The Toymaker Read Online Free Page A

meddling American.
    In the distance Collins could see the Greek island of Silkinos. A beautiful backdrop as the sun sank lower into the western sky glistening off the crystalline waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
    Revenge. How sweet it will be.
    He sat on the rock and plotted.
    Plotted his revenge. He wanted to make the man pay for destroying his livelihood. He wouldn’t kill the man—not at first anyway. Killing the man was too easy. Collins wanted him to suffer. Just like the girl who teased him in school, he tormented her first by putting her cat’s head in her lunchbox. Later she disappeared.
    The meddling man who had ruined his reputation would feel Collins’ wrath. Soon, the man would know it was he who killed his fiancée. Collins would take great pleasure delivering that message. The man needed to feel guilt, needed to suffer.
    Then, Collins would kill him.
    Collins left his perch at the top of the hill and started down the path toward his villa. His plan became clear. A smile crept across his face.
    Collins knew how he’d kill Jake Pendleton.
     

CHAPTER 4
     
     
     
     
    “ W HAT DO YOU mean the mission might be scrubbed?” Jake looked at the ASIS analyst. The last thing he wanted was a delay. He could feel anxiety welling up inside him. He needed this mission. The missions were his therapy sessions. It was only during the missions where he had the opportunity to avenge his fiancée’s death. He wouldn’t let this terrorist escape.
    The Integrator 2100TS secure phone beeped. “Ask him yourself, that’s the director now.” The analyst got up from his chair and pointed to the phone, “All yours mate.”
    Kaplan stepped forward and pushed the speakerphone button. “Kaplan.”
    The voice was CIA Director Bentley, “Gregg, is Jake with you?”
    “Right here, sir.” Jake said.
    The ASIS analyst walked to the door flap, stepped out, and secured the copper mesh door. A potential weak spot for leakage, the door was sealed with a copper infused version of Velcro then verified safe using the T-Set to check for signal leaks.
    “Good. I’ll let George take it from here.”
    Jake first met George Fontaine six months prior when he’d arrived at CIA Headquarters in Langley and received his initial briefing on the two Irishmen who had escaped the day his fiancée was mortally wounded. At just under six feet, Fontaine was overweight with brown hair and a crooked nose, which matched his crooked smile—the smile never seemed to leave his face. But most of all, Fontaine was competent.
    Competent and thorough.
    The same way Jake had been when he was an intelligence officer for the U. S. Navy. The way he had been when he served under Bentley. A trait Bentley demanded from his subordinates. ‘Leave no stone unturned. No possibility unexplored. No detail ignored.’ was Bentley’s dictum. Jake held fast to it in the Navy, as did Fontaine with the CIA.
    “Jake. Gregg. We’ve picked up intel and chatter that an American might be in the camp. Goes by the name of Khan, Hashim Khan. He declared himself a traitor and now ranks high in al Qaeda, handling and planning cell movements and attacks. His photo should come across the wire any second now. He’s number three on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List—even higher than Yasir. Khan has been blamed for planning several terrorist attacks around the globe including the failed Detroit airliner bombing, the DC subway attempt, and the Times-Square car bomb attempt. We believe he’s planning another attack or attacks and is in Australia with Yasir.”
    “Sounds incompetent to me.” Jake said.
    “Might seem that way, but those failed attempts were in the U.S. In other parts of the world he’s responsible for dozens of attacks and over a hundred deaths. We need more time to figure out his intentions. If we move prematurely, Khan’s associates might move without him and we’ll never know his intended targets.
    Jake looked at Kaplan while he spoke to Fontaine,