Dark Vendetta, page 21
Throughout the night they laboured on, settling into a steady, unchanging rhythm of movement. Larren resisted the urge to turn his head and look back, for the retreating shoreline never seemed to get any farther away, and instead he concentrated in keeping in time with the calculated driving strokes of Mason and Logan. Salt waves broke in his face and started new fires against the patches of singed flesh, but even that discomfort failed to prevent him from feeling the cruel cold of the sea as it soaked him to the marrow. Above there was the faint glimmer of the stars, and all around them the heaving, watery blackness that stretched ahead to infinity.
The strain wore at them all, tearing at muscles and tendons, sapping their strength and crumbling the will to go on. Their pace grew slower as they succumbed to the rigours of cold and exhaustion, and their movements became more laboured and their breathing more painful as they swam on. Nothing existed any more except the sea, the terrible weariness, and the defiant need to stir their feeble limbs forward as they fought to stay on the surface.
Larren suffered worst of all, for he lacked the stern training that aided the other two despite their burden, and he was both mentally and physically exhausted when the first grey streaks of dawn began to relieve the darkness, fading the pale stars slowly out of existence. He was hardly aware of what was happening as Mason left Logan to support Chao and swam towards him. He felt Mason fumble with the waterproof transmitter that was strapped to his back and tried to remain steady as the Marine Captain ran up the short aerial. They bobbed clumsily on the waves as Mason called up the waiting submarine.
Watchful had been lying at periscope depth with her radio antenna raised above the surface to pick up the call when it came, and almost instantly the submarine rose above the sea like some smooth grey monster less than a quarter of a mile away. The sight inspired Larren to find the last shred of strength needed to draw the flare pistol from his belt and shake it free of its waterproof covering. He pointed it upwards and fired once. A spray of bright red stars burst in the dawn sky above them and immediately the sleek outline of Watchful surged forward to pick them up.
Captain Allendale commanded his ship with the skill and precision of an expert, and eight minutes later the swimmers had been neatly fished out of the water and the klaxons were blaring the order to dive, dive, dive, throughout the submarine. Two stalwart ratings carried Chao Lin to the sickbay while others helped Mason, Larren and Logan into the officer’s wardroom where dry blankets and steaming mugs of rum-laced tea awaited them. Above them the sea swirled to a close over Watchful’s hull as she slipped back into the dark, shielding depths.
The scalding brew in the brimming mugs began to slowly thaw the chill from their bones as they sat huddled in their blankets, and they sat in silence as the driving screws took them swiftly away from the distant land mass of China. They were on the last stage of the journey home, but this moment was reserved in memory of the men they had left behind; Sergeant Tom Randell, Fen Liu, and the gallant Johnny Ling.
Then slowly their thoughts turned from the past to the future, and Paul Mason began to wonder whether the blonde that he had so abruptly left on Repulse Beach would still be waiting for him.
Hugh Logan closed his eyes wearily and dozed into a mental picture of heather-clad hills and glens and the blue skies of Scotland, and with it came the memory of a lass he had always fancied but never asked.
And Simon Larren? He held a fleeting thought of Maxine Kia, but knew that it would be kinder for her if she never saw him again. And from there his mind probed deeper into the past, back to a grey and sombre day beside a small cemetery outside the city of Paris. He knew that this must be his last duty now; to return to his cherished Andrea, and to whisper softly that she had been fully avenged.
***
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— Book Three in the Simon Larren Espionage Thriller series.
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NOTE TO THE READER
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading Dark Vendetta. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Simon Larren was my James Bond, although I created him before Bond hit the headlines with the first film. Larren was the killing arm of British Counter Espionage, the man who got all the wet jobs. If Ian Fleming had not used the term “Licensed to kill,” it would have fitted Larren just as well. His exploits ran through nine books, taking him through all the threats and dangers of the Cold War years.
I have written under other pen names and so my website is at www.robertleaderauthor.com. Go to my Robert Charles page for information on my Robert Charles thrillers. The website has a full biography, a travel blog and notes on how each book came to be inspired and written. Please pay a visit if you would like more information on Simon Larren or anything else I have written.
In today’s publishing world online reviews are vitally important and if you have enjoyed my work please spare the time to write a review for Goodreads and Amazon, or just a complimentary mention on any media platform.
If you want to contact me you can do so through my website. I am always pleased to hear from readers. In the meantime I will get on with the next Falcon SAS novel for your enjoyment.
Sincerely yours,
Robert Charles
ALSO BY ROBERT CHARLES
THE SIMON LARREN THRILLER SERIES:
Nothing To Lose
Mission of Murder
The Fourth Shadow
Arctic Assignment
Assassins For Peace
Stamboul Intrigue
The Big Fish
Strikefast
THE FALCON SAS SERIES:
Blood River
Firestrike
Published by Sapere Books.
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United Kingdom
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Copyright © Robert Charles
Robert Charles has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events, other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously.
Any resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales are purely coincidental.
eBook ISBN: 978-1-80055-682-9
Charles, Robert, Dark Vendetta
