Carte Blanche - Jeffery Deaver [0]
CARTE BLANCHE
A JAMES BOND NOVEL
www.hodder.co.uk
First published in Great Britain in 2011 by Hodder & Stoughton
An Hachette UK company
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Copyright © Ian Fleming Publications Limited 2011
James Bond and 007 are trademarks of Danjaq, LLC, used under licence by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd.
The right of Jeffery Deaver to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library
Ebook ISBN 978 1 444 71644 3
Hardback ISBN 978 1 444 71647 4
Trade paperback ISBN 978 1 444 71648 1
Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
338 Euston Road
London NW1 3BH
www.hodder.co.uk
CONTENTS
Carte Blanche
Copyright
Dedication
Author's Note
Sunday - THE RED DANUBE
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Monday - THE RAG-AND-BONE MAN
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Tuesday - DEATH IN THE SAND
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Wednesday - KILLING FIELDS
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Thursday - DISAPPEARANCE ROW
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Friday - DOWN TO GEHENNA
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Glossary
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Ian Fleming
Jeffery Deaver
By the Same Author
Also by Ian Fleming
Also by Jeffery Deaver
To the man who taught us
we could still believe in heroes,
Ian Fleming
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. However, with a few exceptions, the organisations referred to are real. The world of intelligence, counter-intelligence and espionage is one of acronyms and shorthand. Since the alphabet soup of security agencies can be a bit daunting, I thought a glossary might prove helpful. It appears at the end of the book.
J.D.
‘What is needed is a new organisation to co-ordinate, inspire, control, and assist the nationals of the oppressed countries . . . We need absolute secrecy, a certain fanatical enthusiasm, willingness to work with people of different nationalities and complete political reliability. The organisation should, in my view, be entirely independent of the War Office machinery.’
– Hugh Dalton, Minister of Economic Warfare, describing the formation of Britain’s Special Operations Executive espionage and sabotage group at the outbreak of the Second World War.
Sunday
THE RED DANUBE
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His hand on the dead-man throttle, the driver of the Serbian Rail diesel felt the thrill he always did on this particular stretch of railway, heading north from Belgrade and approaching Novi Sad.
This was the route of the famed Arlberg Orient Express, which ran from Greece through Belgrade and points north from the 1930s until the 1960s. Of course, he was not piloting a glistening Pacific 231 steam locomotive towing elegant mahogany-and-brass dining cars, suites and sleepers, where passengers floated upon vapours of luxury and anticipation. He commanded a battered