Solo - Jack Higgins [93]
Katherine Riley went forward and knelt down beside Mikali. His white shirt front was stained with blood, but his face was quite unmarked, eyes closed and he was smiling slightly.
She brushed the hair away from his forehead, then very carefully removed the white carnation from his lapel. The carnation he had thrown to her in the Loggia box. The carnation she had kissed and tossed back to him.
She turned and walked out, brushing past Morgan without a word.
'Kate?' he said and made to go after her.
Baker caught him by the arm. 'Let her go, Asa. Just give me the gun.'
Morgan handed him the Walther and Baker unloaded it. 'Feel any better now? Has it brought Megan back?'
Morgan went and stood over Mikali's body. 'Why did he do it?'
'Well, at a guess, Asa, old son, I'd say it goes something like this. You're good, but he knew he was better and he couldn't afford that, not this time. He had nowhere else to go.'
'Damn him to hell!' Morgan said.
'It's a point of view. By the way, Asa, have you read the Daily Telegraph today? Got a list of the latest Army promotions. You've made it at last. Brigadier. Now you can even tell Ferguson to go to hell if you want to.'
But Morgan was no longer listening. He turned and ran out into the corridor. It was deserted except for Katherine Riley disappearing round the curve of the far end.
'Kate?' he cried and as he started to run, the audience in the hall broke into a storm of applause at the end of the 'Sea Songs' Fantasia.
When he reached the top of the stairs leading down to the main foyer, there was no sign of her. He went down them two at a time and straight out through the glass doors. Behind him, orchestra and chorus and the entire audience broke into the glorious strains of 'Jerusalem.'
It was raining hard, the road jammed with traffic. As he went down the steps, Ferguson came to meet him, holding an umbrella over his head.
'Congratulations, Asa.'
'What you wanted, wasn't it? I knew that from the beginning. We both did. Just the same old bloody game, like always.'
'Neatly put.'
Morgan gazed around him widly. 'Where is she?'
'Over there.' Ferguson nodded across the road. 'I'd hurry, if I were you, Asa.
But Morgan, darting between the traffic through heavy rain, was too late for as he reached the other side, she had already moved past the Albert Memorial and disappeared into the darkness of the park.
A Biography of Jack Higgins
Jack Higgins is the pseudonym of Harry Patterson (b. 1929), the New York Times bestselling author of more than seventy thrillers, including The Eagle Has Landed and The Wolf at the Door. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide.
Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, Patterson grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland. As a child, Patterson was a voracious reader and later credited his passion for reading with fueling his creative drive to be an author. His upbringing in Belfast also exposed him to the political and religious violence that characterized the city at the time. At seven years old, Patterson was caught in gunfire while riding a tram, and later was in a Belfast movie theater when it was bombed. Though he escaped from both attacks unharmed, the turmoil in Northern Ireland would later become a significant influence in his books, many of which prominently feature the Irish Republican Army. After attending grammar school and college in Leeds, England, Patterson joined the British Army and served two years in the Household Cavalry, from 1947 to 1949, stationed along the East German border. He was considered an expert sharpshooter.
Following his military service, Patterson earned a degree in sociology from the London School of Economics, which led to teaching jobs at two English colleges. In 1959, while teaching at James Graham College, Patterson began writing novels, including some under the alias James Graham. As his popularity grew, Patterson left teaching to write full time. With the 1975 publication of the international