PROLOGUE

 

The sun beat down on the large container ship, The Georgia, out of a cloudless sky as it ploughed its way through the sparkling blue water towards the Gulf of Naples to pick up its cargo and then past the Amalfi Coast and onto Albania to pick up more cargo. No one could hear the faint shouts and screams coming from the largest container on board.

The Greek Captain of the great vessel was paid well by the Albanian Shipping Company. He asked no questions and did not want to know what kind of cargo was being transported by the large vessel. Hopefully it would be another quick in, unload and out again as usual in the Naples Port. The stevedores would be waiting and some of his cargo would be taken off quickly and taken away from the dock and just as quickly before the customs authorities had chance to exam it. Then after a short stopover in Naples while his cargo for Albania would be put onboard for his next port of call.

That was Naples, a well-oiled machine, run by who knew who, he thought as he walked around the air-conditioned wheelhouse checking the computerized bridge.

"Not long now," he said to the first officer. "Nearly there and then off again within two to three days. You will be in complete charge and I shall be waiting for you in Albania."

The second officer nodded, but said nothing, he was pleased with his lot as were the other officers and engineers and they would be able to go ashore this time and sample some of the girls in their next port of call.

 

BOOK ONE

CHAPTER ONE - THE JOB IS DONE

 

From the moment that Adam Stone had got the call from MI5 he had a premonition that he was headed to a place of corruption and brutality, leaving only horror in its wake.

Adam's bright blue eyes held a deep wisdom of years of hard cases and he felt that this mission was going to be a very difficult one. He was very tired from his last assignment, the kind of mind-numbing bone grinding fatigue that he knew only too well. He wondered if he was getting too old for these missions, but he loved the excitement as he felt his adrenaline rising in him. The trouble was now, that he was nearer to forty five than thirty five and he felt the aches and pains a little more than he had when he was younger. It took nearly twice as long to work out the kinks in his body in the mornings and he was glad that this time he had his previous partner Mike Romano, who was about the same age as him, on this mission. They had always worked well together in the past.

Adam glanced at his partner Mike who was sitting in the driver's seat of the black Chrysler SUV. He was looking intently through the windscreen, obviously deep in thought as well.

Mike's eyes held a deep wisdom of years of hard cases and he too felt that this one was going to be difficult. This was their first full tour as partners from the new department that Adam had been made head of. He knew that the man sitting next to him was also apprehensive about the mission. He smiled to himself, wondering why his friend had never married, a bit like him he thought. Very few operators in this kind of work, rarely married, being single was part of the job.

As if Mike was reading Adam's thoughts. He said quietly without turning his head.

"I'm ready Adam."

Mike wasn't though, because he was going to face the unknown, but he always felt like that before a covert mission. He slowed the vehicle down and drove it carefully through some very tall rushes and parked up. They hid the vehicle under the overhanging cliffs of part of the Amalfi coast and the two men silently reached over into the back of the large vehicle and took out their gear, two 9mm HKMP5 (Heckler & Koch MP5 sub-machine guns), locked it and made their way to the edge of the shore and waited.

 

***

 

There was no moon that night and the high clouds were thick enough to block whatever light came from the stars. Good hunting weather, Adam thought, as he lay down flat on the beach, between a pair of scrub bushes in the velvety darkness searching the water-line for movement. Both of the men scanned the Western Coast and suddenly saw bright flames through their night binoculars in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The cargo ship burned offshore and there were a steady series of violent bursts of light that cast the large waves in an almost hell-like glow as the flames rose higher and higher.

Adam had his noise-suppressed sub-machine gun cradled to his chest at the ready with his right hand, one finger resting lightly on the trigger; just enough to know that it was there.

They'd been waiting for the Albanian ship for two days. Good hunting, he thought, no moon tonight and high clouds thick enough to block whatever light came from the stars.

"That's her, The Georgia, judging by the firework display, she'll be going down really fast now, our contact has made a good job of putting the right explosives in the right places." Exclaimed his colleague Mike, who was also lying flat on the sand, between a pair of scrub bushes next to Adam, whilst they carefully, scanned the sea for signs of movement.

They had orders that there must be no survivors.

Nearby there was a large black RIB, (rigid-inflatable boat), which had been hidden away in some bushes beforehand. They had pulled the Atlantic Seagoing 8 metre RIB which had been taken there and left by one of the British Frigates on duty in the Bay of Naples two evenings before in the scrub on the beach and now it was floating on the edge of the beach ready for them to push into the water. They quickly jumped into it and made off in the fast vessel that was equipped with two 100 horse powered Mercury engines and made for the ship in distress.

"Not much chance of survivors, but I think we should take a good look all the same!" said Adam quietly, as he turned one last time, scanning the area through his PVS-17 night-vision binoculars.

"They seem to be sending off a distress signal, so someone's got to be alive." Mike stated as he looked at the small receiver on his wrist.

