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A Chapter by Paul Bell

I want you to follow a man, I want to know as much as possible about him. There’s no time limit. I just want to get some sort of profile on him. Report back to me in one month.

Strange request from Don Gambrina. But as head of Police, it was his public duty to check on people.

The storm was due to hit at midnight heading into the fourth of July. Strangely apt. The chopper would drop him three miles from the target. It would sit for two hours, no longer. Blending into a sandstorm didn’t pose any problems. Running through a sandstorm was plain insanity. Time was not on his side. Planning was near impossible. But insane jobs were what they were, insane.

The target was in sight. He was right, only fools walk about in sandstorms. Everyone had taken cover. He couldn’t believe his luck. He quietly dug under the sand into the tent, slowly entering at the far corner. Two guards, both asleep. Now permanently asleep.

If there was such a thing as opulence in a tent, this was it. Though this was not the time to admire it. He watched him for a while. How many had died at the hands of this man? It felt strange as his hand began choking the life out of him. In a way, it had all started with him.

He had thirty-six minutes to run three miles back to the chopper. This was one flight he wasn’t going to miss.

Jack Malone had worked damn hard to get to the top.

He had now been in charge of the CIA for ten years.

In that time he had made them accountable.

The days of hidden wars were over with. He still had a budget that would probably run some countries. But this money was used differently. Ten million dollars was worth the price to get rid of this one man. It would send a message to the rest of them. We will hunt you down and kill you. This film was proof of that.

The President was silent for a time. The assassin is he American.?

Yes, he’s American.

A very rich American. Do we give him a medal as well?

Well, we haven’t for the previous ones.

There’s been more.

Seven before. This is his first on your watch.

Well, Jack, I don’t know where you got him, or if you trained him. But I want to congratulate you on a job well done. Your old boss gave me one bit of advice when I took up the Presidency. He told me to put my life in your hands. He also said you were the most powerful man in America. I’m beginning to understand what he meant.

I work for you, sir. 24/7.

He said you would say that. Thanks, Jack.

I would also like to shake the hand of that man of yours.

Jack Malone thought long and hard for a while. Sometimes this business really grated every living part of him. Just knowing that Sir would be enough for him.

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© 2021 Paul Bell

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AJNJ

Loved this read! Reminded me of that book called No Easy Day where a US Navy Seal wrote a first-hand narrative about the mission which led to him shooting dead the al-Qaeda leader in Pakistan in May 2011. Like that book, this is quite gripping and I feel the guys working so stealthily behind the scenes to protect and uphold values like liberty and democracy are to be really saluted. I’m hoping for a sequel to this. Nice to make your acquaintance, sir Paul :)

Posted 4 Years Ago

1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

4 Years Ago

I thought in lockdown I would have had this finished, sadly the other 200 jobs I always managed to a.. read more

Reviews

Marie-Louise.

You have painted well a dark world which ordinary people do not see, but I suspect for me, being an ordinary person, it is all out there in the shadows.