The Double Eagle
Authors: James Twining
A Novel
To Victoria, always
Là, tout nést quórdre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté
C
HARLES
B
AUDELAIRE,
“L´Invitation au Voyage”
They were late.
Gracefully he fell, his body arcing in one smooth movement…
She knew what would happen as the door opened and…
Outside, the afternoon rush-hour traffic rumbled past, a never-ending river…
It was the sound of the engine that finally woke…
“You still here?”
The car was new and the smell of faux leather…
He’d had the shop’s frontage painted a treacly black, although…
“And unofficially?”
“So we still don’t know if it’s a fake or…
“Vous savez pourquoi on appelle ce quartier leMarais?” Do you…
Tom made his way through the gravestones, the cracked and…
A black Ford Explorer had picked Jennifer up from her…
As Sheppard had predicted, the officer in charge, Captain Rigby,…
Cindy and Pete Roscoe were enjoying themselves. London had been…
The desk fan was on its highest setting. The vibrations…
It had been a hat factory when it had first…
Jennifer had always believed that there were no such things…
“I have three hundred thirty thousand pounds to my right.
Finch’s eyes narrowed as he massaged the back of Short’s…
Liberty Street in the optimistically named Louisville suburb of Prospect…
The ground had already been beaten into a muddy pulp…
People walked past them, their footsteps echoing down the brightly…
It was not a large room, but at fifty feet…
Piper reached into the slim leather briefcase that was resting…
As the plane taxied out to the runway, Jennifer settled…
Normally Jermyn Street, perched between the hustle of Pall Mall…
Tom and Jennifer walked down Piccadilly in silence, allowing themselves…
Harry Renwick lived on a wide, tree-lined street. Broad brick…
Several hours later, Jennifer’s cheeks glowing a little from the…
“Did you find the port?”
The sun had barely risen when the first van pulled…
Tom threw himself out of bed as the alarm went…
Tom had planned out this escape route when he had…
It took them two hours to drive down to the…
The small Cessna Skylane bounced its way across the English…
They drove on in silence, tower blocks and squat warehouses…
As they hit central Paris, they were soon immersed in…
Van Simson inserted a small key into the keyhole on…
Rolfe’s achromatic stare vanished with a shudder as the heavy…
They stopped the car and looked around warily before getting…
They had stepped into the bedroom, and the contrast with…
The bell rang again, more insistently this time. Tom crept…
Tom threw his head back under the shower’s massaging pulse…
Jennifer’s hair was wet and her shoulders still glistened with…
The restaurant was old-fashioned and busy, smoke lazily rising from…
Archie walked up the Rue Denain toward the station’s main…
Jennifer flopped onto the bed, her shoes slipping off her…
The hotel room was dingy and dirty. Stained green curtains…
The screen glowed into life, darkness fading to light, the…
They walked past the buzzing open-air cafés and ten-dollar caricaturists…
Kyle Foster could not remember a time when he had…
Jennifer gasped in surprise, her eyes wide open. Her arms,…
The phone, moist where the molded plastic had been pressed…
Bob Corbett leaned toward the speakerphone, his white shirt collar…
It was dark before Jennifer heard footsteps outside the room,…
As soon as the door had closed and the echo…
Jennifer walked unsteadily back onto the street.
Typically, he would have spent several months planning a job…
The man was definitely following Tom.
At their lowest part, where the gabled rooflines angled down…
On the roof of the building opposite the one he’d…
Tom placed the sheet of glass down a few feet…
Suspended a few feet over the floor, Tom looked on…
The sight of the red dot on the opposite roof…
“Let me see it. Let me have a look.” Jennifer’s…
The bodyguards, too busy ordering their own drinks, did not…
An eerie quiet had descended around them as the game…
Madhavy snarled out an order for another coffee and snapped…
The dark waters of the Golden Horn, the wide harbor…
Night had settled with a thick, dusty cloak. The air…
A man stepped up onto the small podium, his heavily…
The door at the top of the stairs exploded open,…
Indifferent to the execution that they had just witnessed, the…
The smell of chloroform hung about Tom’s clothes like cheap…
The banging from the cell resonated down the corridor. At…
Tom snatched up the guard’s gun and swallowed hard at…
The voice tore into Tom like a blunt blade. He…
The bullet lifted Van Simson clean out of his chair…
A new sound now.
Armed French police swarmed into the room, the plastic visors…
The hotel windows were open and the same intoxicating blend…
A thick heat had settled on the city by lunchtime…
With a small cry, Jennifer sprang toward Corbett and turned…
Tom’s hand was on the door handle, poised to open…