Crisis Four - Hardcover

McNab, Andy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0345428072 ISBN 13: 9780345428073

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2000

Synopsis

"If your opponent has only two possible options, you can be sure that he will take the third." A tough, resourceful master of his trade, British Intelligence agent Nick Stone has just been given a chilling ultimatum: find a missing agent who appears to have defected or lose the guardianship of his beloved nine-year-old daughter. In Stone's mind, there is no choice.

The "runner" is Sarah Greenwood, U.K. liaison with the Counterterrorism Center, a cell set up by the CIA to warn against potential terrorist attacks. Steel-willed, beautiful, cunning, Sarah is also Nick's former lover, the only woman who has ever been allowed under his rough, impenetrable guard.

"It's not only what you see. Sometimes what isn't there is just as important as what is." Relying on his keen instincts and cool logic, Nick tracks Sarah to the mountainous backwoods of North Carolina. There, in a remote cabin, she conspires with two Middle Eastern men. Then Nick's mission takes a decidedly dark turn when he receives a T104--an order to kill Sarah without a trace.

But nothing is what it seems, as Nick and Sarah themselves become hunted, racing deeper into a dark, deadly conspiracy that will change the course of world events--and the lives of millions.

With seventeen years of active service in the elite SAS force, Andy McNab writes from his own harrowing experiences. As compelling and relentless as a fast-burning fuse, Crisis Four hurtles us into a breathtaking plot of nonstop action and suspense. Packed with authentic procedural details, it is a thriller so gritty and real that you won't know where fact ends and fiction begins.

About this title

About the Author

ANDY McNAB joined the infantry as a boy soldier. In 1984 he was 'badged' as a member of 22 SAS Regiment and was involved in both covert and overt special operations worldwide. During the Gulf War he commanded Bravo Two Zero, a patrol that, in the words of his commanding officer, 'will remain in regimental history for ever'. Awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) and Military Medal (MM) during his military career, McNab was the British Army's most highly decorated serving soldier when he finally left the SAS in February 1993. He wrote about his experiences in two phenomenal bestsellers, Bravo Two Zero, which was filmed in 1998 starring Sean Bean, and Immediate Action. He is the author of the bestselling novels, Firewall, Crisis Four, Last Light, Remote Control, Liberation Day, Dark Winter, Deep Black, Aggressor and Recoil. Besides his writing work, he lectures to security and intelligence agencies in both the USA and UK.

From the Back Cover

"MCNAB IS THE BEST SUSPENSE THRILLER WRITER TO PUT PEN TO PAPER SINCE ALISTAIR MACLEAN."
--STEPHEN COONTS
Author of Flight of the Intruder

From the Inside Flap

r opponent has only two possible options, you can be sure that he will take the third." A tough, resourceful master of his trade, British Intelligence agent Nick Stone has just been given a chilling ultimatum: find a missing agent who appears to have defected or lose the guardianship of his beloved nine-year-old daughter. In Stone's mind, there is no choice.

The "runner" is Sarah Greenwood, U.K. liaison with the Counterterrorism Center, a cell set up by the CIA to warn against potential terrorist attacks. Steel-willed, beautiful, cunning, Sarah is also Nick's former lover, the only woman who has ever been allowed under his rough, impenetrable guard.

"It's not only what you see. Sometimes what isn't there is just as important as what is." Relying on his keen instincts and cool logic, Nick tracks Sarah to the mountainous backwoods of North Carolina. There, in a remote cabin, she conspires with two Middle Eastern men. Then Nick's mission takes a decided

Reviews

A little knowledge is a dangerous thingDand a little knowledge is all freelance operative Nick Stone gets when he's ordered to track down a missing colleague in McNab's gripping follow-up to the British bestseller Remote Control. It's the spring of 1998, and Stone is on the trail of Sarah Greenwood, who's disappeared from her counter-terrorism stint in Washington just before Arafat and Netanyahu are scheduled to meet with President Clinton in the capital. It doesn't help that Stone's affair with Sarah (which was all business on Sarah's part) was responsible for the end of his marriage, or that Sarah herself is a real piece of work. When Stone finds Sarah, he discovers that his superiors not only want the trigger-happy operative dead, they want her to disappear without a trace. But Sarah claims she has information that could stop an Osama Bin Laden-sponsored terrorist strike on the White House that would kill the American, Palestinian and Israeli leaders. As a result, Stone must choose whether to obey orders or to believe his ex-lover. The plot is simple and direct, and McNab's talent for setting up a scene becomes evident when Stone tracks Sarah to North Carolina. His stakeout of her house would occupy a few pages if described by a less-skilled writer, but McNab goes deep into detail, transforming the set piece into virtual reality. McNab, a former Special Air Service member, delivers authenticity in spades; this thriller is full of the kind of grit that gets under the fingernails. His nonfiction bestseller, Bravo Two Zero, which tells the story of what happened to his SAS patrol when it was stranded behind Iraqi lines during the Gulf War, reads like a prologue to this novel, which boasts the operational details of a Rogue Warrior escapade without the overdose of testosterone. Major ad/promo. (July)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Tougher than the rustiest nail, British intelligence agent Nick Stone has himself circumcised before going on his next mission so that he can pass as an Israeli if captured or killed. Then, within the first few pages, a villain chews off part of his ear. Stone's task is to rescue missing agent Sarah Greenwood and stop a Syrian terrorist threat that has American and Middle Eastern leaders among its targets. McNab definitely knows his stuff; he is a highly decorated former professional soldier and former member of Britain's elite Special Air Service who led SAS missions against Iraq in the Gulf War. He also has another novel and two nonfiction books to his credit. Despite these credentials and the shootings, stabbings, and other bloodlettings, Crisis Four is slow moving and overly detailed. For larger collections.
-DRobert Conroy, Warren, MI
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 1998

