by Tom Marcus
With his coat buttoned up, his flat cap and glasses back on, he approaches Alex, wrapping his scarf around his neck to cover the lower part of his face. Shaking her hand, he lowers his voice and leans towards the side of her head, just enough to make it difficult to hear, but my hearing is the only thing that’s sharp right now and I can just see his mouth over the top of his scarf.
‘I’ll square everything away. Get him fit. Quickly. There is a war coming.’
Alex is ready to get back out on the ground, but her focus on the DG’s eyes is broken by a light knock on the door.
‘Ah, I expect that’ll be your doctor.’
EPILOGUE
‘How’s the pain, Mr Davies?’
‘Yeah, my shoulder’s a bit sore. And my arm.’
‘Well, now that you’re fully awake, you’ll be needing more pain relief. I’ll have a nurse give you something when I’m through.’
I gently probe the wound. A carjacking. That was what the police said when they brought him in. But I wonder. It could be coincidence, I suppose, but he was brought to A&E soon after the live feed from the houseboat was cut. With a gunshot wound to the chest, a deep cut to the forearm from a knife, bruising and laceration around the throat and various other cuts and bruises. I have seen these kinds of injuries before. To me, this man has been in a fight to the death. I don’t know what happened on the boat. You cannot trust the government lies on the television. But somehow they discovered where Masood and Hamza were really holding the Foreign Secretary. And somebody slaughtered them.
And now this man is here. And the woman who watches over him. And when she is not here, I believe there are others who take her place. They are subtle, but years of watching out for the spies, studying their tactics, has taught me to remember faces.
‘Can you move your fingers in this arm? Can you make a fist for me?’
As he grimaces with the effort of obeying my instructions, I could take his life now as easily as crushing a bug. Because that’s what I believe he is. An insect. Masood and Hamza would instantly be avenged. Has he been delivered to me in this miraculous way for that very purpose?
As my fingers move to his throat, I hesitate, even though righteous anger is coursing through my veins like fire. What if they catch me? His friends who guard him so carefully. What if they are watching me somehow now?
No, I must put my anger aside and be patient. They think that killing the Foreign Secretary and ambushing the soldiers was everything. But that was only ever the first part of the plan. The second part is beyond their worst imaginings. And I need to remain free to make it happen. When it does, I will make sure they are the first to be slaughtered.
I pull my hands back. ‘I think that will do for now, Mr Davies.’ I smile reassuringly. ‘But I’ll be seeing you again soon.’
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I want to thank Luigi, Wayne, Alex, Bill and everyone at Pan Macmillan for being so positive, patient and understanding during the clearance process which is, and always will be, incredibly important to me. You and the entire team have allowed me to write how I want right from the start and I look forward to many more books with you all. I hope Capture or Kill does you all justice.
I’d especially like to thank the Security Service and DSF. I’ll never break my life-long oath to you and I mean every word when I say: We are the best in the fucking world! Regnum Defende.
Coming soon . . .
I SPY: MY LIFE IN MI5
The explosive new memoir from the author of the phenomenal number one bestselling Soldier Spy.
BY TOM MARCUS
Fiction
CAPTURE OR KILL
Non-Fiction
SOLDIER SPY
First published in the UK 2018 by Macmillan
This electronic edition published 2018 by Macmillan
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
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ISBN 978-1-5098-6360-0
Copyright © Tom Marcus 2018
Cover Images © Shutterstock
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