"Or were alive!" commented Adam quietly.

As they neared the sinking vessel the flames suddenly shot up like a fountain, sending out sparks that seemed to ignite the sea water in puddles of liquid fire from the fuel spillage on top of the dark water.

"Watch out for any survivors," shouted Adam above their engines' noise, as he started to slow down.

Mike panned the area across the watery inferno with the high powered halogen searchlight that the RIB was equipped with.

Already The Georgia was sliding backwards into the water, her stern nearly submerged, her bow tipping towards the moonless sky. In a few minutes she would be completely under the waves, gone forever. The water in that area was too deep and salvage would be almost impractical, if not impossible. Here four miles off the coast off Southern Italy she would sink to her eternal resting place in the sea hiding her precious cargo of human beings and millions of dollars of raw opium.

Another explosion occurred throwing out a shower of sparks, lighting up the moonless sky again. In those few seconds Adam noticed a slight movement in the water, about fifty metres or so from the sinking ship, safely beyond the ring of fire and there was a lifeboat bobbing in the water and they heard men's voices calling out.

"Ahoy, we are here." A male voice shouted out.

"It's a lifeboat,' said Mike aiming the searchlight of the RIB towards the voices.

Adam throttled up the engine guiding their vessel through drifts of burning fuel and debris as they travelled towards the joyous shouts of the survivors who were shouting out in Italian, Polish, Russian and English.

How many were in the boat Adam wondered as he peered into the semi-darkness, four or five? He could almost count them, yes, there were only five left from the original crew of ten. The rest of the crew in their cabins would have gone down with the sinking vessel he thought as he watched the men's arms waving in the beam of their searchlight and knew they were so excited at being alive and the prospect of being saved.

"Looks like some of the upper-deck crew." Mike said as he spotted some movement in the sea, a few metres away in the darkness. He also knew the crew in the lower decks would not have survived, as most modern tankers with their electronic equipment didn't have much in the way of a crew these days though.

Adam knew that The Georgia had sailed from Albania through the Straits of Messina and around the coast to Italy, originally with a crew of ten. Were there still five others somewhere in the water, or had they definitely gone down with their ship and cargo he wondered?

"They on the ship, they go down," shouted one of the men in broken English in the boat as he stood up, ready to receive the rope.

Mike and Adam settled themselves down on two of the wooden seats in the RIB and tucked their weapons to their right shoulders and centered the sights onto two of the men. Controlling their breathing, Adam and Mike very slowly pressed the triggers.

The ship's lifeboat was adrift off their port side and bobbing around in the water. Adam throttled down even more as if ready to receive the survivors.

"Identify yourselves." Mike shouted.

The Georgia. One of them shouted back in broken English. "The engine, she explode, they die. Only we live. Help , safe us."

The lifeboat was nearly alongside the RIB now.

"We will throw you a rope, where are the others?" Adam shouted.

Suddenly the silence of the night was broken by a hail of bullets which caught the man who was standing up in the middle of his body and he screamed as he was hit and dropped over the side into the dark sea.

More bullets rained down and the rest of the survivors dropped down into the lifeboat. Their cries rang out, but were drowned out by the noise of the bullets from the automatic weapon fire of the two men.

When Mike and Adam were finally finished, the bodies lay in the bottom of the boat and the bullet riddled lifeboat was already semi-submerged, then it tipped to one side and the dead bodies floated out into the water.

Adam aimed at the lifeboat again and pulled the trigger and a rain of bullets caused it to sink out of sight. He knew it would probably never be found, but if it was no one would care. It would just be another disaster at sea, perhaps immigrants trying to enter Italy illegally.

"Our job is done; let's return now to shore," stated Adam coldly as he carefully put his 9mm HKMP5 into the bottom of the RIB.

Adam looked out to sea once more to satisfy himself that the crew were all actually dead and suddenly halted as he looked across the waves about twenty metres away, there was a sudden splash. There were also a few of the burning waves reflecting in the dark sea. Then another splash occurred. It was a dark silvery grey colour in the semi-darkness, and then it slipped back into the water and was almost invisible. He knew something or someone was still out there.

"Hey, Mike, we need to check this out," exclaimed Adam to his colleague as he explained what he thought he had seen.

Mike raised his weapon once more ready to fire.

"No, hold your fire," shouted Adam as he throttled up and sped towards the movement in the water and then slowed down. He wanted this one alive. Perhaps he could get some information from the person he thought, as his gaze focused on a patch of water now about nine metres away.

Was it someone? There was another splash. It could be a mighty big fish he thought. He could still see the ripples of the reflected firelight across the water's surface even though the flames were gradually going out. There it was again something silvery black gliding with the swell of the water, then it slipped back under the waves once again.

"Mike, can you see something silvery bobbing in and out of the water?" Adam asked him.

