Red Notice (40 page)

‘Why don’t you buy it yourself, then? You might as well – no one else is going to listen to that shite.’

Delphine got to her feet and waved a hand. The other rested lightly on her bump. ‘One hundred pounds.’

There was a stunned silence from around the room. Jockey picked up the CD and stared suspiciously through the shrink-wrap, as if it might conceal a winning lottery ticket. ‘Do women really go for this ying-yang shit?’

‘Well, it certainly worked on me,’ Delphine said. ‘Do you remember that first night, Tom, when we were . . .?’ She paused, leaving a roomful of people to wait for what would come next. ‘Well, you don’t want to hear about that, do you?’ She gave them the ghost of a smile. ‘But anyway, thanks to Lang Lang, here I am, two years later, still coming back for more.’

Jockey gave her a sceptical look. ‘It sounds like bullshit to me,’ he said. ‘But go on, just in case it’s true, I’ll bid one twenty-five.’

Bryce waited until Jockey started reaching for the box, then said, ‘Make that one fifty.’

Jockey wasn’t impressed. ‘Why the hell are you bidding for it? From the number of your ankle-biters running around this room, I’d say your seduction technique was working just fine.’
He paused. ‘All right, one seventy-five, then, and that’s my final offer.’

Keenan gave Delphine an appraising look. ‘In that case, I’ll bid two hundred.’

‘OK then, two fifty.’ Jockey was well in the mood.

‘I thought one seventy-five was going to be your last bid?’ Bryce said. He was taking a breath when a voice boomed from the back,

‘Five hundred!’

Before whoever it was could change his mind, Tom slammed his fist on the table. ‘Sold!’

As Tom scanned the crowd to identify the bidder, he saw that Ashton and Clements were still in their corner. They were arguing. The seed Gavin had planted in his head was growing. Something told him all wasn’t right about those two. Ashton’s story about Gavin planting a device in the Chinook didn’t ring true. If Gavin had planned to do that, why hadn’t he told Tom during their call? Gavin had said the sniper option was all he had. If he fucked up, they had a drama. No mention of a Plan B.

The auction over, the crowd hovered in small groups with their families, lining up for the curry buffet.

Tom watched Clements slip quietly out of the mess. If Ashton and Clements had been involved with Antonov and was responsible for Gavin’s death, Tom would find out.

Ashton walked over to Tom and Delphine as they congratulated Woolf on his purchase. Ashton raised his glass. ‘To Vatu and Gavin,’ he said. ‘We’ve lost two good men there.’ He was studying Tom’s expression. ‘You’ll miss Gavin, won’t you? You two were best mates.’

Sensing trouble, Bryce and Jockey joined the group.

Delphine laid a placatory hand on Tom’s arm. ‘We’ll never forget him, will we?’

Jockey took the CD from Woolf to inspect what might have been. ‘The poor little bugger will be well hacked off with you two when he’s old enough to realize what a crap name you’ve given him.’

Bryce smiled. ‘Gavin Buckingham, eh?’

Tom looked around the room. ‘God, I’m going to miss this.’

Delphine shot him a glance. ‘What do you mean you’ll miss this? You’re not really thinking—’

‘I’m not thinking about it,’ Tom said. ‘I’ve already decided.’

Delphine stared at him in disbelief.

‘Yeah, I’ll be giving it all up in, let’s see . . .’ he checked his Omega ‘. . . in exactly ten . . . years from now.’

He ducked as Delphine threw a mock punch at his head. Jockey started singing ‘The Eton Boating Song’, pretending to row a scull as he cracked on with his backwards moon dance, and one by one they all joined in. Only Ashton remained stone-faced. Tom had eye-to-eye with him and there was a connection, but it wasn’t anything to do with the joke, with the Regiment – with anything, except each man knowing that the other man knew.

Delphine suddenly gave a startled cry. There was a puzzled look on her face and then she broke into a dazzling smile. She took Tom’s hand and placed it against her bump. ‘Tom? I think it is time . . .’

About the Author

Andy McNab
joined the infantry as a boy soldier. In 1984 he was ‘badged’ as a member of 22 SAS Regiment and was involved in both covert and overt special operations worldwide. During the Gulf War he commanded Bravo Two Zero, a patrol that, in the words of his commanding officer, ‘will remain in regimental history for ever’. Awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) and Military Medal (MM) during his military career, McNab was the British Army’s most highly decorated serving soldier when he finally left the SAS in February 1993. He wrote about his experiences in three books: the phenomenal bestseller
Bravo Two Zero
,
Immediate Action
and
Seven Troop
.

He is the author of the bestselling Nick Stone thrillers. Besides his writing work, he lectures to security and intelligence agencies in both the USA and UK. He is a patron of the Help for Heroes campaign.

www.andymcnab.co.uk

Also by Andy McNab

Novels featuring Nick Stone

REMOTE CONTROL

CRISIS FOUR

FIREWALL

LAST LIGHT

LIBERATION DAY

DARK WINTER

DEEP BLACK

AGGRESSOR

RECOIL

CROSSFIRE

BRUTE FORCE

EXIT WOUND

ZERO HOUR

DEAD CENTRE

Andy McNab with Kym Jordan

WAR TORN

Quick Reads

THE GREY MAN

LAST NIGHT ANOTHER SOLDIER

Non-fiction

BRAVO TWO ZERO

IMMEDIATE ACTION

SEVEN TROOP

SPOKEN FROM THE FRONT

For more information on Andy McNab and his books,

see his website at
www.andymcnab.co.uk

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RED NOTICE

A BANTAM BOOK: 9780593069486

Version 1.0 Epub ISBN: 9781448111121

First published in Great Britain

in 2012 by Bantam Press

an imprint of Transworld Publishers

Copyright © Andy McNab 2012

Andy McNab has asserted his right under the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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