The Hunt series Boxset 2

by Tim Heath

  As Svetlana moved into the residential unit––the FSB had asked her to stick around, a press conference would be required later, and she would need to be prepared for that––she opened up her computer. Sitting there was the proposal she’d given Filipov not long ago, her ultimate creation for a Games like never before. He’d merely laughed at her. There isn’t the money for that he’d said.

  She opened up the account where the funds from the Bank were recorded. She was the one laughing. She had more than enough now that it was all hers. Nobody besides Filipov knew of the funds or where they were. She controlled them. Now she would control her nation.

  Epilogue

  Anissa returned to work six weeks to the day after seeing her family blown up. Sasha had wondered if that was even the right move. Should she work at all?

  They were now a couple. Sasha had fallen on his feet with Anissa.

  A week before, nothing had been sure. Bethany May’s body had been found at her home. She’d been dead for some time, a few days at most. The milkman, who brought deliveries every other day, had seen the spill on the doorstep the next time he'd dropped off the milk but after the second delivery, the bottles from two days before still there, he had raised the alarm.

  Sasha had questioned Anissa immediately. The time of death could easily have coincided with the one morning that Anissa had seemingly vanished. Sasha had not let her out of his sight since then.

  “You didn’t do it, did you?” She’d been totally convincing, however, having thought it all through. It had been perfectly planned. She explained through tears how she had woken up that morning feeling incredibly guilty. She’d slept with Sasha that night, and she needed to seek permission from her dead husband. Waking early, she had gone to their graves, she told Sasha. She spent the morning there. It had been a time of release, a time of healing.

  She said she loved Sasha and he certainly felt something for her now, too. He was sure he could love her as well. They were an item, of sorts now, anyway.

  “You have to say I was here. They might not believe me if you mention anything to them about me being out that morning. How could I prove I was at the graveside? What would they say about the reason why I’d needed to go?”

  Sasha had covered for her when the inevitable questions came from MI6, though with Bethany's involvement in Russia, Anissa wasn't even the prime suspect. Sasha didn’t want the extra stress of lying to his employers about Anissa, but he had checked with Gordon at MI6, not that he had let Anissa know about it. Gordon confirmed that Anissa had never been in touch. The records were clear that nobody had given Anissa the address for Bethany May, and because of the damaging connection the former Deputy Director General had with MI6, the address was not on record there, either. Bethany was under observation by other departments––probably MI5––and besides, Gordon reassured Sasha that nothing would have been passed to Anissa regarding the woman’s whereabouts, for obvious reasons. It settled the issue for Sasha. Anissa had no access to the database, and May’s details were not there anyway. Nobody had given the agent the woman's address.

  When the autopsy came back with a specific time of death for the morning in question, Sasha confirmed that Anissa was at home then. He didn’t say they were sleeping together. He wanted to protect her.

  Anissa had come back to work a different woman, but she needed the job. The news of the assassination in Russia brought a smile to her face, which she didn't mind showing. Filipov had finally got what was coming. She was relieved and happier, though the absence of Alex continued to niggle, as did the sudden emergence of Svetlana Volkov as the acting-President.

  Svetlana’s first week in power had passed quickly. The media had taken to her in a way she hadn’t expected. She knew what to say in front of the camera, knew how to make men feel empowered, yet she now held all the power. At last, she was in charge. Rad had been recommissioned to head up her personal security, something he was happy to be allowed to do. It kept him in Moscow. Kept him near Nastya. He was due to meet Nastya's uncle and aunt for the first time that coming weekend.

  Svetlana had ordered Putin to be taken to the most secure prison in Russia, the Black Dolphin Prison, in Orenburg, close to the border with Kazakhstan. It held seven hundred of the nation's most dangerous prisoners, somewhere reserved for those serving the rest of their lives behind bars.

  She made a call to St Petersburg. It was high-time another man was moved to the Black Dolphin as well.

  Alex was weak but able to walk the fifty paces needed to get from truck to prison doors, a sculpture passed on his way in––a dolphin rising from the water made from some black material.

  The MI6 agent was heavily guarded. As he got to his cell––the prison had a capacity of seven hundred, all hardened criminals––Alex knew that this was the end of hope, he would never be released. Another newcomer to the prison was looking out through his cell there, the man none other than Putin himself. The two latest inmates locked eyes as they passed. Both knew they shouldn’t be there.

  Seconds later, the heavy steel door slammed shut behind Alex.

  Author Notes and Acknowledgments

  This book is special for me because it marks two very important moments. The first is a conclusion to a series though there is more to come. Keep reading for what I mean by that.

  The most significant reason is that contained in this book is my 1,000,000th published word, and I couldn’t pass this incredible milestone without referring to it.

  I’ve worked out the word, in fact.

  Part of me had pondered rewriting the section once I found the place to make the word become million as I thought it would be a cool idea. That would mean changing the story or flow a little, and actually, when I found the two words that sit between that marker point, they couldn’t have been more fitting, as you’ll see in a moment.

  Imagine putting a line on the page (or your eReader) after the one-millionth word. Which two words now sit either side of the line? These would be the bombing.

