Ben Hope 05 - The Shadow Project Read Free

below. The wind was whipping her hair across her face, sticking to her tears. She let out a cry when she looked down.
    ?Nice view from up here,? said the stocky guy, still grimacing with the pain in his shin. Then three strong pairs of hands shoved her hard down the slope towards the edge. She lost her footing and stumbled and rolled, grasping for stones and rocks, anything that would halt her momentum as she slithered towards the drop. Her fingertips found a crack in the rock, and suddenly she stopped sliding and was dangling with her legs in space. Her eyes were crazed, teeth bared, her breathing rapid.
    ?Damn,? the woman breathed. ?Why do they always make things difficult??
    ?Don?t let me fall,? Julia implored them. ?Help me. Please. Don?t let me die.?
    ?Could just leave her,? the tall man said. ?She won?t hang on forever.?
    The woman shook her head. ?I want to see her go over.? She thought about the options. Too risky to scramble down the slope towards the edge and kick her hands loose. A long stick would work, but there wasn?t one around. She saw a jagged stone and picked it up. Hefted it in her hand. It was about the right size and weight. ?No,? Julia quavered.
    The woman lobbed the stone. It caught Julia on the cheekbone. She let go of the rock and went tumbling into empty space with a guttural shriek that died away as she spun and cartwheeled down to the rocks below.
    Four long, drawn-out seconds later, the scream was cut short along with Julia Goodman?s life.
    Then the killers returned calmly, quietly, to the van, thinking about what to do with the rest of the day.

    Chapter Two
    Le Val Tactical Training Unit
Near Valognes, Normandy
Six weeks later
    Ben Hope was sitting at his desk facing a mountain of papers, letters, contracts, insurance policies and bank statements, feeling impatience mounting up inside him and wanting to dash the whole lot to the floor when his radio beeped and Raymond on the security gate informed him that the first of the new clients had arrived.
    A few seconds later, a gleaming black Porsche Boxster roared into the yard. It circled between the buildings and let out two long blasts of its horn.
    ?Here comes Rollickin? Holligan,? said Jeff Dekker from his desk on the opposite side of the office and looking at his watch. ?Right on time.? Jeff was a former officer of the SBS, the Royal Navy?s Special Forces regiment, and Ben?s right-hand man at Le Val.
    Ben threw a glance at his friend and felt like saying something about respecting clients, but kept his mouth shut. The truth was, he didn?t like Rupert Shannon any more than Jeff did, and had been glad that almost two months had passed without the guy turning up. But business was business, and the ex-Para and his new six-man bodyguard team had booked Le Val for an intensive two-day refresher course in VIP close protection after landing some new contract in Switzerland. That was what Ben did, pass on his special skills to men like Shannon, so that vulnerable people would be kept safe and protected. His opinion of the guy didn?t matter.
    Ben and Jeff both got up from their desks and walked over to the window.
    ?I was getting bored of paperwork anyway,? Jeff said, rubbing his hands together. ?Just think. This time next week I?ll be in Nice, basking on a beach with a frosted glass in my hand. You should come along. Five days of doing nothing but sitting watching the girls go by.?
    ?And no paperwork,? Ben said with a smile.
    Jeff rolled his eyes. ?Can?t bloody wait.?
    ?It?s been a busy time. You deserve a holiday.?
    ?So do you. The place is closing down for that week anyway.?
    Ben laughed. ?Only so that I can catch up on all the other things that need doing around here.?
    They watched through the window as the Porsche parked up across the yard, near the small bungalow that Ben had built for Jeff next to the trainee accommodation block. The early evening sunlight glittered off the car?s sleek bodywork and tinted windows. The driver?s door swung open and