Tested by Fire by David Costa (brene brown rising strong .txt) 📕

Harrison had the two men covered with his gun as they saw what had happened to Lyndsey. Both reached under their jackets but too late. Thanks to being seated, their options were limited. They had become combatants. Harrison shot the one to his right twice in the chest while, as they’d planned, Reece did the same to the one on the left. Both men fell, knocking over the surrounding tables, both dead before they hit the ground.

The young lovers were in shock and looked on, mouths open as the two gunmen turned and walked casually down the street towards the corner of the hotel opposite and disappeared into the night.

They walked down to the deserted beach and within seconds a Royal Navy dingy with two Special Boat Service operators arrived. They sailed out one mile to where they boarded the Royal Navy Destroyer HMS Ardross which had, until two days ago, been on exercise in the Red Sea. The ship sailed to Cyprus, leaving the Egyptian authorities totally baffled that the two men had completely disappeared.

Not knowing who the men were and the discovery that their victims were Islamic terrorists, they believed the assassinations were the work of Mossad. The Egyptian authorities didn’t want the world to know Lyndsey and her friends had been enjoying themselves in their country so they decided not to look into the murders too closely, better to let sleeping dogs lie.

Malta: One Month Later

David Reece sat on the bench at the head of the costal walkway between Qawra and Bugibba watching the waves of St Paul’s Bay splash over the rocks below. He always enjoyed the walk along this path first thing in the morning when everything was still fresh, and the sun was just above the headland in front of him. The walk took him about a quarter of a mile from his small piece of heaven on earth the Villa St Joseph. From where he sat, he could see the new motor carriageway as it passed around the headland heading towards the capital Valletta.

Mary sat down next to him. Even though it was the middle of November, the sun still radiated heat warm enough to allow them to wear light jackets over their T-shirts. When she sat down, she asked, ‘What are you thinking, Joseph?’

He looked at her beautiful brown eyes as if for the first time. He loved how this woman could see into his soul and take away all the fears of life.

‘You asked me that once before and I think I told you I loved you and we’d be together after the work was over. Well, the work is over for now but there’ll be other times when I’ll have to work, maybe be away from you and I don’t know if I want to do that anymore.’

‘Let’s not worry about the future, let’s just have today, now, right here.’

‘You’re right. The work is done’

‘So, as I said, there’s nothing for us to do now except drink our coffee and then head back to the villa where we can make warm passionate love all day.’

He loved her smile and the love they made together.

‘Answer me a question. Why do you still call me Joseph even though the job is over? You’re no longer my agent, you’re the woman I love?’

‘I know, and I love you too. I first knew you as Joseph, and you saved me from a life that was destroying me inside when you were called Joseph. So you’ll always be Joseph to me. The one man who kept his promise.’

‘All right, Joseph it is, but only for you, now let’s go get that coffee.’

She took his hand and looking into his eyes she smiled.

‘Let’s skip the coffee.’

About the Author

The author has twenty-six years of experience working in anti-terrorist operations throughout the world and has used that knowledge throughout this book. Because of this background David Costa is of course a Pseudonym. David has been published in a short story anthology ‘When Stars will Shine’ and in three Poetry Anthologies.

This book introduces David Reece, a terrorist hunter with a Black Ops Group SG9 attached to the British Secret Service MI6. His remit: to find the terrorists and eliminate them. In the first of three novels, we follow Reece and his team in their hunt for a terrorist cell who are determined to carry out a spectacular attack on British soil by killing the Prime Minister.

A Note from the Author

I hope you enjoy this story and if you would like to hear more or send me your thoughts, please feel free to do so.

www.https://DavidCostaWriter.com

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