by Stephen Makk
“I read it here,” Kevin read from the newspaper.
“The original warship named Holy Ghost was commissioned by Henry V and joined the Royal fleet on 17 November 1415. She saw action in at least two battles during the Hundred Years War. She participated in a naval battle off Harfleur in 1416. The modern HMS Holy Ghost is the Navy’s most powerful nuclear submarine and is an upgrade of the Trafalgar class. She’s armed with Spearfish torpedoes and Harpoon sea skimming missiles.”
“Well, they were going to cut the oil supplies off, serves em right, bollocks to the Ragheads.” Dougie put his empty pint down.
“Ere Kev, get em in.”
RAME HEAD, OFF PLYMOUTH. England.
THE SEA SWELLED IN the early morning light, a periscope appeared then turned through three hundred and sixty degrees. The sea burst aside and a black sail appeared, then a large curved hull. Water ran off her sides, HMS Holy Ghost was back. The hatch opened and fresh air rushed inside the boat. Her black form pushed aside a huge bow wave as she made her way towards the Plymouth breakwater. A rating climbed out of the hatch, attached a black flag to the flagpole on the sail and ran it up into the air. The skull and bones flew proudly in the stiff breeze. The Jolly Roger is flown by British submarines returning from a successful patrol, were enemy vessels have been sunk. The rating saluted the flag and then returned below. Two officers appeared in the sail and conned the boat into the harbour and up to her mooring.
In the control room, Luke was making his log entries. Ratty stored his records to disk and then left. Savita was loading her records to disk as she wrote up her Weapons Officer’s report. Lieutenant Pearl Turner came in to see Lt Commander Cartwright to carry out an overdue medical inspection. She set down her bag.
“Take your shirt off Lt Commander.” Cartwright made a face but did so.
Luke finished his log entries, he stood and turned to leave, then turned back.
“How’s it going Lt Commander Kapoor?” he asked more casually than he felt, “your first time in action.”
“It had its moments didn’t it Sir?” She smiled with those deep brown black pools.
He smiled back.
“It did, didn’t it? I wouldn’t want to do that on every patrol. Still, we’re done now and home. Nearly home I suppose, where are you off to?”
Was he showing an interest she thought? “I’m going to my parents in Coventry first, then to my sisters. She has a cottage in the Malvern Hills, it’s beautiful.” But it would be a lot better if you were there, she thought but didn’t say.
“Sounds great. I’m off back to Manchester, same old, same old.” Part of her said, go on invite him, part of her screamed no, you’ll just make a fool of yourself.
He smiled, “Well I must go. See you soon, have a great time at your sister's place.” He turned and reluctantly left the control room. Lt Commander Cartwright got up to leave his medical now over, he walked aft and climbed the ladder to the sail. Pearl Turner started to pack her bag.
“Are you OK Savita?”
“Yes.”
“Liar.” Savita looked up at her questioningly.
“You’ve a face like a love struck puppy.”
“No.”
“Yes, you have.”
“How do?....”
“I have eyes girl.” Savita looked down. She knew she’d been rumbled.
“It’s difficult Pearl.” She shook head and shrugged.
“Because of his position?” Savita nodded.
“He’s the Captain.”
“What did you want to say to him?”
“To ask him if he wanted to come to my sisters,” she blurted it out. Pearl smiled.
“You both danced around that issue like two teenagers.” Pearl leant over and put her face close to Savita’s.
“What’s more, it’s mutual Savita.” She looked at Pearl in disbelief.
“It is, I know. Believe me, I know men. You should have asked him, he’d have jumped at the chance.”
“I daren’t ask him.”
“Then you’ll never know, you chicken. OK that’s me done, I’ll see you when we get back. Have a good one Savita.” She walked off and made a noise like a chicken clucking. Savita turned back to her console. She’d rarely felt so small and so inadequate.
AFTER TEN MINUTES OR so, she heard someone climbing down from the sail. Luke walked into the control room and smiled at her, she returned a beaming smile but her stomach was a nest of butterflies. She coloured up and swallowed.
