by Andy McNab
The Owl was keeping everything upbeat. ‘And, hey, being the boss means I get to have a change of heart and do stuff like this.’
He unhooked the bag’s shoulder strap from the back of his chair and placed it on the floor by my side of the table. It looked too bulky to hold just a laptop. ‘Enjoy. You guys earned it.’
I left it where it was. ‘It’ll pay for part of my dental work.’
He put on his mock-concerned face. ‘Sorry about that, but you know …’ Then his expression changed because he’d just remembered something. ‘Hey, something else I can make happen. Can you tell Rio she said she’ll be in touch? It seems they kinda got a thing.’
I shrugged. ‘News to me, but I’ll pass it on.’
How the fuck did that happen? Maybe she’d promised to give up roll-ups or something.
‘She okay?’
I had given the Owl, Mr and Mrs Bland and anyone else who would listen her sales pitch.
‘Of course.’
He stopped, waiting for me to ask what she was doing so he could say, ‘Nothing.’ So that was what I did instead until he filled the void.
‘So, anyways, what about you guys, the SNS? You staying together?’
He was waiting for the positive reaction.
For me it was an easy one. ‘Yeah. We’re mates.’ I pointed to the state of my face, as if it needed to be demonstrated.
‘We’ve got to sort our bodies out, then our personal admin.’
The Owl got that and slowly nodded in agreement, even though he wouldn’t have understood the slang. ‘I get where you’re coming from.’
‘Do you? Because what now happens to us? Where do we stand with you?’
He kept nodding, as if he was surprised the question had been asked. ‘You know, Nick? You still have your little stick guys as digital witnesses. I guess they’re still tucked away for a rainy day so maybe we really could work together. I think we’re back to square one. We’ve all come full circle, don’t you think?’
I couldn’t have agreed with him more. ‘You’re right, in more ways than one.’
Gabe was back in Scotland trying to patch up his marriage. He’d find forty K did a lot of patching. He’d still be wanting money from us to pay for a new Jeep, though.
The other two had had some movement in their lives, too – well, ideas.
Jack was thinking of running residential painting classes. I knew it was because he was hoping the right woman would turn up and like what he did with dark blue and black.
Rio was the worry. It was good that he had finally given up on Simone but not on the girls. The problem with him now was that he continually fantasized about the SNS getting out there and claiming the three-million-dollar bounty the US were offering for that Russian hacker Bogachev. Maybe that was the thing he had with Yulia. I felt very worried we might find out sooner rather than later.
As for me? Just like the Owl had said, back to square one, walking along the South Circular once again. Who knew what tomorrow would bring? Moscow might turn out to be a big bag of good news. But if not, so what? At least I could now afford my own airfare to get there, so fuck it.
The Owl’s face went back to concerned.
‘The thing is, Nick, do we have trust?’
I started laughing. I just couldn’t help myself, and I now knew the pain Rio felt when he’d split his lips.
The Owl joined in and that was another worry. I grabbed a napkin to stop the blood trickle. He was still laughing when he stood up to greet the man who’d just come through the door.
‘There you are! Come and meet Nick.’
The new arrival was early forties, clean-shaven, his salt-and-pepper hair very short and neat, combed all the way back. He had perfectly shaped eyebrows and was clearly American. If the light brown chinos with a sharp centre crease hadn’t given it away, then the blue nylon windcheater certainly had. I didn’t even know if you could buy them outside the US.
The Owl pulled out a chair for him. ‘Nick, this is Tom, my husband. Tom, Nick.’
I stood to shake hands as he gave me a hello and did a double-take at the state of my face.
The Owl took care of that. ‘Nick had an auto accident. He tells me it looks worse than it is.’
They both sat and I bent to pick up the laptop bag. ‘Nice to meet you, Tom. I’ll leave you both to it.’
The Owl wasn’t having any of it. ‘No, Nick, sit – please.’
He turned his attention to Tom. ‘Nick here thinks I look like an owl. What say, Tom, what say?’
‘Really?’
Tom checked between the two of us before studying the Owl. ‘No, no way. I’m thinking more … eagle.’
The Owl liked that. He looked at me. ‘You see? Eagle.’
The black-haired one came over and the Owl ordered two lots of coffee and carrot cake. ‘And for you, Nick?’
‘Gents, I’m going to make a move. Enjoy the cake.’
The Owl stared at me, this time with the look that only power gives somebody. ‘Nick, sit. Please. Before you go, tell Tom your Diana hair story. He doesn’t believe a word of it.’
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As a teenage delinquent, Andy McNab kicked against society. As a young soldier, he waged war against the IRA in the streets and fields of South Armagh. As a member of 22 SAS, he was at the centre of covert operations for nine years, on five continents. During the Gulf War he commanded Bravo Two Zero, a patrol that, in the words of his commanding officer, ‘will remain in regimental history for ever’. Awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) and Military Medal (MM) during his military career, McNab was the British Army’s most highly decorated serving soldier when he finally left the SAS.
Since then Andy McNab has become one of the world’s bestselling writers, drawing on his insider knowledge and experience. As well as several non-fiction bestsellers, he is the author of the bestselling Nick Stone and Tom Buckingham thrillers. Besides his writing work, he lectures to security and intelligence agencies in both the USA and UK and works in the film industry, advising Hollywood on everything from covert procedure to training civilian actors to act like soldiers. He continues to be a spokesperson and fundraiser for both military and literacy charities and was awarded a CBE in 2017 for services to literacy.
www.andymcnab.co.uk
Also by Andy McNab
Novels featuring Nick Stone
REMOTE CONTROL
CRISIS FOUR
FIREWALL
LAST LIGHT
LIBERATION DAY
DARK WINTER
DEEP BLACK
AGGRESSOR
RECOIL
CROSSFIRE
BRUTE FORCE
EXIT WOUND
ZERO HOUR
DEAD CENTRE
SILENCER
FOR VALOUR
DETONATOR
COLD BLOOD
Featuring Tom Buckingham
RED NOTICE
FORTRESS
STATE OF EMERGENCY
Andy McNab with Kym Jordan
WAR TORN
BATTLE LINES
Quick Reads
THE GREY MAN
LAST NIGHT ANOTHER SOLDIER
TODAY EVERYTHING CHANGES
ON THE ROCK
Non-fiction
BRAVO TWO ZERO
IMMEDIATE ACTION
SEVEN TROOP
SPOKEN FROM THE FRONT
THE GOOD PSYCHOPATH’S GUIDE TO SUCCESS
(with Kevin Dutton)
SORTED!: THE GOOD PSYCHOPATH’S GUIDE TO
BOSSING YOUR LIFE (with Kevin Dutton)
For more information on Andy McNab and his books,
see his website at www.andymcnab.co.uk
TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS
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Transworld is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com
First published in Great Britain
in 2017 by Bantam Press
an imprint of Transworld Publishers
Copyright © Andy McNab 2017
Cover images © Johnny Ring, Shutterstock
Design: Stephen Mulcahey/TW
Andy McNab has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Every effort has been made to obtain the necessary permissions with reference to copyright material, both illustrative and quoted. We apologize for any omissions in this respect and will be pleased to make the appropriate acknowledgements in any future edition.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781473543607
ISBN 9780593078945
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