Final Target
Page 27
She cut the engine. ‘Are you simply stupid, or stubborn? You can’t walk back.’
‘It’s not far.’
‘Hex, we’re in Prestbury. You live in Tivoli.’
She treated me to a stare that would make a taipan slither away. I know when to give in gracefully. I flashed an easy smile. ‘I didn’t realise it was a door-to-door service.’
She looked at me for a moment and, against every effort to do otherwise, relaxed. ‘Sorry about the leg. Are you okay?’
‘If it turns septic I’ll know who to blame.’
She let out a laugh. It sounded great. Starting the engine, she checked the rear-view and pulled out. Now that we were back on speaking terms, she finally opened up.
‘Why did you turn down Flynn’s offer?’
‘You know why.’
‘I know what you said. I don’t know what you meant.’
Nettled, I gave her a sharp look. ‘I thought honour and justice were good enough reasons.’
‘They are perfect reasons, which is exactly why you should reconsider. Honour and justice lie at the heart of what we do.’
I made a noise, one part cynicism, two parts incredulity.
‘The real reason you turned us down,’ McCallen continued, ‘is to save your own skin. I thought you were better than that.’
I opened my mouth to protest, but McCallen was unstoppable. ‘Hear me out. You have all the talents needed for a good spy. You can live with secrecy. You understand that sometimes people get hurt who don’t deserve it, yet it doesn’t turn you into a gibbering heap. Your mental muscles are strong, your instincts sharp. You can still carry on living here, doing what you do. We’d only call on you for the more unusual gigs.’
‘The dirty gigs, you mean.’
‘The difficult ones, yes. It’s an honourable calling.’
‘And Mossad?’
‘I’m sure we could come to an accommodation with them.’
We had turned into my street and McCallen drove me to my door. She leant across, engine running, and dropped a soft kiss on my mouth. ‘Think about it,’ she said.
‘There’s nothing –’
‘Do you want to spend the rest of your life in the cheap seats?’ She pressed her index finger against my lips to brook all argument. Her smile was pure titanium. I clambered out.
Standing on the pavement, I watched as she tooted her horn and drove away. The sun popped out from behind a cloud, enveloping me in sudden heat and light. I tipped my head briefly to the sky, felt the warmth of its rays on my skin, and then hobbled to the front door. I had plenty to think about.
ESSAY ON FINAL TARGET
The desire for revenge is primeval. It’s not considered to have a place in civilised society but, let’s face it, we all know what it feels like to want to ‘get one’s own back’ on someone who has hurt us, or those we love, although the extremes to which we’re prepared to go probably don’t mutate into murder even if we feel murderous. For this reason vengeance is a popular theme in thrillers and crime fiction. It’s a gift to a writer simply because it creates the maximum opportunity to slip off those kid gloves and let rip with the action. In ‘Final Target,’ the old adage ‘Hell hath no fury …’ is the point, hence the creation of sexy Simone Fabron. Women, when they seek retribution, can be very bad indeed.
As much as ‘Final Target’ is a ‘whodunnit,’ it’s also a ‘whydunnit’, and this is the aspect of characterisation that interests me most as a writer. In a sense, we’re all amateur psychologists and I’m very much in the camp of people aren’t born bad, but created, often through a host of complex and converging reasons that don’t need to be discussed here. Suffice to say that I don’t believe any of us are immune. Given the right circumstances, most of us can be corrupted by life events and, consequently, behave appallingly. It’s this motivation, which, for me, holds a certain fascination. Almost more compelling is the horrific chain reaction that can spring from a single malign act. Luckily, this kind of thing is easier to chart in fiction than control in real life.
Any reader familiar with my stories will recognise that I’m a fan of redemptive themes. Having made a pretty good start to redeeming himself towards the end of ‘A Deadly Trade,’ Hex is still working on his path back to what passes for a decent life in ‘Final Target’. But, in addition to a high body count, conflict is the name of the game in thrillers so right from the get-go, Hex struggles with his natural instinct, which is to revert to type. For me, it was an easy sell. Having spent his adult life devoted to the next ‘job’, the buzz and thrill of the chase, Hex was never going to credibly settle into a 9 to 5, with weekends and Sunday roast lifestyle. He’d find it far too mundane. Fortunately, Inger McCallen, Hex’s weak spot – every main protagonist needs at least one – and voice of conscience, turns his new life upside down on the opening page and rescues him from a slow death from boredom.