“You’re working late Lt Commander.”
“I’m nearly finished now Sir.” Take that smile off your face you silly cow.
“I came back for something, something I needed.” Come on Savita. Ask him you chicken. I can’t, I daren’t. Luke walked over to his conn station. She swallowed and closed her eyes for a few seconds.
“Captain,” she said softly, hesitantly, “I was thinking......”
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MY NOVELS ARE:-
THE TOM HILTON SERIES:
Beneath Sunless Waves. A Fall into Darkness. Deception Abyss. HMS Holy Ghost.
THE USS STONEWALL JACKSON series:
USS Stonewall Jackson. The Spratly Incident. The Black Sea Horde. The Iranian Blockade. The Tiger and the Dragon.
FORBIDDEN. THE REBEL. Ascension. The Kali Option. Grace, Collector of Evil and White Forest Silence.
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION of each follows...
Beneath Sunless Waves.
TO THE SBS IT’S A MISSION. To him, it’s the dilemma from hell.
Lieutenant Tom Hilton did the most wonderful and stupid thing he could ever do with his life; he fell for the enemy. Irina’s a Soviet naval officer and to keep their secret in the KGB’s backyard, Tom must outfox them. The streets of Moscow are a world of subterfuge.
War erupts in the South Atlantic and he’s forced to abandon her. With the Soviets on his tail; Tom leads his dive team into the most dangerous place on Earth. The task is illegal and deniable, but failure is not an option; millions of lives are at stake. With British and Soviet submarines facing each other down like gunfighters; he’s confronted with a choice that can’t be made.
Irina’s back and playing for the opposition. How does he choose? Can he lead his team to success against the odds?
If you like the sound of “Jason Bourne meets The Hunt for Red October.” Join Tom now, in the most dangerous place on Earth.
BENEATH SUNLESS WAVES is Book 1 of the “The Tom Hilton.” series.
BENEATH SUNLESS WAVES is available at:-
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A Fall into Darkness.
SHE FACED RAGNAROK, to the Vikings it was the end of the world. There could only be one winner.
There were signs of a thaw in the cold war, not all were happy with that. On both sides of the Iron curtain, shadowy groups lurked and bided their time. Beneath the swamp of deceit, East and West joined forces.
IRINA, A SOVIET NAVAL officer, uncovers the cabal’s apocalyptic secret.
> In Alaska, 269 souls board a fateful Korean Airlines flight to Seoul.
The day of Ragnarok is nigh.
FOR HER, THE TIME HAS come. However, the cabal had picked the wrong girl.
“I’m Irina Petrenko, and you’re between a rock and a hard place.”
JOIN IRINA NOW, IN the harsh North Pacific, as she battles to prevent Armageddon.
THE SEQUEL TO BENEATH Sunless Waves: A Fall into Darkness. Is Book 2 of the “The Tom Hilton.” series.
A FALL INTO DARKNESS is available at:-
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DECEPTION ABYSS book 3 of the series is available now at:-
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The Kali Option.
NUCLEAR WAR, GUILT and friendship are harsh masters; Marty Lynch is driven by all three. MI6 wanted the Indian Defense Minister taken out to avert nuclear war.
MARTY WAS THEIR MAN. How do you recruit an Ex IRA assassin?
Years ago Marty an IRA Commander, had sent his friend on a mission, his fate was to rot in a foreign jail. MI6 would get him released; at a high price.
“I’ll do it, he’s a dead man,” said Marty.
On the teeming streets of Delhi one of his crack Active Service Unit members is captured by the VKF; a violent extremist faction surrounding the Minister.
LONDON AND SAN FRANCISCO are hours away from nuclear holocaust as Marty wrestles with a clash of cultures to defeat the VKF, take out the Minister, avert the war and rescue his friend.
Is there time to do both? Will he face the impossible choice?
IF YOU READ JACK REACHER or Jason Bourne books, there’s a new man in town.
