by John Harris
Pullinger scowled. ‘We’ll find her and find out where she took him.’
‘It might be more difficult than that. She’s gone to join the Free French.’ And Woodyatt drew a deep breath. Knowing Dominique, he knew she had meant what she had said. But as he pictured her disappearing into the darkness of God alone knew what future, he knew her promise to return depended on just too many things to be worth much. ‘You’ll never find her,’ he said. And, he thought to himself with a certainty that was rock-hard, neither will I. Perhaps it was as well. People didn’t change as they grew older. They just grew more so, and God help anybody who had to contend with Dominique Sardier in her old age.
The thought of her as an old woman amused him and he managed a smile. ‘She wants to go back to France,’ he went on. ‘She wants to hit back. She’ll insist that they hide her. And they will. She’s good at insisting. And that means our friend, Redmond, whoever – whatever – he is, won’t be found either. Because he doesn’t want to be. He doesn’t care what you think of him. He hasn’t cared what people like us have thought of him most of his adult life. He is his own man. And he has the means to be. He’s got enough money, I gathered, to see him through what’s left of his life in comfort. He has funds in Switzerland, in France, here in England.’
Woodyatt lay back on the pillows, exhausted. ‘Anyway,’ he said, ‘What’s it matter? Forty years is a long time. Nobody remembers him now except a few die-hards like you. Nobody else is even interested. They’ve got bigger and better traitors these days. Like Quisling in Norway and Pétain in France – and doubtless a few, like your Mr X, who’ll turn up here in England. There’s no inclination to look for an old man who might or might not have been a turncoat in wars that took place before the turn of the century.
Pullinger’s face was set and angry and Woodyatt went on, almost enjoying himself. ‘What everybody’s thinking of at the moment,’ he said, ‘is winning this war – or, more likely just now, simply surviving it.’ He shook his head. ‘You’ve had it. Those people who signed all those papers for me, all those high-ups you mustered to back you, they’ve disappeared. They’ve been swept away in the chaos – replaced by better, younger, cleverer, braver men who are likely to show more initiative than they ever did. And if they weren’t swept away–’ Woodyatt shrugged ‘–they’ll have bigger things on their minds now.’
Pullinger was silent for a moment or two then he nodded and rose. His face was expressionless. ‘You’re probably right,’ he said sharply. ‘Perhaps I’d better get on with the war.’
Patting Woodyatt’s sound hand, he gave a stiff smile, turned on his heel and walked swiftly from the ward.
As he disappeared, Woodyatt lay still for a while, his mind working, then, remembering the letter that had arrived, he fished it out and tore it open.
It wasn’t from Dominique as he had hoped and he was conscious of a desperate disappointment. It was unsigned and very short. ‘Tell Pullinger he’s as slow as his father,’ was all it said. ‘It was nice knowing you.’
Synopses of John Harris Titles
Published by House of Stratus
Army of Shadows
It is the winter of 1944. France is under the iron fist of the Nazis. But liberation is just around the corner and a crew from a Lancaster bomber is part of the fight for Freedom. As they fly towards their European target, a Messerschmitt blazes through the sky in a fiery attack and of the nine-man crew aboard the bomber, only two men survive to parachute into Occupied France. They join an ever-growing army of shadows (the men and women of the French Resistance), to play a lethal game of cat and mouse.
China Seas
In this action-packed adventure, Willie Sarth becomes a survivor. Forced to fight pirates on the East China Seas, wrestle for his life on the South China Seas and cross the Sea of Japan ravaged by typhus, Sarth is determined to come out alive. Dealing with human tragedy, war and revolution, Harris presents a novel which packs an awesome punch.
The Claws of Mercy
In Sierra Leone, a remote bush community crackles with racial tensions. Few white people live amongst the natives of Freetown and Authority seems distant. Everyday life in Freetown revolves around an opencast iron mine, and the man in charge dictates peace and prosperity for everyone. But, for the white population, his leadership is a matter of life or death where every decision is like being snatched by the claws of mercy.
