gorilla moved quickly, expertly, knowing that time was of the essence here. He searched the corners of the adjacent doorways, but again, nothing.

He had a simple choice – left or right? The right led into a warren of side streets that made up the bulk of the buildings in the centre of Nice. The left led to the seafront and the beach. His reasoning told him that it should be to the right. After all, the assassin could get lost in the mazelike streets relatively easily, especially in the dark. But… there was something nagging at him. Call it a gut instinct, and Gorilla Grant liked gut instincts; they had kept him alive on many occasions.

He paused for a second, slowed his breathing and listened calmly. Nothing… nothing…. nothing… and then there it was – footsteps moving at speed. In the distance for sure, faint, but heading off to his left, to the beach, to an escape route.

His instincts took over immediately. He removed the old magazine from the H&K and slammed in a full one. A quick check to ensure that the weapon had a round in the chamber and he was off, running as fast as he could, determined to catch his quarry.

The speedboat that was waiting for the assassin was a Phantom Venom 4-seater. It was small and it was fast and Gorilla knew that if the tall assassin reached his escape vessel, he would be gone within seconds.

Gorilla had made it to the end of the dark side street and he burst onto the brightly lit main seafront. The first thing that he was aware of was the small number of passers-by coming to look at the smoke drifting up from the casino windows and, in the distance, the blare of sirens. The second thing was the dead DST bodyguards strewn over the official vehicles. Then his eyes sought out his target, the tall assassin. The man, his features still hidden to Gorilla, was walking calmly and purposefully down onto the beach and towards the waiting speedboat that was bobbing in the surf.

No fucking way, sunshine, thought Gorilla. You may think you have control of this, but I'm here to spoil your day.

Gorilla sprinted across the road, ignoring the late-night revellers who gawped at the sight of an armed man running at night, and jumped down onto the sand no more than twenty feet away from the assassin. Gorilla had the H&K P9 up and aimed. He had the back of the unknown assassin in his sights. He was lined up and ready when suddenly, the assassin did the strangest thing. It was almost as if he knew that Gorilla was there – almost as if he was expecting him. The assassin turned and threw what Gorilla thought was a grenade.

Gorilla instinctively flinched and dived off to the side, landing hard on the sand, trying to avoid the inevitable shrapnel from the explosion. But this was no grenade that could kill and maim. At the last minute, Gorilla was aware of a small black object, the size of a soup can, landing mere feet away from him. Then instantly, there was a loud bang and a flash of blinding white light and, for the second time that night, Gorilla Grant's hearing and senses were temporarily knocked out. It was a stun grenade; non-lethal but effective, designed to disorientate, nothing more.

Seconds later, the tall figure was standing over him, a silhouette against the white of the moon. The voice, when it spoke, was surprisingly deep, cultured and accented, like that of a European gentleman addressing an underling. Its tone was kind but authoritative.

“I understand that you are the new me?” said the assassin.

Gorilla, his hearing starting to return but still fading in and out, managed to make out the words, “the new me”. What did that mean? He flicked his head around and saw his H&K P9 lying on the sand next to him. If he was fast, he could reach it. He felt sure he could. He could end this now!

“I don't take too kindly to people trying to take my crown. It has been earned over many years and it is not for you to take, Gorilla Grant,” said the assassin. Gorilla inched his hand along in the sand… inches away from the pistol… within reach, really… but his eyes never left the outline of the tall man standing above him.

“Young upstarts must be taught a lesson. So here, let me be your teacher for tonight.”

The shot was fast and literally came out of nowhere. Gorilla had been aware of the flicking of the elbows, a single flash as the gun barked, and then the pain in his hand. The pain was searing and he lost his mind and howled – whether in fury or agony, even he did not know. His hand! The bastard had put a 9mm sized hole in the back of his hand! Gorilla knew instantly what that meant. Small arms specialists like him with mangled hands were done, over, retired. Dead.

Through tear-filled eyes, he glared at the assassin above him. “Come on, you bastard, just finish it. You've taken my hand so finish me off for good. Bullet to the head. Just get on with it,” said Gorilla, snarling.

The assassin stared for a moment longer, as if unsure what to do, then lowered the gun and slipped it beneath his jacket. He remained staring down at his prey, considering the bloodstained man before him. The moment of calm was broken by the inevitable blare of police and ambulance sirens in the streets above, heading to the carnage at the casino. The assassin picked up the discarded H&K P9 and threw it wildly behind him, out into the surf.

“Try to follow me and you die, Grant. You have my word on that,” he warned.

