The Midnight Bell

The Midnight Bell
Jack Higgins

“The bell tolls at midnight as death requires it.” But will it finally toll for Sean Dillon & company in the explosive new thriller of murder, terrorism and revenge from the Sunday Times bestselling author.In Ulster, Northern Ireland, a petty criminal kills a woman in a drunken car crash. Her sons swear revenge.In London, Sean Dillon and his colleagues in the ‘Prime Minister’s private army’, fresh from defeating a deadly al-Qaeda operation, receive a warning: ‘You may think you have weakened us, but you have only made us stronger.’In Washington, D.C., a special projects director with the CIA, frustrated at not getting permission from the President for his daring anti-terrorism plan, decides to put it in motion anyway.Soon, the ripples from these events will meet and overlap, creating havoc in their wake. Desperate men will act, secrets will be revealed – and the midnight bell will toll.

Copyright (#ulink_61bd0da4-abb2-533b-b20d-017230fb83fb)

HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2016

Copyright © Harry Patterson 2016

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2016

Harry Patterson asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

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.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008160272

Ebook Edition © December 2016 ISBN: 9780008160296

Version: 2017-09-27

Dedication (#ulink_72284d49-bc1f-5143-b8aa-f1b8554fc254)

For Madeleine Cameron With love and grateful thanks

Epigraph (#ulink_00e91065-235d-5975-815b-658e2f0681fb)

The bell tolls at midnight, but only when Death requires it.

—Irish proverb

Contents

Cover (#u10f9e0ce-02e3-5665-971b-2d2abb37d312)

Title Page (#u52e54ad5-fb3c-593a-9f35-255729bf2087)

Copyright (#u54151b12-2c3c-5e11-8127-6f3271da92dd)

Dedication (#u8a173903-a1ff-52a6-a221-1ce6299a0791)

Epigraph (#uf9077d13-8336-54c2-bf08-34fd07ef536f)

Washington and London (#ucff6e160-81b3-5210-997b-1fd8129d85bd)

Chapter 1 (#u9cb0aba2-a025-5b6d-b670-cbe79a547651)

Chapter 2 (#u6c236967-9b9c-5c85-b09f-5b93568a2c65)

Chapter 3 (#u5df5e260-02e1-569e-8f20-2669b3bdbf6a)

Chapter 4 (#u0bee8f4c-181c-59ac-b103-209433da62ac)

Chapter 5 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by Jack Higgins (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

WASHINGTON AND LONDON (#ulink_be86924d-cd32-548e-9e57-23d7e3e6a35f)

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AN EAST WIND with driving rain and sleet pushed across the airport as the Gulfstream landed. It was immediately approached by a security limousine from the White House, which Blake Johnson, alighting from the plane, was surprised to see was being driven by his longtime secretary, Alice Quarmby. He opened the passenger door, tossed his valise inside, and joined her.

“What are you doing here?”

“Protecting your back, you idiot,” she told him, as she drove away. “You were supposed to bring Jake Cazalet back with you from London, and here you are, alone. I’m a nervous old broad when it comes to my boss, so I’d like to know why.”

“Sorry, Alice, it’s for the ears of the President only.”