I love McCallen. Smart, competitive and ambitious, she’s a woman who works to her own agenda. Their ‘will they, won’t they’ get it together relationship is a deliberately teasing, fun element in the book. Aside from serving a primary role as joint ‘sleuth’, McCallen allows Hex to explore that streak of sensitivity that passes for his emotional side and makes him more attractive.
Did I face any difficulties or dilemmas when writing the novel? Yes, there was one. It’s virtually impossible to write a contemporary story with more than a passing nod to espionage, without referring to technology in some form or another. This was made doubly difficult because the novel is set in Cheltenham, which is home to the U.K’s third intelligence service: GCHQ. In fiction, as in life, there is heavy emphasis on the way we are tracked, watched and studied by unseen powers with the kind of sophisticated technology that can identify, not only the terrorist at a distance, but the brand of cigarette he or she smokes. Technology plays a huge role in all our lives and the UK has possibly more CCTV than any other country in Europe. We all believe that we are under surveillance 24/7 and that the chances of pulling off a crime are zero. And yet, we also know that individuals can and do get away with murder, that crimes remain unsolved, that people evade capture, sometimes for decades, that folk disappear without trace, and that, sadly, airplanes can mysteriously vanish. In the spy world, there are advocates of what’s described as ‘humint’ – intelligence gained from human sources, and ‘sigint’, which makes up the volume of intelligence, from signals and technical communication. Both systems of obtaining information have advantages and disadvantages, which is why a combination of both is used by security services throughout the world. Some believe that, irrespective of the massive amount of data gleaned from sigint (machines), the gathering of human intelligence from assets provides a closer explanation of why people do what they do. It’s also worth remembering that even the most advanced technology is only as a good as the person operating the system. As a writer, this is what interests me and, for that reason, I’ve concentrated on the human element in the story, sometimes at the expense of the technical. In ‘Final Target’, the powers that be may well have an inkling of what our main man is up to but, for political considerations, are willing to sit back and let him run his own course and, more importantly, take the flak and the fall for what unfolds. Cutting to the chase, the importance of gadgetry in this work is understated. I hope readers, who are fans of uber-technology, will be forgiving.
Eve Seymour, Cheltenham 2014.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As ever, my thanks to my agent Broo Doherty at D H H Literary Agency; Martin Hay and Paul Swallow at Cutting Edge Press; to Sean Costello for incisive editorial comment and correction and, last but not least, to Ian Seymour for reading early drafts.
I’m indebted to Paul Barrett, fire officer at Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service for providing technical information in the cellar scenes. Immensely patient, he was also generous with creative input. If I have inadvertently made any technical errors, the fault is mine alone.
Again, I’m indebted to the works o
f two writers who have expert knowledge on matters of national security. These are Gordon Thomas: ‘Gideon’s Spies’ and Christopher Andrew: ‘The Defence of the Realm.’
I’m not sure a writer has ever thanked a town before, but I’d like to thank Cheltenham where most of the action takes place. I’ve taken one or two liberties for dramatic purposes and hope locals will not be offended.
If you enjoyed Final Target, try the first book in the series …
This time there are no rules …
One moment of weakness can cost you everything …
Rogue assassin Josh Thane is an artist in murder. His next target is a British microbiologist suspected of creating devastating chemical weapons.
Breaking into her house, he discovers someone has beaten him to it – she’s already dead. In a moment of weakness, he saves the life of her son. A single mistake that destroys everything he’s worked for and puts him and the boy in immediate danger…
When Josh embarks on an international quest to find the real killer, he uncovers a criminal conspiracy with truly terrifying consequences. Yet it’s in his own past that the darkest truth lies hidden.
Click here to order a copy of A Deadly Trade
About the Author
Eve Seymour is the author of nine novels and has had a number of short stories broadcast on BBC Radio Devon. Educated in Malvern at a girls’ boarding school, which she detested, she spectacularly underachieved. Sixth form in Cheltenham proved a lot more interesting, enjoyable and productive.
After a short and successful career in PR in London and Birmingham, she married and disappeared to Devon. Five children later, she returned and began to write seriously. In a bid to make her work as authentic as possible, she has bent the ears of numerous police officers, firearms officers, scenes of crime, the odd lawyer and United Nations personnel. She also works by day as a freelance editorial consultant, specialising in crime fiction.
Eve lives with her second husband and often has a houseful of offspring, sons-in-law, partners, and a growing tribe of little ones. Nomadic by nature, she is planning another move very soon.
@EveSeymour
www.evseymour.co.uk
Also by E. V. Seymour
A Deadly Trade
House of Lies
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