Алистер Маклин: Dead Halt

“I had a plan to get Fiona out of the country. Well, now I’m going to use it myself. I’ve got all the contacts in place. All the details have already been finalized. I guarantee you that the IRA will never find me. So, you see, I don’t need you at all.”

Marsh clawed desperately for his holstered Browning. Eastman pumped three bullets into him. Marsh’s body spun grotesquely as he fell backwards into the river. Eastman stared impassively at the lifeless body as it wallowed, facedown, in the water then pushed the Browning into his pocket and hurried back to his car.

He saw the red motorbike parked behind Marsh’s Toyota as he emerged into the clearing. The two figures standing beside the car were dressed in black leathers with helmets obscuring their faces. Both were armed with ArmaLite rifles. He knew then he was going to die. He was still reaching for the Browning in his pocket when they shot him.

Alistair MacLean, who died in 1987, was the best-selling author of thirty books, including world famous novels such as The Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare . Of the story outlines he was commissioned to write by an American film company in 1977, two, Hostage Tower and Air Force One is Down , were, with Alistair MacLean’s approval, published as novels written by John Denis; these were followed with six by Alastair MacNeill, the highly successful Death Train , Night Watch, Red Alert, Time of the Assassins, Dead Halt and Code Breaker , and two Borrowed Time and Prime Target by Hugh Miller.

Alastair MacNeill was born in Scotland in 1960. When he was six years old his family emigrated to South Africa, where he showed a growing interest in writing, winning several school competitions. He returned to Britain in 1985 to pursue a full-time writing career. As well as writing seven novels based on MacLean outlines he has written five novels under his own name. He lives in Sheffield.

Dead Halt is the seventh title in the UNACO series.