Prime Target (31 page)
Authors: Hugh Miller
âVery good, sir.'
Sabrina put away the mobile and went to kneel beside Wolff, who was still sitting on the grass.
âI hope you won't mind me raising something like this so soon after your ordeal,' she said. She looked quickly at Mike, who rolled his eyes but said nothing. âIt's about the software you had tucked under your belt. Was that all of the work you were doing? I mean, was everything on those four disks?'
Wolff nodded. âFrankly, that is why I feel so sick.'
He pushed his fingers down the top of his trousers and fished out a few shards of the broken disks the medics had missed.
âAll gone,' he sighed. âAll gone.'
âThe grim truth,' Mike said, âis that your life was saved at the expense of ICON's next generation of security.'
Wolff stared at him. He looked puzzled.
âI'm sorry. I don't followâ¦'
âI just said that ICON security has perished in the process of -'
âPerished?' Wolff stared at Mike wide-eyed. âICON security? Never. Not a chance of it. Not as long as I breathe.'
Mike and Sabrina looked at each other. Mike looked at Wolff.
âI don't understand, Andreas. Those disks, weren't they the upgrade security files, the ones you've been working on so hard?'
âTcha!'
Wolff looked at Mike as if he was an idiot. âThe security codes are my discipline,' he said, tapping the side of his head. âI make notes, sure, but the programs, the routines, they evolve all the time, and because they do they require volatile storage.' He tapped his head again, more forcibly. âThey were generated in my skull, and they will stay there until they are perfected and transferred to the network.' Wolff pulled a few more particles of plastic from the waistband of his trousers. âThese disks contained my new masterpieces,' he said. His voice was hollow and sad.
Mike frowned. âYou mean games?'
Wolff nodded. âFour of them. All beauties. All gone.' Wolff looked at Sabrina with agony in his eyes. âI spent three years working on them.
They were my creations, my children.' He shook his head, desolated beyond comforting. âThree years of dedication. Three years of my life, for God's sake.'
Mike did his best to commiserate.
Sabrina turned away.
It had been a hell of a day.
I am grateful to Philip Brent for information about satellite networks, Nick Carpenter for advice on firearms and incendiaries, Edwin Moss for Moroccan intelligence and Rosa Barlach for the low-down on urban biking.
Especial thanks to Fiona Stewart, my editor at HarperCollins, whose vigilance and overall savvy did my manuscript no end of good.
Alistair MacLean, who died on 2 February 1987, was the international bestselling author of thirty books, including world-famous novels such as
The Guns of Navarone
and
Where Eagles Dare.
In 1977 he was commissioned by an American film company to write a number of story outlines that could be adapted into a series of movies; two,
Hostage Tower
and
Air Force One is Down,
were, with Alistair MacLean's approval, published as novels 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.
Hugh Miller was born in Scotland but now lives in Warwick. He is the author of the bestseller
Ambulance,
as well as the highly acclaimed Mike Fletcher crime novels. He is an acknowledged expert on forensic medicine and has numerous TV credits.
Prime Target
is the ninth title in the UNACO series.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
HMS Ulysses
The Guns of Navarone
South by Java Head
The Last Frontier
Night Without End
Fear is the Key
The Dark Crusader
The Satan Bug
The Golden Rendezvous
Ice Station Zebra
When Eight Bells Toll
Where Eagles Dare
Force 10 from Navarone
Puppet on a Chain
Caravan to Vaccarès
Bear Island
The Way to Dusty Death
Breakheart Pass
Circus
The Golden Gate
Seawitch
Goodbye California
Athabasca
River of Death
Partisans
Floodgate
San Andreas
The Lonely Sea (stories)
Santorini
By Sam Llewellyn
Storm Force from Navarone
Thunderbolt from Navarone
By Alastair MacNeill
Alistair MacLean's
Rendezvous
THE UNACO SERIES
By John Denis
Alistair MacLean's Hostage
Tower
Alistair MacLean's Air Force
One is Down
By Alastair MacNeill
Alistair MacLean's Death
Train
Alistair MacLean's Night
Watch
Alistair MacLean's Red Alert
Alistair MacLean's Time of the
Assassins
Alistair MacLean's Dead Halt
Alistair MacLean's Code
Breaker
By Hugh Miller
Alistair MacLean's Borrowed
Time
Alistair MacLean's Prime
Target
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Harper
An imprint of Harpe
rCollinsPublishers
77-85
Fulham Palace Road,
Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
www.harpercollins.co.uk
This paperback edition 2010
1
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins
Publishers
1997
Copyright © Characters and settings: HarperCollins
Publishers
1996
Copyright © Text: HarperCollins
Publishers
and Hugh Miller 1996
Hugh Miller asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-0-00-649934-3
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EPub Edition © AUGUST 2010 ISBN: 978-0-007-34903-6
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