Corporal Cotton’s Little War
Storming through Europe, the Nazis are sure to conquer Greece but for one man, Michael Anthony Cotton, a heroic marine who smuggles weapons of war and money to the Greek Resistance. Born Mihale Andoni Cotonou, Cotton gets mixed up in a lethal mission involving guns and high-speed chases. John Harris produces an unforgettable champion, persuasive and striking with a touch of mastery in this action-packed thriller set against the dazzle of the Aegean.
The Cross of Lazzaro
The Cross of Lazzaro is a gripping story filled with mystery and fraught with personal battles. This tense, unusual novel begins with the seemingly divine reappearance of a wooden cross once belonging to a sixth-century bishop. The vision emerges from the depths of an Italian lake, and a menacing local antagonism is subsequently stirred. But what can the cross mean?
Flawed Banner
John Harris’ spine-tingling adventure inhabits the shadowy world of cunning and espionage. As the Nazi hordes of Germany overrun France, devouring the free world with fascist fervour, a young intelligence officer, James Woodyatt, is shipped across the Channel to find a First World War hero…an old man who may have been a spy…who may be in possession of Nazi secrets.
The Fox From His Lair
A brilliant German agent lies in wait for the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France. While the Allies prepare a vast armed camp, no one is aware of the enemy within, and when a sudden, deadly E-boat attacks, the Fox strikes, stealing secret invasion plans in the ensuing panic. What follows is a deadly pursuit as the Fox tries to get the plans to Germany in time, hotly pursued by two officers with orders to stop him at all costs.
A Funny Place to Hold a War
Ginger Donnelly is on the trail of Nazi saboteurs in Sierra Leone. Whilst taking a midnight paddle with a willing woman in a canoe cajoled from a local fisherman, Donnelly sees an enormous seaplane thunder across the sky only to crash in a ball of brilliant flame. It seems like an accident…at least until a second plane explodes in a blistering shower along the same flight path.
Getaway
An Italian fisherman and his wife, Rosa, live in Sydney. Hard times are ahead. Their mortgaged boat may be lost and with it, their livelihood. But Rosa has a plan to reach the coast of America from the islands of the Pacific, sailing on a beleaguered little houseboat. The plan seems almost perfect, especially when Willie appears and has his own reasons for taking a long holiday to the land of opportunity.
Harkaway’s Sixth Column
An explosive action-packed war drama: four British soldiers are cut off behind enemy lines in British Somaliland and when they decide to utilise a secret arms dump in the Bur Yi hills and fight a rearguard action, an unlikely alliance is sought between two local warring tribes. What follows is an amazing mission led by the brilliant, elusive Harkaway, whose heart is stolen by a missionary when she becomes mixed up in the unorthodox band of warriors.
A Kind of Courage
At the heart of this story of courage and might, is Major Billy Pentecost, commander of a remote desert outpost near Hahdhdhah, deep among the bleak hills of Khalit. His orders are to prepare to move out along with a handful of British soldiers. Impatient tribesmen gather outside the fort, eager to reclaim the land of their blood and commanded by Abd el Aziz el Beidawi, a feared Arab warrior lord. A friendship forms between the two very different commanders but when Pentecost’s orders are reversed, a nightmarish tragedy ensues.
Live Free or Die
Charles Walter Scully, cut off from his unit and running on empty, is trapped. It’s 1944 and though the Allied
invasion of France has finally begun, for Scully the war isn’t going well. That is, until he meets a French boy trying to get home to Paris. What begins is a hair-raising journey into the heart of France, an involvement with the French Liberation Front and one of the most monumental events of the war. Harris vividly portrays wartime France in a panorama of scenes that enthral the reader.
The Lonely Voyage
The Lonely Voyage is John Harris’ first novel - a graphic, moving tale of the sea. It charts the story of one boy, Jess Ferigo, who winds up on a charge of poaching along with Pat Fee and Old Boxer, the men who sail with him on his journey into manhood. As Jess leaves his boyhood behind, bitter years are followed by the Second World War, where Old Boxer and Jess make a poignant rescue on the sand dunes of Dunkirk. Finally, Jess Ferigo’s lonely voyage is over.
