Daniel Silva GABRIEL ALLON Novels 1-4 (45 page)

The car vanished into the trees, then appeared a moment later, only now Peel was staring directly into the headlights. It was an MG, and it was stopping in front of the old foreman’s cottage. Peel raised his torch, aimed it at the car, and flashed the light twice. The lights of the MG winked back. Then the engine died, and the lights went dark.

Peel climbed back into bed and pulled his blankets beneath his chin. Derek and his mother were still quarreling, but he didn’t really care. The stranger was back in Port Navas. Peel closed his eyes and soon was asleep.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book could not have been written without the generous assistance of David Bull. He truly is one of the world’s finest art restorers, and I was privileged to spend many enjoyable hours in his company. He gave freely of his time and expertise, and allowed me to wander through his studio and through his memories as well. For that I am eternally grateful. A special thanks to David’s talented wife, Teresa Longyear; to Lucy Bisognano, formerly of the National Gallery conservation staff, who tried to teach me the basics of X-ray analysis; and to Maxwell Anderson, director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, for his friendship and assistance. It goes without saying that they bear no responsibility for errors, omissions, or dramatic license.

Wolf Blitzer, a friend and colleague from my days at CNN, generously helped fill in some blanks in my research on the Israeli intelligence community. Louis Toscano, author of
Triple Cross,
a groundbreaking book on the Vanunu affair, read my manuscript and offered his keen insights. Glenn Whidden answered all my questions on the art of audio surveillance, as did a former head of the CIA’s Office of Technical Services.

Ion Trewin, the managing director of Weidenfeld & Nicolson in London, read my manuscript and, as always, offered wise counsel. Andrew Neil opened his home to us and shared some of his remarkable experiences in the world of London newspaper publishing. Ernie Lyles answered all my questions on semi-automatic hand-guns and made me a decent shot with a Glock and a Browning.

A special thanks to Peter and Paula White for an enchanting week in West Cornwall and a memorable boat trip up Helford Passage. Also, to the staffs of the venerable London art supplies shop L. Cornelissen & Son and the Hotel Queen Elizabeth in Montreal. And to Phyllis and Bernard Jacob, for their love, support, and a day roaming the streets of Brooklyn that I will never forget.

Among the dozens of nonfiction books I consulted while preparing this manuscript, several proved particularly helpful:
Every Spy a Prince
, by Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman;
Gideon’s Spies
, by Gordon Thomas;
Israel: A History
and
The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War
, by Martin Gilbert;
The Gun and the Olive Branch
, by David Hirst;
By Way of Deception
, by Victor Ostrovsky and Clair Hoy;
The Hit Team
, by David B. Tinnin with Dag Christensen;
My Home
,
My Land
, by Abu Iyad;
The Quest for the Red Prince
, by Michael Bar-Zohar and Eitan Haber;
The Palestinians
, by Jonathan Dimbleby;
Arafat
, by Alan Hart; and
The Holocaust and the Jews of Marseille
, by Donna F. Ryan.

Finally, to the talented group of professionals at Random House and Penguin-Putnam. And of course none of this would have been possible without my wife, Jamie Gangel, and my children, Lily and Nicholas.

THE
ENGLISH ASSASSIN

Daniel Silva

A SIGNET BOOK

Praise for
The English Assassin

“Abundant action.”

—
The Washington Post

“A cloak-and-dagger tale [that] moves at a brisk clip, with clean, lucid exposition and characters who are thoughtfully drawn.”

—
The New York Times

“The plot is rich, multilayered, and compelling with issues as timely as the daily headlines and problems as old as humankind…. Silva maintains tension and suspense.”

—
The Denver Post

“Enthralling…a thriller that entertains as well as enlightens.”

—
The Orlando Sentinel

“Smooth and compelling.”

—
Detroit Free Press

“Silva’s sophisticated treatment, polished prose, an edgy mood, and convincing research give his plot a crisp, almost urgent quality.”

—
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)

“Silva knows how to plot…. [He] will draw you in—and you’ll learn something at the same time.”

—
Rocky Mountain News

“Thrilling…a good cinematic story.”

—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“In the style of authors like Frederick Forsyth and Ken Follett, this is a book that opens with a scene that grabs your attention and never lets go…highly imaginative fiction set against a nonfiction background…. You will want to read this one straight through once you’ve started.”

—
New York Law Journal

“Cleverly crafted…engrossing…an intelligent thriller of the old school and one that will satisfy Silva’s fans and earn him many new ones.”

—
Chattanooga Times–Free Press

“Silva, who writes with the atmospheric grace and whiplash tension of Le Carré, brings something special to the spy thriller: a multifaceted, believable hero whose sideline, spying, is only as intriguing as his regular job, restoring Old Masters…. [Allon’s] investigation leads to the English assassin, a rogue terrorist whose casual killings (his send-off gift to his lovers is explosives in their luggage) are breathtakingly orchestrated. Silva makes a stunning contribution to the spy thriller.”

—
Booklist
(starred review)

“The spy novel is alive and well and Daniel Silva is among those who are nursing it back to life…. The fast-paced plot and multiple twists—not to mention multiple villains and semivillains—are the backbone of Silva’s tales. Those of us who have doted on the spy novel for decades have a new light to watch.”

—
The Sunday Advocate
(Baton Rouge, LA)

“[A] spine-tingling plot…. Fueled by intense, fast, and unrelenting action, Silva’s latest follows spies, sellers, lovers, and historians to a chilling climax.”

—
Library Journal

“A page-turner from start to finish. While his body count rivals that of early Ludlum, Silva is a more polished storyteller…. He’s got the ‘legs’ to last a long time.”

—BookBrowser

“Enticingly juggles parallel plots involving art fraud, secret Swiss banking, and the surprisingly cutthroat world of classical concert performance.”

—
The Raleigh News & Observer

“Silva writes superbly suspenseful thrillers, and he makes excellent use of today’s headlines.”

—
American Libraries

Praise for Daniel Silva
and His Previous Thrillers

“Silva builds tension with breathtaking double and triple turns of plot.”

—
People

“Each plot-twisting segment is marked by almost unbearable tension…. Silva’s unsmiling prose urges you on like a silencer poking at the small of your back.”

—
Entertainment Weekly

“A terrific thriller…. One of the best-drawn fictional assassins since
The Day of the Jackal
.”

—
The San Francisco Examiner

“A strong, driving pace…its two main characters cannot be denied.”

—
Chicago Tribune

“[A] fast-moving, bang-bang thriller.”

—
Los Angeles Daily News

“A thrill-a-minute surefire bestseller…[that] rips Middle East strife from the headlines.”

—
Kirkus Reviews

“A master writer of espionage.”

—
The Cincinnati Enquirer

“In the style of authors like Frederick Forsyth and Ken Follet.”

—
New York Law Journal

“At the forefront of his generation of foreign intrigue specialists.”

—
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)

“A writer who brings new life to the international thriller.”

—
Newsday

SIGNET
Published by New American Library, a division of
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi-110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Published by Signet, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Previously published in a G. P. Putnam’s Sons edition.

Copyright © Daniel Silva, 2002

REGISTERED TRADEMARK-MARCA REGISTRADA

ISBN: 978-1-1012-0971-4

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