Then slowly, calmly, he began to walk out into the surf, the water lapping around his waist as he reached the boat. A second figure rose and held out a hand, hoisting the assassin over the side and into the body of the vessel. There was a gunning of the engines as it started to move away from the shore. The figure of the assassin stood proud, unafraid and in silhouette against the dark moonlit night.

Why didn't he kill me? wondered Gorilla. He had no answers. All he had was agonising pain and the realisation that he had been bested. He could do no more than watch as the speedboat began to gather pace and within seconds, it had disappeared into the night.

Chapter Two

LeGrand Clinic, Switzerland – July, 1973

The LeGrand Clinic was ideally nestled amidst the breathtaking mountains and basked in the clean air of the Swiss Alps. It was a private clinic that offered in its literature, 'the best in top musculoskeletal rehabilitation, healthy aging and holistic repair'. It was one of the finest private hospitals on the planet and its clientele were composed of the rich and the privileged who paid for exclusivity and cutting-edge medical treatment.

The fifty room private clinic (complete with state-of-the-art hospital facilities) boasted a Five Star restaurant, well equipped fitness room and a movie theatre and was set amid well-manicured lawns complete with heated swimming pools. In the background, the magnificent snow-crested Alps stood like a guardian to protect the recovering patients. It was a relaxing haven in an otherwise turbulent world and all serviced by an attentive and professional staff.

Jack Grant sat on the open-air terrace, wrapped in a quilted winter ski jacket. LeGrand staff had provided all of these (for a fee) to ensure the safety and comfort of the clinic's clients. A half drunk cup of dark roasted coffee sat on the table before him. His mirrored sunglasses reflected the vista of the nearby mountains and his stillness could have appeared unnerving to the casual observer. He looked like a wealthy businessman taking a moment to reflect upon his recent medical misfortunes, but glad in the knowledge that he had found sanctuary at the LeGrand.

In truth, he was bored. Jesus, this place was numbing his brain!

The past four months had been an exercise in frustration for him. Since his last mission that had ended with the shootout on the beach in Nice, Jack Grant had been mothballed by the SDECE. As far as the French were concerned, he was a busted contract agent – literally and figuratively. His gun hand was shot to hell, hence the series of operations and subsequent physical therapy here at the LeGrand, and he suspected that the reason that they had kept him 'out of the way', here in the clinic in the Alps, was because they were seeing if he had lost his nerve. They wanted to see if the Gorilla was a man who could still offer them something.

The only good thing was that the French had agreed to pick up the tab and get him fixed up with the best surgeons in Europe. They obviously still rated the Gorilla's worth in that sense. After all, every agent has a fuck-up from time to time. It's normal; it's part of the game. The most important thing is that they can come back from it. After all, a gunman and intelligence agent who can't do the job any more would quickly find himself out of work… or worse.

There was no retirement plan in this game, no later life benefits. You worked and worked and retired under your own steam, or you ended up dead. Not that he was planning on retiring any time soon; he had too many good years left in him, busted gun hand or not. And he certainly wasn't planning on leaving the business in a wooden box, either.

He drained the last of his coffee and got to his feet. He had had enough of staring at fucking mountains for one day, so he decided to walk across the gardens and back to his suite. He took his time and ambled. He was in no hurry to return to his luxury room overlooking a stream. In a very real sense, it had become his cell. He felt trapped here and wanted to get back to his own life, his own apartment in Paris… to get back to the work he did best.

He spoke to his daughter twice a week, calling her private boarding school in Hampshire. Since his sister had passed away two years ago, Katy had been even more determined to have her father, her family, around her as much as she could. Grant had stepped up to the mark and between them, they had reached a happy medium. It wasn't perfect, and it wasn't the life that he truly wanted for her but, for the moment, it worked.

Katy still thought that her father was an executive for one of the big oil companies, travelling all over the world, and he was happy to let her carry on believing that. They had the odd weekend away at the end of term, sometimes at his apartment in Paris, sometimes over to the USA, occasionally to Spain for a beach break.

He was extremely proud of her and always enquired after how she was doing at school, what she liked, who her friends were. So far, her big things were science, David Bowie and horse-riding, but not necessarily in that order of importance. They had formed a bond over recent years that he never thought would have been possible; the gruff, world-weary dad and the pretty thirteen-year-old. God, he missed her.

He walked past the reception, nodded to the receptionist and glanced over several brochures in the card holder. Apparently, a Card Club was being held that night – jeez! He was seriously thinking about organising an escape club to see if they could make it over the border!