The Mercenaries
Ira Penaluna, First World War pilot, sees his airline go bankrupt in Africa and grabs at the chance to instruct pilots in China. But Ira hasn’t reckoned on the beat-up, burnt-out wrecks he is expected to teach his students in, or on the fact that his pupils speak no English. Though aided and abetted by an enthusiastic assistant, an irresponsible Fagan and his brooding American girlfriend Ellie, Ira finds himself playing a deadly game, becoming embroiled in China’s civil war. The four are forced to flee but the only way out is in a struggling pile of junk flown precariously towards safety. Will they make it?
North Strike
It is 1939. The Royal Navy urgently needs information about German raiders. There is only one place to get it…the port of Narvik and only one man capable – Magnusson. A story of the daring, outrageous exploits of a spy rescuing British prisoners from the Altmark and swept up in to the German battle for Norway.
The Old Trade of Killing
Harris’ exciting adventure is set against the backdrop of the Western Desert and scene of the Eighth Army battles. The men who fought together in the Second World War return twenty years later in search of treasure. But twenty years can change a man. Young ideals have been replaced by greed. Comradeship has vanished along with innocence. And treachery and murder make for a breathtaking read.
Picture of Defeat
It is 1943 and Naples has been looted by the Allies and Axis powers alike, its priceless art treasures coveted by some of the most corrupt criminal minds in Europe. But under the orders of Field Security, Tom Pugh must save the paintings of Detto Banti, no matter what the cost. In this tantalising read, one man stands against a tide of wilful destruction and greed, trying to save a past for the people of Naples’ future.
The Quick Boat Men
Edward Dante Bourdillon is a man whose fate is linked to the oceans. His parents perished on the waves and, brought up by his uncle who owns a boatyard, Edward leads a life in love with the sea. That is, until he sinks his uncle’s yacht. Soon our hero is bound for Cape Town on an old tramp steamer. From earthquakes to shipwreck, it seems his fortune is turning sour until forgiveness and World War One looms on the horizon.
Ride Out the Storm
The Allies, faced with a shameful defeat, are trapped between the onslaught of the mighty German army and the tumult of the ocean waves. Those that do not die face capture and surrender to the Nazis. But only nine days later more than a quarter of a million men have been rescued and placed safely on the shores of England, saved by an amazing assorted flotilla of barges, tugs, rowing boats and dinghies. This is the incredible story of a mass exodus across the Channel. John Harris tells the miraculous story of Dunkirk.
Right of Reply
Struggle, scandal and mutiny run riot in Right of Reply, set in the 1970s in a whirlwind of a political crisis. An invasion is planned by a convoy of British troop ships sighted off the coast of West Africa. A Khanzian base is at stake. The British claim sovereignty but sedition is in the air. Can the British government turn back before it’s too late? John Harris leaves us on tenterhooks.
Road to the Coast
It’s South America and a fugitive Englishman is caught in a military revolt against a tyrant. Harry Ash is a wanted man, fleeing the police and revolutionaries. After being bombed, he meets a beautiful woman, Grace Rodrigo, and steals a car to take her with him before realising they have a stow-away who could very well endanger their entire escape plan. John Harris pulls off a triumph of an action-packed narrative full of the kind of tension that will have you on the edge of your seat.
The Sea Shall Not Have Them
This is John Harris’ classic war novel of espionage in the most extreme of situations. An essential flight from France leaves the crew of RAF Hudson missing, and somewhere in the North Sea four men cling to a dinghy, praying for rescue before exposure kills them or the enemy finds them. One man is critically injured; another (a rocket expert) is carrying a briefcase stuffed with vital secrets. As time begins to run out each man yearns to evade capture. This story charts the daring and courage of these men, their rescuers and a breathtaking mission with the most awesome of consequences.
