Ghost: by James Swallow

Author:James Swallow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bonnier Publishing Fiction
Published: 2018-05-30T23:00:00+00:00

The company provided them with an SUV and the group drove in sullen silence, out toward Charles Hite’s home.

Marc watched Sydney’s environs fall away as they left them behind and entered the prosperous suburbia of Vaucluse on the South Head peninsula, out across the bay from the city. Dense green hedges and stands of close-planted trees screened expensive modernist homes from the road, their entrances hidden behind artfully sculpted walls and security gates. In the more affluent ends of the district, Marc saw the same kinds of ‘stealth mansions’ that he had glimpsed in places like Monaco and Beverly Hills, where the rich kept their homes under cover of clever landscaping to deter criminals, the media and everyone else from seeing too much.

He looked away from the window and noticed Crowne, sat up front in the passenger seat, watching him in the rear-view mirror. At Marc’s side, Lucy seemed not to be aware of it, affecting a sleepy aspect that he knew was pure theatre.

‘We’ll be there soon,’ began the security chief. ‘And to be clear. You’re both here as observers, okay? Look but don’t touch.’

‘Observers,’ Lucy echoed. ‘What does that make you? I’m pretty sure all of us are on dubious legal ground right now, if you wanna get technical about it.’

Crowne ignored her and glanced over his shoulder at Marc. ‘You know, I reached out to some old friends of mine in the agency. Asked around about Solomon and Rubicon. I heard some interesting stories.’

‘He’s an interesting man,’ Marc replied.

‘That why you quit MI6 to go work for him?’ Crowne smiled, like he had scored a point, and then quickly corrected himself. ‘Oh, but you didn’t quit, right? I’m told you were kicked out. Why was that?’

All my friends were killed. The reply came to him and it was so strong, so immediate that for a moment Marc thought he had actually said it out loud. ‘That’s a thread you don’t want to pull on, mate.’ He met Crowne’s gaze and held it. ‘Let’s stay professional, yeah?’

Crowne blinked first and gave the driver, the Samoan security guard who Marc had crossed paths with the night before, an arch look. He clearly didn’t want to let it lie. ‘How about you?’ he asked, switching targets to Lucy. ‘There are a few stories floating around about the woman who works as a consultant for the Rubicon PMC. Someone even say she might be ex-Delta Force. What do you think about that?’

Lucy shrugged. ‘Delta don’t have any female operatives. Strictly boys only, or haven’t you heard?’ She graced Crowne with a brief look. ‘Anyone who says otherwise watches too many movies.’

Marc suppressed a smile. The black ops urban legend about the US Army’s covert troop of female soldiers was more truth than lie, but it didn’t hurt to muddy the waters a little.

‘You want to know what I think?’ Crowne went on, as the vehicle turned off the main road and down an even-more exclusive avenue.

‘Not at all,’ Marc told him, and finally the man got the message.

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