Tidal Rage by David Evans (bill gates books to read txt) 📕

Joe said. Cutler realized that the Jamaican jive Joe talked was a put-on, and he spoke with a very passable English accent.

What Cutler would learn over time was that Joe was as loyal a person as you could get. He also had a marvellous ability to speak in most accents and could mimic individuals. Sometimes Cutler wondered if he was talking to a colleague on the phone, or if it was Joe up to his tricks again.

Following the acquisition of Stahmer’s and Joe’s services, Cutler turned his attention to a security company in Atlanta. Custodela Incorporated was set up by John and Nick Commons. John was ex-Seal, and Nick was ex-Secret Service. This was the pond they fished in for their operatives. Custodela, as a name, was picked as it translated from Latin to ‘guard’, and this is what they did; they guarded the world’s VIPs in areas of trouble. The company was initially set up to send out bodyguards to protect the green zone occupants in Baghdad; it had now widened its scope to other theatres of war.

It took a $50,000 introduction fee to Custodela to get Tuck Walters and a further $50,000 to release him from his contract. Walters was known just as Tuck. He was ex-SAS trained Special Forces. Tuck had worked with John Commons in a joint operation in Afghanistan to locate and call in drones to dispose of two leading members of the Taliban.

Cutler had thought the ex-SAS man short for Special Forces, at five feet eight, when he had appraised his file. However, on meeting Tuck, it became apparent that size did not matter. The man looked tough; he oozed power and presence. Tuck was of Maori descent, olive-skinned, square-jawed, and black hair. He was all muscle and was shaped like a V from the waist up. Originally from Rarotonga in the Cook Isles, he had found the life too peaceful and sedentary; others call that paradise. Tuck had emigrated and signed up for the New Zealand Armed Forces until finally being shipped off to the SAS training grounds of Hereford in the United Kingdom.

Tuck had seen action when stationed with the British in Kuwait, Iraq, and undercover in Iran and Sudan. He had gained a reputation as a dependable member of the team; fearless, fierce, and uncompromising. Lately he had been providing personal protection for oil executives from the UK and the States in Iraq, and had saved several from assassination attempts, leaving a dozen or so activists bereft of breath.

Tuck was to oversee the security team, and as such, wanted to recruit his own men. He wanted a wing man, and immediately put forward and hired Hoagie Finberg, who towered over Tuck at six foot five inches. The pair had worked together on several sorties, each had saved the other’s life on at least one occasion. They had a bond; where Tuck went, Hoagie followed. This cost MIDAS another $50,000 introduction fee to Custodela. The company was quite willing to let their operatives leave for finder fees. As it stood, they now had an abundance of veterans from the Seals and SAS on their books, looking for high wages, and the need to get away from the boredom of civilian life.

Hoagie was as good-looking as Tuck was tough-looking. Short, blonde, salt-and-pepper speckled hair, and a striking facial resemblance to George Clooney. Due to this doppelganger legacy, he seldom left a pub or nightclub alone. The problem for the army of women admirers was, he always left with men, as Hoagie was gay. This perceived and outdated blemish on Hoagie’s curriculum vitae led to his dismissal from the United States Navy Seals, and his subsequent twelve months in prison for striking the officer who blew the whistle on his sexual preferences.

Another recruit was a twenty-two-year-old graduate from Harvard: Ghislaine Lyman nee Farouk. She was of Palestinian extract, born in the Gaza Strip. Her parents had been killed when a retaliation raid for an earlier bomb attack on a bus station in Haifa. The result of the bombing had prompted the Israelis to send over ten times more explosive power in the form of rockets into the Gaza Strip. Unfortunately, one such missile blew up the family home. Ghislaine had been dragged from the wreckage of what was left of the house by an American volunteer for the World Health Organization. By hook and by crook, the American volunteer had gotten Ghislaine back to the States, where he and his wife had adopted Ghislaine Farouk, who several years later took on the Lyman name.

What Cutler had been looking for was a linguist; someone who could speak several languages. Cutler had a good grasp on German and Arabic, but that was all. Tuck could speak Maori and Aborigine; how useful that would be, they did not know. Fabienne could speak her native Swiss, plus English, French, and German.

What Cutler had not expected was Ghislaine’s sheer presence; she was as striking as she was gifted. She had jet-black hair that flowed like layers of silk in the wind. Her olive skin had the red blush of youth and was faultless. She was five feet nine inches tall, and the heels she wore made her look more like six feet. When Cutler met her for the first time, she wore a two-piece white trouser suit which defined her slim, hourglass figure. The suit also accentuated the lustre of her hair against the whiteness of the suit. Ghislaine wore round Gucci sunglasses, her bright green eyes shining through the polarized layers of glass.

Cutler and Cheryl now had their initial team for MIDAS. Cheryl would be the researcher based in Florida who would be responsible for initial research. Matt Rice was their photographic expert. Fabienne in Geneva was responsible for building secure IT systems, research, and building search engines to assist Cheryl. Tuck and Hoagie were security, surveillance, and counter-surveillance. Robert Stahmer was his deputy lead investigator. Ghislaine