The Sleeping Mountain
The sleepy red-roofed Italian island of Anapoli, its lazy, leaning buildings pushed against the jagged harbour, dreams on peaceably by the sea. It is here that Tom Patch, an easy-going British artist, finds himself, discarding his mistress and in love with Cecilia. Even the Mayor of Anapoli basks in the sun, listening to goat bells and the rasp of mandolins. But above the unsuspecting residents hangs a malevolent volcano; a terrible destructive power seething below its crust. And the volcano is about to blow.
Smiling Willie and the Tiger
The Boer War is finally ending and for three thieves there is the unexpected bonus of stealing an army payroll so large that they have to bury it outside a Free State town until the heat cools off. But the army choose an officer to help track them down. While the thieves wait for an opportunity to return to the stolen bounty, the officer chases them, giving rise to a riotous set of events. Based on a true story, John Harris’ adventure entertains and delights in a series of incredulous scenarios brought to glorious life against the backdrop of South Africa’s diamond mines.
So Far From God
With Europe on the brink of the First World War, Pierce Slattery, a renegade cavalry officer with the British Army, brings an astonishing insight and masterful fighting abilities to the aid of a revolution, led by Pancho Villa. Their army of ill-trained, poorly prepared peasants are fighting for their lives and their freedom – but British Intelligence has an interest in the Mexican Revolution and in the striking Slattery.
The Spring of Malice
An assassination attempt of a top American general, a pointed gun and an unpulled trigger cause uproar in Paris. The Spring of Malice tells a story of political intrigue and intent. John Harris digs the depths of an assassin’s mind and discovers a horrifying obsession that drives a man to murder in this gripping account of pride, arrogance and the deadly games of government.
Sunset at Sheba
An evocative and moving novel set in the landscape of South Africa, 1914, where a story of courage and bloodlust unravels ‘between the mimosa shrubs and the thin pepper trees’; this is a story which began with fervent patriotism and ended in more bloodshed than anyone ever meant to spill. This is the story of the Battle of Sheba.
Swordpoint
It is 1944 and Monte Cassino has become a Nazi stronghold against the Allied advance through Italy. But Cassino must be taken, and the flamboyantly ambitious Brigadier Heathfield has a plan. This is a gripping, intoxicating story about the men of the North Yorkshires, veterans of Africa, hardened to the world.
Take or Destroy
Lieutenant-Colonel George Hockold must destroy Rommel’s vast fuel reserves stored at the port of Qaba if the Eighth Army is to succeed in the Alamein offensive. Time is desperately running out, resources are scant and the commando unit Hockold must lead is a rag tag band of misfits scraped from the dregs of the British Army. They must attack Qaba. The orders? Take or destroy.
The Thirty Days War
The Unforgiving Wind
Charting the disastrous expedition of Commander Adams, this novel follows the misfortunes of his men across the Arctic. Whatever can go wrong does go wrong as transport, instruments, health and sanity begin to fail. The team seem irretrievably lost in the dark Arctic winter, frightened and half-starving even when they find a base. Only one man can rescue them, the truculent Tom Fife who must respond to the faint radio signals coming from the Arctic shores. A powerful and disturbing novel, this story takes your breath away.
Up For Grabs
The tale of the Desert Ratbags – a concert group stranded behind enemy lines and using unique skills from petty theft to light entertainment in order to survive. The Ratbags outrageously involve themselves in looting, from captured weapons and vehicles to enemy uniforms, and get caught up in some real action in the process!
Vardy
In the Paris of Napoleon III, the beautiful, impetuous Vardy Cutter falls in love with the passionate Colonel Max Cary de Lily, a soldier of fortune and of France. When the Franco-Prussian war begins, Vardy must be rescued from the siege of Paris. But when she returns, it is only to be caught in the wake of violence and to find her lover’s career is in ruins as he is faced with a court martial and his life is at risk. This historical drama is a romp through the chaos that is war. John Harris presents a story of battles and armies, proud regiments, love and loss.
