December 2001. A Zodiac inflatable slips away from a submarine off the North African coast. If he
hadn't needed American citizenship so badly, Nick Stone wouldn't have agreed to do this one last
job, but the CIA's offer of a new life in the United States, and the chance to share it with Carrie,
the woman he's fallen in love with, is one he cannot refuse. The job seems simple enough for a man
of his particular skills: infiltrate into the Islamic republic of Algeria, kill a money-laundering
local businessman and bring back his severed head to the West. Stone isn't told why the man has to
die like this, and he doesn't want to know. He just guesses it's got something to do with the
democratic world's fightback after the terrible events of September 11th. But as events unfold
alarmingly fast, Stone realized that by no means has he been told the full story - and that in
reality the job has only just begun. Then comes the devastating news that Carrie, enraged by his
broken promise never to work with the CIA again, has turned her back on him forever. Operating in
the dangerous underworld of the South of France, where al-Qaeda has embarked on a panicked round-up
of funds using their ancient banking system of hawalla, Stone is in at the deep end of a very dirty
war. In the most daunting mission he has yet undertaken, as one bloody twist leads to another, Stone
ultimately finds himself confronted by the most desperate dilemma a man could ever face...

ABOUT THE READER
Clive Mantle's theatre work includes Coming Clean, A Street Named Desire and on tour in Educating
Rita. He has been nominated for an Olivier Award and, for his performance as Lennie in Of Mice and
Men, he was joint Best Newcomer in the Plays and Players Awards. On TV, Clive is best known as
consultant Mike Barratt in Casualty and Holby City, and has guest starred in The Vicar Of Dibley
and The Robinsons.

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