Pick up your copy now and join Marty Lynch and the boys as they battle to take out their man.
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Forbidden.
FORBIDDEN. IT WAS JOY or pain. Or both.
STUART NEVER IMAGINED himself in such a desolate but beautiful place.
She hadn’t volunteered but had been selected, she knew she’d no real choice.
Cruel fate couldn’t care less.
TOGETHER THEY FACED a terror aeons old; their only option was to confront it deep below.
Their ally is an eccentric artificially intelligent genius, a foul-mouthed, surfing obsessed Hindu. How could she and Stuart handle the unexpected sweet forbidden torture that they found within each other?
BELOW, IT CLIMBED OUT of its pit and hunted them. Can they vanquish the ancient threat to humanity? Can they prevail? Would they survive? The answer lies far away in a desolate but beautiful place.
JOIN THEM NOW, YOU know it’s forbidden. It’ll be joy or pain. Or both.
USA
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KEC2L06
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https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00KEC2L06
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Ascension.
HE WAS AN ASTRONAUT from the Republic of Antarctica, she was a young Swiss woman killed in an accident.
On a cold faraway world, they’d make discoveries that could change humanity. Maya was now a human AI, her cerebral cortex was infused into circuitry.
Maya struggles to reconcile what she now is with who she was. Te Ariki and her were an exploration team, nothing more; until life made the simple complex.
AFTER CROSSING THE void of space, Te Ariki and Maya took an exploration walk on that cold world. With the help of scientists at CERN they begin to uncover revelations concerning humanity’s origins from deep in the mists of time, fusing past, present
and future.
WILL TE ARIKI AND MAYA learn the truth at last? Could Maya find an answer to her own dilemma? Could it be that the truth is inside us all; and is death isn’t really the end?
IF YOU’VE EVER WONDERED about our origins and our place in the universe? Or ever looked up into the night sky in awe; come for a walk of a million years.
USA
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https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01H92B38E
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https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01H92B38E
Australia
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01H92B38E
Grace, Collector of Evil
FOR GRACE, COLLECTING evil is both a gift and a curse. She’s evil’s dark nemesis, but will evil claim her as its victim too?
When Grace discovers that she has a talent for committing vile souls to hell after collecting their evil, she sets herself a task. To rid her hometown Chicago of evil. Along with her Jamaican friend, she employs the dark arts of Voodoo to target sex traffickers, drug dealers and serial killers.
However, she isn’t the only one employing the dark arts. Rapist and murderer Calvin Stoneseeker runs the leading drug gang in Chicago; his evil is the yin to her yang.
Can Grace stop Stoneseeker from wreaking havoc by imposing his sick evil on the city? Or will the evil that she’s containing force its way out and consume her?
Join Grace now, on her quest to collect and quell evil.
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The Rebel.
One woman’s descent into hell. She’d never be the same again.
IN A SOVIET GULAG DESIGNED to break its inmates, Sofia, an innocent girl is imprisoned.
A Gulag corrective labor camp is hell, inmates are worked cold to the brink of starvation. Many die from beatings. There’s rape, psychological abuse and dystopian horror.
There are two sides to the Gulag, the spirit of defiant human flame burns strong in here; how could I rebel and endanger my new friends?
When payback time comes, payback will be hell.
They’d picked the wrong woman... The Rebel.
Sofia’s opponents in the KGB know it’s a fight to the death. It’ll be her or the Gulag.
She’ll need to draw on hidden strengths and stoop to the lowest depths if she’s to prevail.
The system is gunning for Sofia. Will she survive?
Even heroes need allies. Take a stand alongside Sofia.
Discover your inner Rebel. Together, you could break the system forever.
USA
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WNEK092
UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00WNEK092
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PUBLISHED BY STEPHEN Makk in 2019
Copyright © Stephen Makk 2019
Stephen Makk has asserted his right to be identified as the Author of this work under the Copyright, Designs and Patents act 1988.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and witho
ut a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons living or dead is coincidental.