Three gallons a day, that's your lot," the bosun barked. "But two gallons have to go to the cook, so there's one gallon--I'll tell ye again, just one gallon--left over for drinking, washing and anything else ye need it for. Anyone caught taking more will be flogged. So will gamblers, cheats and malingerers. We don't like malingerers in Her Majesty's navy!"

We were lined up on either side of the deck, listening to the bosun gobbing off about our water ration. I was trying not to catch Josh's eye; I knew I'd burst into a fit of laughter that Kelly wouldn't find amusing.

There were about twenty of us "new crew," mostly kids, all dressed in the standard-issue sixteenth-century sailors' kit: a hessian jerkin and shirt, with trousers that stopped about a foot short of the trainers we'd been
instructed to bring with us. We were aboard the Golden Hind, a full-sized reconstruction of the ship in which Sir Francis Drake had circumnavigated the globe between 1577 and 1580. This version, too, had sailed around the world, and film companies had used it as a location so often it had had more makeovers than Joan Collins. And now it was in permanent dock serving, as Kelly called it in her very American way, as an "edutainment" attraction. She was standing to my right, very excited about her birthday treat, even if it was a few days late. She was now nine, going on twenty-four.

"See, I told you this would be good!" I beamed.

She didn't reply, but kept her eyes fixed on the bosun. He was dressed the same as us, but was allowed to wear a hat--on account of all the extra responsibility, I supposed.

"Ye slimey lot have been hand-picked for a voyage with Sir Francis Drake, aboard this, the finest ship in the fleet, the Golden Hind!" His eyes fixed on those of each child as he passed them on the other line. He reminded me of my very first drill sergeant when I was a boy soldier.

I looked over at Josh and his gang, who were on the receiving end of his tirade. Joshua G. D'Souza was thirty-eightish, five feet six inches, and, thanks to being into weights, about two hundred pounds of muscle.
Even his head looked like a bicep; he was 99 percent bald, and a razor blade and moisturizer had taken care of the other 1 percent. His round, gold-rimmed glasses made him look somehow more menacing than
intellectual.

Josh was half black, half Puerto Rican, though he'd been born in Dakota. I couldn't really work that one out, but nor could I be bothered to ask. Joining up as a teenager, he'd done a few years in the 82nd Airborne and then Special Forces. In his late twenties he'd joined the U.S. Treasury Department as a member of their Secret Service, in time working on the vice-presidential protection team in Washington. He lived near Kelly's dad's place, and he and Kev had met, not through work, but because their kids had gone to the same school.

Josh had his three standing next to him, working hard at understanding the bosun's accent. They were on their last leg of a whistlestop tour of Europe during their Easter vacation. Kelly and I had collected them
off the Paris Eurostar just the day before; they were going to spend a few days seeing the sights with us before heading back to D.C., and Kelly was really hyper. I was pleased about that; it was the first time she'd
seen them since "what happened"--as we called it--over a year ago. All things considered, she was doing pretty well at the moment and getting on with her life.

The bosun had turned back and was moving up our line. "Ye will be learning gun drills, ye will be learning how to set sail and repel boarders. But best of all, ye'll be hunting for treasure and singing sailors' shanties!" The crew was encouraged to respond with their best sailor-type cries.

All of a sudden, competition for the loudest noise came from the siren of a tourist boat passing on the river, and the bark of its horn, as the first sailing of the day "did" London Bridge.

I glanced down at Kelly. She was quivering with excitement. I was enjoying myself, too, but I felt just a bit weird standing there in fancy dress in full public view, aboard a ship docked on the south side of London Bridge. At this time of the morning, there were still office workers walking along the narrow cobblestoned road that paralleled the Thames, dodging the delivery vans and taxis on their way to work. The trains that had got them this far were slowly trundling along the elevated tracks about 200 meters away, making their way toward the river.

The pub next to the ship, the Olde Thameside Inn, was one of those places that supposedly dates from Shakespeare's day but which, in fact, was built maybe ten years earlier on one of the converted wharves that line the river. The office crowd, plastic cups and cigarettes in hand, were making the most of the morning sun on the terrace overlooking the water, having picked up their late breakfast from the coffee shop.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0345428072
• ISBN 13: 9780345428073
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384