  I didn’t need to rewrite anything. They are so poignant, so central to this novel, so fitting for the finale, that they needed to remain.

  So there they are. My one-millionth word and counting.

  Let me put out this disclaimer––it is the one-millionth word using the latest versions of all my already published books. These have changed over time, so it is possible you have a version with more or fewer words, and therefore if calculated, you will come to a different word. It hardly matters, the word itself secondary to the milestone. So I note these words as being correct at the time of the book’s publication. If I change anything, I’ll leave this comment the same, because it was true when written (and I will not keep recounting… once is enough).

  So what did I mean about there being more to come?

  As you have seen from the ending, not everything gets resolved all neat and tidy. There are loose ends that couldn’t be finished rushed. Also, we have a new woman in the Kremlin. I knew this would make a fascinating story. What would Russia look like if a woman was President? And if that woman was Svetlana Volkov…!

  The running title for this book is The Acting President which works on multiple levels. I hope you like the idea. A woman desperate to once more run her own Games is now the President with abundant wealth. So, what will she do, and what type of leader will she be?

  We can’t forget that Alex (and Putin himself) by the end of this book are sitting in Russia’s worst reputation prison and are in the middle of nowhere. Do MI6 try to rescue him, does the new President wish to silence him or perhaps leave him to rot? That story will get covered in The Black Dolphin and will again see the return of your favourite characters.

  If you want…

  For me to write these, I want to read you asking for them in your reviews (Amazon for certain, Goodreads as well is a bonus). Use the titles I’ve given, the characters or just say you want more and I’ll take that as a vote.

  Please don’t see this as a sly way to request revi
ews. It’s not that, but reviews are helpful to authors. It’s also important I write books you want to read. So let me know!

  So what’s coming next? Two more novels will come out these next few months under my pen name T H Paul. I might class them as physiological thrillers, building on from season one in the Penn Friends series and focusing on her twisted rival, a boy named Jack, and someone Penny had a huge role in corrupting. Wait until you understand more. I’ve called the series A Boy Lost.

  I’m also planning to write a special book based around the Estonian song festival and ready (I hope) for the next event, the festival held only every five years, and due again in Tallinn in the summer of 2019. I’ll call it The Song Birds and it promises to be an incredible read with a unique plot. I can’t wait to write it!

  Thanks

  Let me finish by saying thank you to the many amazing people who have helped me produce this book. Thank you once more to my editor, Elizabeth Knight, who turned the text around quickly and helped me pull it into some form of shape. My amazing wife Rachel then read it early on (usually finding all the last changes at a later stage in the process) and it was wonderful seeing you devour the book, enjoying it as much as anything I’ve written. For that, I’m excited to launch the book, knowing others will experience your enthusiasm, too. You were recovering from another operation when you read the draft. You are so strong and such an amazing woman!

  Thank you to Taaniel, my Estonia designer, for the terrific cover (I’m not sure you ever see these comments but I’m grateful all the same).

  Thank you to my advanced reader teams, with special mention once more to Fraser Drummond, who has a brilliant eye for catching anything that sneaks through.

  Anything that remains is my fault, but I trust it hasn’t affected your enjoyment.

  Finally, thank you, the reader––for whom I spend my time crafting these books, telling stories designed to entertain and help you unwind, to give you an escape and that moment of being lost in a world that’s different from your own. Every review, every purchase, every comment and encouragement, every time you recommend my books to a friend, a million thanks! To go along with my million words…

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  The Novels by Tim Heath

  Novels:

  Cherry Picking

  The Last Prophet

  The Tablet

  The Shadow Man

  The Prey (The Hunt #1)

  The Pride (The Hunt #2)

  The Poison (The Hunt #3)

  The Machine (The Hunt #4)

  The Menace (The Hunt #5)

  The Meltdown (The Hunt #6)

  The Song Birds (Coming June 2019)

  Short Story Collection:

  Those Geese, They Lied; He’s Dead

  The Boxsets––Tim Heath

  Buy in bulk––and save!

  The Hunt Series (Books 1-3) - The Prey, The Pride, The Poison

  The Hunt Series (Books 4-6) - The Machine, The Menace, The Meltdown

  Tim Heath Thriller Collection––4 Stand-Alone Novels - Cherry Picking, The Last Prophet, The Tablet, The Shadow Man

  The Boxsets––T H Paul

  Twenty-four interconnected novellas (when completed)!

  Penn Friends Series (Books 1-4) –– Season One Volume One

  Penn Friends Series (Books 5-8) –– Season One Volume Two

  A Boy Lost Series (Books 1-4) –– Season Two Volume One

  A Boy Lost Series (Books 5-8) –– Season Two Volume Two

  About the Author

  Tim has been married to his wife Rachel since 2001, and they have two daughters. He lives in Tallinn, Estonia, having moved there with his family in 2012 from St Petersburg, Russia, which they moved to in 2008. He is originally from Kent in England and lived for eight years in Cheshire, before moving abroad. As well as writing the novels that are already published (plus the one or two that are always in the process of being finished) Tim enjoys being outdoors, exploring Estonia, cooking and spending time with his family.

  For more information:

  www.timheathbooks.com

  tim@timheathbooks.com