"Could be a big game fish, they often leap in and out of the water at night." Mike Romano raised his gun once more to his shoulder. "What do you want me to do?"

Suddenly something broke the surface again. Adam knew this time that it was a person. Could it be one of the crew of the sinking ship? Had someone actually survived?

"Hold on, we'll go in a bit nearer and see who or what it is."

Adam pushed the throttle backwards and the RIP slowed down gradually as they came alongside the figure in the water. Mike held out a boat hook and black rubber arm grabbed it and he pulled the survivor on board. The person slithered over the side and into the bottom of the RIB.

It was someone in a black shiny scuba diving gear!

The survivor sat up on the bottom of the Rib and then dragged the goggles and neoprene hat off and shook its head and a mass of long dark blonde wavy hair fell out, very wet on the ends!

"Well, well, Miss Tania! What the hell are you doing here we were not informed you would be the person we were to pick-up tonight? Do you know that you almost got yourself shot? This trigger happy man wanted to kill you. Couldn't someone have let us into the secret that you were involved? You did a good job though, even if you are only a woman!" Adam teased as he grinned at her.

Tania smiled back at the two men. "That would have upset MI5's plan, you of all people should know -of the need to know!" She burst out laughing. "Well, then, let's get back to shore, you can drop me off at my hotel. I am freezing and in need of a hot shower."

 

BOOK TWO

CHAPTER TWO - THE MEETING

 

Two days later Adam and Mike were meeting up again with Tania at the Headquarters of MI5atthe great Vauxhall building in London to be briefed for their next mission.

Their office already had their name tags on the door. It was a small empty room with nothing in it except a couple of chairs, unbeknown to all who passed through the little room they were scanned electronically and another door that led to an adjoining office with four desks, three visitors' swivel chairs and personal computers complete with manuals on how to use them and how to access all manner of files. Also a large whiteboard on one wall with some writing on it and a large video screen on another and Adam and Mike's old friend Tom McGilloway, was sitting at a big desk facing them with a big grin on his craggy face.

Tom stood up. "Good morning, I think the three of you all know each other!"

Adam came towards Tania and held out his hand, she took it and was instantly aware of an electric current running through her as he closed his hand over hers and she blushed. She felt angry with herself, she didn't do blush. What on earth was the matter with her?

Adam noticed that her fingers were long and delicate, he hadn't noticed them before. She had beautiful hands, with long fingers; anyone would have thought that she was a famous pianist, not an assassin who killed with them. He had read her dossier and knew she was nearly 36 years old, at her prime, he thought as he gazed at the beautiful young woman.

Tania paused, studying Adam Stone, wondering what made him tick. She'd thought him extremely attractive right from the very beginning when she had read his dossier; he was certainly a very sexy looking man.

"You certainly look different now than the last time we encountered you." Adam grinned boyishly looking her up and down.

Now she realized he was far more than a handsome face and a pair of broad shoulders. It was what she saw in his startlingly blue eyes that held her interest, intelligence, humour and more than a touch of determination, but she detected a lot of sadness behind his broad smile.

She knew from his dossier which had been given to her one week prior, just before the latest mission that he was a bachelor and a very independent man; her superiors had also told her that he was not an easy man to work with, but she might be able to work with him. He had class and she thought him very horny, he also had some very interesting contacts.

Tania studied Adam's finely chiseled face as he sat deep in thought. She might even enjoy it she thought as she looked at him and grinned to herself. He was a very handsome man. She liked blond men and he had the most penetrating blue eyes and long black eyelashes she'd ever seen. A handsome face made up of intriguing angles and a smile that made her knees weak. She noticed the slight scar on his right cheek, which pulled his mouth slightly upwards, giving him a buccaneerish smile that suited him.

She also noticed that he seemed to have a slight limp still, from a mission some time ago. She also knew from his dossier which she had studied with great interest, that he was just forty four and she really liked mature men. I certainly like him she thought. I must admit it. In fact she'd never met such an attractive, horny gentleman. He looked very fit and she felt a sudden desire to kiss him as she turned and sat at her desk and felt herself becoming quite moist between her legs.

She couldn't shut out her awareness of the handsome man sitting near her. She could almost feel the warmth of his gaze. All her senses were conspiring against her efforts at indifference, but she was fully away that he thought the same.

Adam and Mike were informed that in a weeks' time they were to be sent on a mission to the Outer Hebrides. They would be staying in one of the MI5cottages on the nearby island of Scarp not far from the Scarp Bay hotel where they would meet their contact Jack McPherson, who owned a small village shop nearby and would fill them in. There would be a special vehicle waiting for them at the hotel.

