boss, wanted The Firm and
had tried many, many times to convince The Grey Man that his way was the best
way forward. But there was something
about him that did not ring true to The Grey Man’s ears and he had
learnt to listen to his feelings. Always
a sensitive man, The Grey Man knew when someone was not right, just not ‘kosher’
so he kept his distance and remained the voice of reason for The Firm.
He looked around the converted Jacobean church house. It was quite stunning with a thatched roof
and twelve bedrooms, servants quarters, a modern kitchen, swimming pool and
stables. None of which he used. A man of simple needs, he had based himself
in the cellar behind a false wall complete with a basic kitchen, shower and an
army camp bed. The only time he came up
to the main house was to greet an occasional nosy neighbour or visitor who was
shown into a beautifully furnished sitting room complete with expensive antiques
and paintings in keeping with the type of man who would own such a house. This, along with the main passageway, was the
only room which was like this. Every
other room was bare and the front had so far fooled everyone that had called.
Once he decided to leave and move on, he would set the virus on his
computer completely frying the hard drive, pick up a holdall and walk out. Everything would be disposed of by his
company, nothing would be left on the computer. All his files were kept on line, able to be accessed anywhere in the world. In the holdall was a change of clothes, a
change of identity, his smart phone and various credit cards and currency. He had not one personal item and never had. Everything was disposable.
His mind reached out to his two friends, Collins and Surge. In fact he still had trouble thinking of them
as friends, as he had never had friends before. He had kept a discreet eye on them since they had tracked down Collins
wife’s killer and Surge had been injured. It amused The Grey Man that Surge, a very insular man, looked to be doing just fine running a pub and
almost despite Surge, one that was becoming successful and popular. For a man that had always kept in the background
and dealt in violence it was a strange twist of fate and The Grey Man
wished him well.
Collins concerned him more. Collins
was an assassin and killed without mercy. He had the ability to drop his humanity and do whatever was needed with
no fear or remorse. However his wife had
always anchored him. The love she had
showed kept Collins on the right side of life, allowed him to act as a human
being. In fact over the last few years
he had become semi-retired, happy to train newcomers in The Firm or to act as a
consultant. He had become a back room
man fading into the background and normality. But in the months since the funeral Collins had once again become
operational working for The Firm. Some of
the reports were disturbing. ‘ Displays a lack of personal safety’ read
one, ‘ Almost reckless’ read another
which went on to say that ‘ He’d showed a
level of violence that had shocked his fellow operatives’ as The Assassin
had killed five members of a terrorist group in as many seconds then gone out
to dinner completely, it appeared, unmoved. The Grey Man was not sure quite how to deal
with this.
Chapter 6
The Surgeon
Surge woke early as he always did, stretched and got out of bed. His back and knees were playing up but not too
bad. He would go for a run soon and warm
them up. He loved this room above the
pub with its thick plaster walls painted a silky cream, the wooden floors and
the simple furniture. It faced south and
in the morning the sunlight woke him up as its beams broke through the sash
windows and thin cotton curtains.
He took a minute whilst cleaning his teeth to reflect on how he felt. A strange emotion came over him and he
thought perhaps he might be
J. L. McCoy, Virginia Cantrell