STOP AT NOTHING: 'Mark Cole is Bond's US cousin mixed with the balls out action and killing edge of Jason Bourne' Parmenion Books Read Online Free PDF Page A

house.
    Sarah was looking beautiful as always, her long brown hair – much lighter now, after years in the Caribbean sun, than when they had first met - cascading down her tanned back, the firm muscles of her long legs visible underneath her denim shorts.
    She was teaching Ben and Amy how to shoot a bow and arrow, Cole saw, and couldn’t help but smile. A scuba diving instructor by profession, she was as physical as he was – indeed, this was one of the first things that had attracted him to her, and they both now ran a small diving school on the island.
    He looked into the tree-line and saw a circular target hidden amongst the palm trees that swayed gently in the breeze. Cole held back as she gave the bow to Ben, helping him to get into position. She knelt at his side, angling his arms to get a better aim.
    Ben was six years old now and Amy was four, and Cole’s heart filled with warmth as he looked at them with their mother, Ben allowing her to position himself correctly whilst Amy looked on in fascination.
    Eventually Sarah backed away, and Cole saw Ben take a deep breath – hold it – and then release the arrow.
    Cole monitored the flight of the arrow as it sailed through the air, its path true. It missed the bulls-eye by a mere inch, and his wife and children squealed with delight, Sarah doing a little victory dance for them.
    Cole started to clap, and their heads twisted round immediately. ‘Daddy!’ cried Amy, rushing towards him across the beach. Ben ran over too, and they both hugged him, Amy’s arms around his legs, Ben’s around his waist.
    ‘Did you see me, Dad?’ Ben asked excitedly as Sarah joined them, kissing Mark on the lips. ‘Did you see me?’
    ‘I sure did!’ Cole told him. ‘What a shot! Fantastic!’
    ‘Do you want to have a go?’ Ben asked. He loved watching his father shooting; he never seemed to miss.
    ‘Sure!’ Cole said. ‘But I don’t think I’ll be able to beat that.’
    Ben laughed, and then Sarah turned to him. ‘I’m glad you’re back; the turkey’s not going to baste itself. Can you stay with them while I bob inside?’
    Cole smiled. He knew his wife could kill a turkey as easily as baste it. Her father was a wealthy financier based out of New York, but much of Sarah’s formative life had been spent on her father’s sporting estate up in the Catskills, where she had often shot what she ate – but she was equally proud of her ability in the kitchen, and allowed nobody else to cook there. They could easily have afforded a live-in chef, but Sarah simply wouldn’t hear of it.
    ‘You try and stop me!’ Cole replied, racing off towards the bow and arrows lying on the sand, Ben and Amy giggling as they tried to catch him.
    ‘But don’t stay out too long!’ Sarah called after him. ‘You don’t want them to get sunburnt!’
    Sarah sighed as he merely gave her a thumbs up and blew her a little kiss, knowing she would probably have to go back out before long to drag them inside.

3
    Eventually, Cole and his children
did
come back inside, and Cole decided to carry on his training routine with some callisthenics as he put the television on to catch up with the news – today
was
the day of the treaty signing, after all. His profession meant that he had to be constantly up-to-date with world affairs – his life sometimes depended on it.
    As he stretched deep into a wrestler’s bridge, he thought the image on the television set was rather strange; it
was
upside down though, he conceded, as he rolled onto his forehead, feet flat on the floor and back arched like a bow.
    In all his years of active military service and preparation, he had found the bridge to be the best single overall exercise for his body, helping to strengthen and protect his neck and his back, which he appreciated all the more now that he was approaching the age of forty. The exercise was made even more strenuous by the weight of his two young children, who giggled excitedly as they attempted to