66 Metres: A chilling thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat!. J.F. Kirwan

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СКАЧАТЬ shook his head. ‘Site B, affirm.’ He clicked off the VHF. ‘Fuck!’

      Nadia stared across the river, a gnawing certainty in her gut that all hopes of a normal life had just slipped beneath the placid waves.

      Sammy nudged her arm. ‘Let’s go.’

      As he threaded them through London’s smaller streets, she rested her crash helmet against his back. No matter how tough it had been up till now, everything was about to get harder. This had been their biggest operation ever, and Janssen had just upped the stakes by spilling blood. She might have to fight her way out of this one. And the question that had dogged her for the past five years, the one she’d hoped to finally put behind her, rose to the surface.

      Did she really have killer’s eyes?

Chapter Two

      Her father struggled, screamed at her. ‘For God’s sake, Nadia, pick up the gun, shoot them!’

      The two commandos didn’t seem to know she was there. She walked calmly over to the table, lifted the newspaper, and picked up the Beretta. Odd. It had a silencer. She’d never noticed that before. As they threw the hood over his head, she stood sideways to them, feet splayed, raised the gun with a straight right arm, competition style, and fired two head-shots, one for each commando. The trio slumped to the floor. Her father lay still. She walked over, nudged his leg with her foot. No movement. Then she heard her father behind her. He sounded disappointed.

      ‘You must always look your enemy in the eye. You must make sure. You must let them know, let yourself know that you mean it.’

      So who was the corpse? She crouched and lifted the hood. Katya. Two shots. One in each eye. Nadia tried to scream, but she had no voice.

      She jerked bolt upright, gasping for breath, her heart hammering in her chest, and opened her eyes in darkness. The same fucking nightmare. Sometimes Katya, sometimes her father, once her mother. Whoever she shot, her family got killed. She lay back down. Rain pelted the wooden roof, and the previous evening’s events slammed into her mind. She closed her eyes. Out of one nightmare…

      Sammy stirred next to her. They were both fully clothed, lying on stale towels inside a beach hut he’d broken into no more than four hours ago, her backpack serving as a pillow. She could smell his scent. Six ops with Sammy, and he’d never made a move on her. Not even a flirtatious remark. She’d been happy with that. But right now she wouldn’t mind some comfort.

      ‘You awake, Nad?’ he asked.

      ‘Afraid so.’

      He touched her brow. It was slick with cold sweat. ‘Nightmaring again?’

      She didn’t answer. She’d never told him what they were about. Not a good idea.

      Sammy sat up and switched on an interior light, a single harsh yellow bulb hanging from a twisted cord. She covered her eyes, rubbed them, then forced them open again.

      ‘Almost six,’ he said. ‘Time we found out exactly how much shit Janssen has dumped us in.’

      He turned on a portable radio. The early morning shipping forecast was just ending. They listened to the first five BBC news items, then he switched off the radio. The rain eased.

      ‘What the fuck?’ he said, facing her.

      She didn’t get it either. No mention of the downing of a helicopter in front of hundreds of tourists. No mention of gunshots in the centre of London either. None of it had made the news.

      She propped herself up on an elbow, and nodded to the black leather bag concealing the package.

      ‘Tell me about the Rose, Sammy.’

      He shook his head. ‘It’ll only distract you. You’re so close, Nad. Just get the job done. Then you and Katya are home free.’

      He was about to get up. She touched his arm, stopped him.

      ‘What does the Rose do?’

      He leaned close, his breath raw.

      ‘If you can detect and localise a nuclear submarine, the Rose – Rosetta is its full name – will let you send it an encoded message the sub’s crew will trust.’

      She stared at the bag. ‘What kind of message?’

      ‘You know, war has broken out, fire a nuclear missile, a target, that kind of stuff.’

      It took a moment to sink in. ‘Jesus Christ!’

      ‘Exactly.’ He turned back to her. ‘But we didn’t make it. Those English bastards did. And now they’re shitting in their pants. Even blocked it from the news.’

      ‘But who’s Kadinsky going to sell it to? If Al Qaeda or IS –’

      ‘Not terrorists, Nad. Kadinsky’s greedy, not insane. Another government. The highest bidder. Look, these things never get used, they’re just leverage in global power games.’

      He got up, peered through a crack in the door, then unlocked it and let in some fresh sea air. He glanced from the bag to Nadia, and walked outside.

      Nadia had learned to trust Sammy, but knew this time his judgment was clouded by his hatred of the English. The Rose was Armageddon a la carte. If it got into the wrong hands… She didn’t want an exploding nuke on her conscience.

      She stood up and walked outside, and stopped short when she saw Sammy taking a piss. She couldn’t help noticing he had quite a handful. His head swung towards her, and he continued urinating, as if she was just another guy. Suddenly she got it. She shook her head then smiled.

      ‘At least now I know it’s not personal,’ she said.

      ‘You’ve been a bit slow on the uptake, Nad.’ He grinned, shook himself, put it away and zipped up. ‘You don’t have what I want.’ He winked, then stood close to her, and put a hand on her shoulder. His grin vanished. ‘Besides, you’re not even in the game, are you?’

      She flinched under his hand.

      ‘Look, most of us know what Slick and Pox did to you. I’m betting you’ve done almost nothing with a guy since.’

      She reached for his hand, removed it from her shoulder.

      ‘Pox is dead, by the way,’ Sammy said.

      ‘I know.’ An op gone bad in Hong Kong. No one would talk about it, but someone had let slip to Katya.

      One down…

      She thought about the Rose again. Images of nuclear detonations – billowing mushroom clouds, thousands of lives snuffed out in an instant – crept unwanted into her mind. Knowing it was probably a bad idea, she had to ask. There wasn’t much time. ‘Sammy, the Rose, it’s too dangerous. Maybe we should –’

      Sammy’s hand slapped over her mouth as he half-shoved, half-lifted her until her back smacked into the wooden beach hut. He leant into her, so there was no way she could СКАЧАТЬ