Shadow of the Rock (Spike Sanguinetti)

by Mogford, Thomas

  ‘How about Toby Riddell? How could you know that –’

  ‘Riddell would just have followed the pay cheque,’ Solomon said. ‘A mere foot soldier, Spike, same as you. Same as most people.’ He removed a BlackBerry from the pocket of his chinos. ‘It’s hardly a fucking war crime, anyway,’ he muttered as he twisted the cog. ‘Christ. Get over it.’

  With a slide of the thumb, Spike clicked off the record button on his phone and walked back up to the path. A cluster of stone-pine saplings had seeded themselves in the scrub; Spike drew their resinous, Mediterranean perfume deep into his lungs as he found play on the handset and put it to his ear. Solomon’s voice returned unencumbered by ambient noise: ‘You’re always one step ahead . . .’

  Switching off the recording, Spike dialled Jessica Navarro’s number. As he waited for her to pick up, he stared out from the Rock. The sun had finally gone and the Straits were cast in shadow. Spike looked away and continued up the path.

  A Note on the Author

  Thomas Mogford read Modern Languages at Oxford University and holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Law from City University, London. He works for ITV Sport as a translator and reporter on the UEFA Champions League. His short fiction has been published in The Field magazine, Litro and Notes from the Underground. He is married and lives in London.

  Copyright © 2012 by Thomas Mogford

  “The Burial of the Dead” taken from The Waste Land © Estate of T. S. Eliot and reprinted by permission of Faber & Faber Ltd.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information address Walker & Company, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010.

  Published by Walker Publishing Company, Inc., New York

  A Division of Bloomsbury Publishing

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

  Mogford, Thomas.

  Shadow of the rock / Thomas Mogford.

  p. cm.

  e-ISBN: 978-0-8027-1188-5

  I. Title.

  PR6113.O359S53 2012

  823'.92—dc23

  2011038765

  Visit Walker & Company’s website at www.walkerbooks.com

  First U.S. edition 2012

  This electronic edition published in August 2012