SCOTT MARIANI
The Moscow Cipher
Copyright
Published by Avon an imprint of
HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street,
London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018
Copyright © Scott Mariani 2018
Cover photographs © Getty Images
Cover photographs © Arcangel
Cover design © Henry Steadman 2018
Scott Mariani 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.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780007486250
Ebook Edition © May 2018 ISBN: 9780007486434
Version 2020-01-22
Join the army of fans who LOVE Scott Marianis Ben Hope series
Deadly conspiracies, bone-crunching action and a tormented hero with a heart Scott Mariani packs a real punch
Andy McDermott, bestselling author of The Revelation Code
Slick, serpentine, sharp, and very very entertaining. If youve got a pulse, youll love Scott Mariani; if you havent, then maybe you crossed Ben Hope
Simon Toyne, bestselling author of the Sanctus series
Scott Marianis latest page-turning rollercoaster of a thriller takes the sort of conspiracy theory that made Dan Browns The Da Vinci Code an international hit, and gives it an injection of steroids [Mariani] is a master of edge-of-the-seat suspense. A genuinely gripping thriller that holds the attention of its readers from the first page to the last
Shots Magazine
You know you are rooting for the guy when he does something so cool you do a mental fist punch in the air and have to bite the inside of your mouth not to shout out YES! in case you get arrested on the train. Awesome thrilling stuff
My Favourite Books
If you like Dan Brown you will like all of Scott Marianis work but you will like it better. This guy knows exactly how to bait his hook, cast his line and reel you in, nice and slow. The heart-stopping pace and clever, cunning, joyfully serpentine tale will have you frantic to reach the end, but reluctant to finish such a blindingly good read
The Bookbag
[The Cassandra Sanction] is a wonderful action-loaded thriller with a witty and lovely lead in Ben Hope I am well and truly hooked!
Northern Crime Reviews
Mariani is tipped for the top
The Bookseller
Authentic settings, non-stop action, backstabbing villains and rough justice this book delivers. Its a romp of a read, each page like a tasty treat. Enjoy!
Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author
I love the adrenalin rush that you get when reading a Ben Hope story The Martyrs Curse is an action-packed read, relentless in its pace. Scott Mariani goes from strength to strength!
Book Addict Shaun
Scott Mariani seems to be like a fine red wine that gets better with maturity!
Bestselling Crime Thrillers.com
Marianis novels have consistently delivered on fast-paced action and The Armada Legacy is no different. Short chapters and never-ending twists mean that you cant put the book down, and the high stakes of the plot make it as brilliant to read as all the previous novels in the series
Female First
Scott Mariani is an awesome writer
Chris Kuzneski, bestselling author of The Hunters
I want a new invincible human being, insensitive to pain, resistant and indifferent about the quality of food they eat.
Joseph Stalin, 1925
One may imagine that a man can create a man, not only theoretically but practically a man who can fight without fear, compassion or pain. What I have just described might be worse than a nuclear bomb.
Vladimir Putin, 92 years later
A man does not have the right to develop his own mind. We must electrically control the brain. Some day armies and generals will be controlled by electric stimulation of the brain.
José Delgado, neuroscientist and pioneer of
Intracranial Radio Stimulation, paper presented to
US Congressional hearings on the Central
Intelligence Agencys MK-ULTRA mind control
program, 1975
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Praise
Epigraph
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
The Ben Hope series
Keep Reading
About the Author
By the Same Author:
About the Publisher
PROLOGUE
The city was Moscow and the date was February 10th 1957. It was to be the last night in Leo Ingrams life, although he didnt yet know it.
The bitter cold day was turning to a frigid evening as the deserted streets darkened, urging Ingram to turn up the collar of his heavy greatcoat and walk faster along the slippery pavement. His shoes were sodden from trudging through the dirty slush. The whistling wind carried flurries of snow that threatened to re-cover everything in white.
Ingram detested the unrelenting cold, as he detested the palpable fear and oppression that gripped this city. He could see it in the eyes of the people everywhere he went; could almost feel it oozing from the grey, dirty, ice-rimed streets themselves; and the same fear was pulsing deep inside his own heart that night as he carried out his mission.