Copyright
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2014
Copyright © Harry Patterson 2014
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2014
Jacket photographs © Slow Images/Getty Images (lighthouse and sea); Shutterstock.com (all other images)
Harry Patterson asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authors imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780007585847
Ebook Edition © December 2014 ISBN: 9780007585854
Version: 2014-12-02
Dedication
In fond memory of my dear mother-in-law,
Sarah Palmer
Rain on the dead
and
wash away their sins
IRISH PROVERB
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Nantucket
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
New York, London, Ireland
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Washington, Paris, London
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Also by Jack Higgins
About the Publisher
NANTUCKET1
The island of Nantucket, Massachusetts high summer, the western end of the harbour crowded with boats, many tied up at the jetty. Among them was a scarlet-and-white sport-fisherman named Dolphin. On the flying bridge, a grey-haired man sat at the wheel playing a clarinet, something plaintive and touching. He was around sixty, a white curling beard giving him the look of an old sailor.
The man who joined him from below, wearing swimming trunks, had dark tousled hair and the beard of some medieval bravo. He was fit and muscular, his smile pleasant enough, his only unusual feature two scars on his left chest which any doctor would have recognized as relics from old bullet wounds.
He spoke in Irish. Big night, Kelly!
The other answered in the same. You could say that. Itll be dark soon, Tod if youre going to grab that swim, itd better be now.
I will. Keep your eye out for that kid, Henry, from the harbourmasters office. Hes bringing our passports and the credit card, so dont forget to speak like the Yank your passport says you are.
He slid down the ladder, vaulted over the rail, and swam away. Kelly heard a call from the dock.
Mr Jackson, are you there?
Kelly descended the ladder. Hes having a swim. Im his partner, Jeremy Hawkins.
Henry handed over the two passports. There you go, sir, Mr Jacksons credit card is in the envelope and your mooring licence covers you until Friday.
Kelly took the package. Thanks, son.
Thats great clarinet I just heard. Kind of sounds like Gershwin, though I dont recognize the tune.
Its an Irish folk song called The Lark in the Clear Air. And youre right, I did put a bit of Gershwin in there.
I think he would have been pleased, sir. Are you and your friend professional musicians?
I was for a while and he does play decent piano, but on the whole we found other things kept getting in the way.
Well, that seems like a damn shame to me, Henry said, and walked away, calling at another boat.
Kelly turned and looked out over the harbour to see how Tod was getting on, and saw him swimming towards a round buoy floating on a chain. Many people were diving or jumping off the boats, some in wet suits, generally having a good time while the light still held.
For his part, Tod stroked the last couple of yards, then grabbed onto the chain, aware of the unmistakable sound of a helicopter descending somewhere in the distance.
He hung there, listening, and two young men erupted from the water, like black seals in their wet suits. They were like twins, darkly handsome, the same wildness apparent in their faces.
The nearest one grabbed the chain and laughed as his brother joined them. Mr Jackson, I recognize you from your photo. Were the ones you came to meet. The Master sends his regards and hopes that success in our venture will make us your favorite Chechens. Im Yanni and this is Khalid.
He had no accent, which his brother explained in a rather mocking tone. Our parents were killed by barbaric Russian soldiers in the Chechen war. The wonderful American Red Cross saved us and our grandparents, and gave us a new life in good old New York.
Where thanks to the public school system, we emerged as normal American teenagers, Yanni said.
Creating a problem for Westerners who expect Muslims to look and sound like Arabs, Khalid said.
So what can Muslims who look like Westerners do? Yanni added.
Why, serve Allah as undercover warriors in the great struggle, his brother said. And here we are. Weve already checked out the house of our target. Its just off the beach, surrounded by trees no problem. An easy one, this.
Why, serve Allah as undercover warriors in the great struggle, his brother said. And here we are. Weve already checked out the house of our target. Its just off the beach, surrounded by trees no problem. An easy one, this.
Tod said, Except that every security camera on every property you passed walking along that beach probably has your faces now.
So well wear ski masks for the hit, Khalid said. Why should it matter as long as the target is dead? Thats all that counts.
They were no longer smiling. Their faces were like death masks, their eyes pinpricks. They were obviously on drugs, which exasperated Tod, though there was no point in mentioning it now.
Im going back to that boat. He indicated the Dolphin. Ill see you there in forty-five minutes.
They didnt reply, simply turned and swam away, and so did he.
Hawkins was Tim Kelly, and Jackson, Tod Flynn, both of them Provisional IRA who had served sentences in the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland for many killings. Released during the peace process, they had become mercenaries. The situations in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, and elsewhere offered highly paid security work and sometimes rather more than that, for Flynn had been a top enforcer with the IRA, and reputation was everything in the Death Trade. It brought the cautious phone calls, the offers of the big money that went with them, and the offer for this present job had been very big.