The other contact was, Angus McFarlane their under-cover agent, at the one and only hotel on the island, posing as a guest. He had been sent on in advance with the necessary equipment two weeks before Adam and Mike who would be posing as engineers from a large oil company, fracking for natural gas and petroleum and would be supplied with a fast motor boat to travel around the other little islands to make their visit look genuine, while they were looking for an underground hiding place full off arms and explosives and whatever else was hidden away.

Tom also told the two men that MI5 had knowledge that a particular Sheikh was at present staying in his mansion just outside of London and that he was linked up with a certain Albino doctor, Lu Tang, who was still alive. MI5 also had another agent covering his whereabouts.

"We understand from an undercover contact, that Lu Tang is still alive and apparently is very ill with emphysema and heart failure and has been living in Italy somewhere on the Amalfi Coast. The doctor was also importing Albanian female and male prostitutes and drugs and arms." He paused and looked at Adam before continuing.

"Dr. Lu Tang and his associates as you know Adam have always operated on the fringes of International law, never quite crossing the boundaries of illegality. He also hides behind foreign dignitaries that he pays off. He has four places to hang out, one in Switzerland, one in Italy and in Morocco and at the moment, in his latest place, which is in the Scottish Outer Hebrides. He is like a ghost and hardly ever seen, but he is very much alive even though he is apparently badly disfigured, sick with emphysema and heart failure, there is a rumor that he is with his doctor/ body guard, a Russian named Vladimir Anoshkin who is experimenting with certain organs on him. We don't know much about him yet. We are looking into Anoshkin at the moment; there have been rumors in the past about him being connected to the Russian secret service." Tom paused for a moment and laughed.

"Adam you may have to dye your hair or shave it off again, because Lu Tang will certainly recognize you, he's never met you Mike, or Tania. I'll give you their dossiers before you go. You and Mike will be flying to Edinburgh airport by British Airways and then our guy in Edinburgh will hand you over a special vehicle with everything you need and from there you will drive to the ferry for The Outer Hebrides and meet another of our men there. "

Tom looked at Tania. "You Tania will also go to the Hebrides two days before Adam and Mike. Please be careful, no theatricals, understand! Your friend Kiara has already been contacted and she will be in touch with you very shortly."

Adam took a deep breath, eyes on the floor and then back to Tom. He would get his own back on the doctor, this time the man would be assassinated, and he would do it personally.

Tom looked at the two men before carrying on and noticed the cruel look on Adam's face. He knew instinctively what he was thinking about.

"There are many multi-billionaires in the Middle Eastern countries and Russia, mainly from selling drugs. They live like kings, they have bodyguards and they spread the money around all in the form of guns and ammunition and all the hard drugs you can buy on the streets in the United States of America, Britain, Paris and Italy. They own hotels and brothels. Most of the hard drugs you can buy on the streets and most of the raw stuff comes from Afghanistan where there are field upon fields of the finest opium poppies in the World." Tom paused for breath.

"The drug barons make enough money to corrupt their own culture as well as the Western culture. They don't know what peace is, most of the soldiers are bombed out of their brains with drugs that they are given and enjoy shooting and killing not only the Western soldiers, but their own as well. They act like children with toy guns and lots of ammo."

Tom paused for a couple of minutes and then carried on and told them that a well-known Sheikh, had bought the island Mealasta in the Outer Hebrides and their MI5's contact had also found out that it was doctor Lu Tang who was connected to him. The doctor had survived from his accident and was experimenting there with some of the human cargo and the Sheikh was financing him. This was where Tania would come in. She was to stay in London for the next twenty four hours and contact a female friend, Daniella Holden, a high class escort and Supreme Dominatrix who called herself Kiara when she was working and helping them. She was often used for information and was paid highly and especially liked by wealthy rogue Arab Sheiks and their friends.

Tom raised his eyebrows at Adam.

"I know that you have encountered Doctor Lu Tang some time ago when you were in the Sudan. There was also the black guy, Clide who worked with Lu Tang. I believe he came to a nasty death! The black man at the time was also involved with prostitution and Lisa was lucky to have escaped. The doctor, at the time was experimenting with sperms and making the perfect human-beings, also at the time he was personal physician to a rogue member of the British embassy and managed to come to the UK and then he vanished from the country and somehow has returned to continue his experiments. The doctor's been sponsored again by another Sheikh who has bought an island off the Western Islands of Scotland in the Outer Hebrides. The island is called Mealasta Now is your chance to......" He paused and raised his eyebrows again.

"The kidnappers are the main thing right now. But tell me this, is there anything at all to ever suggest that Dr. Lu Tang is still alive and maybe involved in some way, could he and the Sheikh have done it together?" Tom exclaimed as he looked intently at Adam.

Adam felt a cold chill run through his body. He knew exactly whom and what Tom was talking about. He recalled Clide and how he had forced the big black man into a kneeling position in a cage for several days and tortured him and then finally he drove him out into the desert and left Clide there for the scorpions, millipedes and birds of the air to finish him off.(Brutal Revenge)