The Tomb Of Hercules by Andy McDermott

Author:Andy McDermott [McDermott, Andy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: thriller

15 London

Look who it is,” said the bearded Scotsman in a soft burr, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “Eddie Chase, international assassin.”

Chase smiled humorlessly. “Mac, I’m grateful for your help and everything, but seriously-sod off.”

“Good to see you again too.” He grinned, opening the door wider to admit Chase and Nina to the hall of the terraced Victorian town house. “And you must be Dr. Wilde. Welcome to London-my name’s Jim. But my friends call me Mac.” He shook Nina’s hand.

“Call me Nina. Glad to meet you,” she said. Mac was, she guessed, about sixty, six feet tall with bristling gray hair. Despite his age, he was still craggily handsome and in good physical shape. After Chase’s comment in Namibia she couldn’t help glancing down at his legs, but was unable to tell which one was artificial. “How do you know Eddie?”

Mac arched an eyebrow. “He didn’t tell you?”

“He’s very secretive about his past,” she said acidly.

He closed the door behind them, and Nina took a moment to look around. The hall was actually more of an atrium, two floors of balcony landings running around it above them, topped by a pair of beautiful old stained-glass skylights. Like its owner, the house had a crisp, spartan air, the few examples of ornamentation she could see clearly valuable antiques.

Mac ushered them into an adjoining living room. “I used to be Eddie’s commanding officer,” he explained. “Colonel Jim McCrimmon of Her Majesty’s Special Air Service. Retired now, of course. But I still work as a consultant for… certain agencies.”

“He means MI6,” Chase said with a disapproving sneer. “Bunch of tossers.”

Mac chuckled. “Eddie has a very low opinion of the Secret Intelligence Service, I’m afraid. But they’re not all bad-by spook standards, at least. You wouldn’t be here now if some of them hadn’t arranged a black bag flight to get you out of Namibia. Please, take a seat.”

Although there was a sofa in the room, Nina and Chase sat on separate armchairs. Mac noted this with a twitch of his eyebrow, but didn’t comment. “So,” he began, voice becoming more serious, “you both made it in one piece, more or less. Now, perhaps you care to explain why I just pulled an awful lot of strings to get you here?”

Chase did most of the talking, Nina occasionally chipping in to add information, or to correct him. The presence of his former commander seemed to temper his responses to her, though they still had a distinct sarcastic edge. It took some time for the full story to be explained, and when it was, Mac leaned back in his chair with an expression of concern.

“So, this man Yuen has a secret uranium mine…” he rumbled, steepling his fingers.

“And he’s kidnapped Sophia,” Chase reminded him.

“She is his wife. I don’t know if kidnapping is technically the correct term in the circumstances. But it’s the uranium mine that’s the most important issue here.” He frowned. “Though you do realize that I can’t act on what you’ve just told me?”

Chase was confused.

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