Текст книги "Detonator"

Автор книги: Andy McNab

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EPILOGUE

They stitched my nostril and sorted the rest of the damage at the hospital a little later that morning, a couple of floors above the pathology lab where Anna and Nicholai had been taken.

Luca was very understanding about the damage to his wagon, and keen to bring me up to speed on the GIS. They’d picked up the coffin. The rods of depleted uranium 235 inside it had come from a decommissioned Oscar-11 Class sub. Its ID code had been stamped into the casing.

Three rods was enough to make a very big dirty bomb, irrespective of whether they detonated it in Otranto or in St Peter’s Square. No wonder the GIGN, TIGRIS and the GIS had been going ballistic for Dijani and his crew.

Anna and Nicholai did show signs of radiation poisoning, but not at a critical level. He hadn’t been able to meet my eye when he told me that.

The last three members of Dijani’s cell were in custody. One of them seemed to be keen to trade in his passport to Paradise for a place in their witness-protection scheme. He wasn’t telling them everything, but had fed them one or two details.

He’d confirmed that Rome was in their sights.

They’d been tempted by the idea of reminding the world about Gedik Ahmed’s great victory in Otranto in 1480, but St Peter’s was a more iconic target. The cradle of Christianity. And since the Pope continued to ignore his security advisers and walk among the infidel, they had been confident of success.

I liked Luca a lot, and not just because he’d saved my life. But I found him tough to be around. The sharply chiselled crusading journo I’d met in the mattress shop had been replaced by a whipped dog. He still couldn’t hide the things I was trying to bury. So I wasn’t sorry to see him go.

I retrieved my day sack from where I’d hidden it, sparked up the Seat and drove towards the cemetery. Luca had told me that a couple of graves had already been selected for Anna and Nicholai, complete with all the nice shiny marble one could wish for. It was the city’s gift to them, and to me.

I stopped halfway down the cypress avenue, and looked at the slightly weird motif on the stark white panels each side of the entrance: a couple of crossed bones and the Grim Reaper’s scythe.

I hadn’t gone down to see their bodies in the hospital. I wasn’t going to visit their grave sites now. I had the sash, and that would do me.

My mantra had always been: Why worry about what you can’t change? If I said it often enough, I might start to believe it.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

From the day he was found in a carrier bag on the steps of Guy’s Hospital in London, Andy McNab has led an extraordinary life.

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 three non-fiction bestsellers – including Bravo Two Zero, the bestselling British work of military history – he is the author of the bestselling Nick Stone thrillers. He has also written a number of books for children.

Besides his writing work, he lectures to security and intelligence agencies in both the USA and the UK, works in the film industry advising Hollywood on everything from covert procedure to training civilian actors to act like soldiers, and he continues to be a spokesperson and fundraiser for both military and literacy charities.

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

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

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 2015 by Bantam Press

an imprint of Transworld Publishers

Copyright © Andy McNab 2015

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 9781473508668

ISBNs 9780593073780 (cased)

9780593073797 (tpb)

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

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