In the cabin belowdecks, he had a large whiskey, feeling strangely cold, and told Kelly about his meeting with the Chechens. Kelly said, I knew it was a mistake to get involved with sodding Muslims. What are we going to do?
Theres not much we can do, but Ill tell you this. Im putting a pistol in my pocket for when they come, just in case it gets nasty. You should, too, and he hurried away to his cabin.
He showered and dressed, and as he did so, remembered the first time hed heard the Masters voice, filled with quiet authority, and a touch of English upper class.
Would that be Mr Tod Flynn? the voice had asked.
Who wants to know?
Ive just credited your bank account with a hundred thousand dollars. Check for yourself, and Ill be back in fifteen minutes.
Tod frowned, but called his bank and received the happy news that the money had indeed been deposited from a Swiss bank in Geneva.
When the second call came, he said instantly, Who is this?
People know me as the Master. That will do for the moment.
Al Qaeda, Tod said. Everyone in the business knows about you guys and the way you operate. Dont you have enough of your own people to call on? What do you want me for?
Oh, Im a great admirer. That finance man in Nigeria you took care of five hundred yards through an open window of a car doing seventy. Splendid work. I have a list. My favourite was the Russian paratroop general who glanced out of the turret of his tank for a moment during a street battle and you took him at five hundred yards.
Four hundred, Tod said. And it was snowing. So what do you want?
I have a target, living quietly in a house on the island of Nantucket with a manservant. Im sending in a couple of Chechen boys to knock him off. All I need from you is to keep an eye on things and pick them up when theyre done. Youll be waiting in a boat off the beach and theyll swim out to you.
So Im the getaway driver, is that it? Tod laughed harshly. Whats he done, this target?
No need for you to know. Lets just say hes an old enemy.
Tod nodded. And what would be in it for me?
Youve already got one hundred thousand. Thats for you and your friend Kelly. Ill give you another hundred afterwards and take care of your expenses.
As usual, greed won the day. Add another fifty thousand, Tod said. Which rounds it to a quarter of a million, and I expect the full advance before we go.
The man who called himself the Master paused, then said, Agreed.
And Tod, some part of him already regretting it, said, Done. When do we meet?
That will never happen, my friend. Youll have to be content with my voice on the phone. Ill send you a coded mobile with the tickets.
Tim Kelly was shocked when Tod told him about the call. Holy Mary, do we have to get involved with a bunch of Muslims like Al Qaeda?
Youll dance a jig when that money turns up in your bank account, Tod said. Later, he did wonder why the Master wanted him at all. The mystery man had made all the arrangements and the plan itself was simple enough. It was the height of tourist season, and the two assassins would be just another couple of people strolling along by night, carrying beach bags that would contain a couple of silenced Glocks, more than adequate to handle the situation. When they were done, they could just walk away from the scene of silent slaughter, which wouldnt be discovered until morning, long after they had swum out to sea, each with a phosphorescent signalling ball held in his palm to guide in the waiting Dolphin.
It seemed too simple, and Tod couldnt think why, still couldnt as he finished dressing now, and then he heard a disturbance above. He hurried through the cabin, went on deck, and found Kelly switching on all the lights against the hurrying dark. The Chechens were there.
Whats going on? Tod demanded.
These two bastards are cracked, if you ask me, Kelly said. They were sharing a bottle as they came along the jetty. That young guy from the harbourmasters office remonstrated with them as they were boarding. He pointed at Khalid. This one told him to fuck off.
Tod grabbed Khalid by the front of his shirt. Stupid bastard, are you crazy? That kind of trouble is the last thing we need.
Yanni reached in his beach bag and produced a silenced Glock. Touch my brother again and Ill kill you.
Kelly, standing behind them, drew a Walther, but Tod released Khalid, laughing harshly. Go on, do it. Kill both of us, why dont you? Then tell me whos going to wait off that beach to pick you up.
Yanni put the Glock away and smiled falsely. Hey, cant you take a joke, Mr Jackson? Khalid was having a laugh. Like boxers going in the ring for a big fight. You get kind of nervous waiting for the action.
Then I suggest you go, find the action, and get on with it, and well get on with our part of the job.
Yanni laughed out loud. You know something, youre a real funny man, Mr Jackson. I like you, I really do
He gave his brother a push and they scrambled up onto the jetty. Khalid took a bottle from his pocket, held it up, then tossed it into the harbour. Just kidding, Mr Jackson, he said, and they walked away.
Total fruitcakes, Kelly said in disgust. Where the hell did this Master find them? Dont tell me he didnt know they had problems.
Never mind that for now. Weve got half an hour to spare before we have to cast off and go round the coast to wait for them. I could do with coffee and a sandwich, Todd said.
He led the way below, and as they reached the kitchen area, the coded mobile phone the Master had given him trembled. He took it out and switched it to speaker. He turned to Kelly, touched a finger to his lips and waited.
Mr Flynn, Im afraid somethings come up that affects our plans, the voice said.