The John Milton Series Box Set 4

by Mark Dawson

  He made his way into the building and rode the elevator to the top floor. He took a key from his pocket and opened the door. The penthouse had been on the market for six million dollars, but Milton had secured it on a six-month lease for thirty grand a month. It was set on two storeys and had been constructed in the loft style that would not have looked out of place in New York. It had a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the city, all of the neighbourhoods and the suburbs and then the flat country beyond.

  There were three men waiting for him.

  Ziggy Penn was sitting at the large eight-seat kitchen table with three laptops arranged around him. He was wearing a pair of headphones, and his attention was caught somewhere between the three screens.

  Alex Hicks was on the sofa, his feet up on the coffee table while he watched the Premier League on an illegal stream that Ziggy had somehow conjured up. The weapons were on the table: two Glocks, a Heckler & Koch MP5 and all the ammunition that they would need.

  Chase Baxter was on the terrace, smoking a cigarette.

  Milton took off the dark glasses and put them on the kitchen counter. He removed the suit jacket and hooked that on the back of one of the chairs.

  Hicks was ex-SAS and had worked with Milton before. He looked away from the television. “Everything okay?”

  “All good,” Milton said.

  Chase heard him and came inside.

  Ziggy was still absorbed by whatever it was he was doing.

  “Ziggy,” Milton said.

  He didn’t hear.

  Milton reached over and swiped the headphones off his head.

  “What?”

  “I want to talk to you all.”

  Milton had arrived in the city first to reconnoitre the lay of the land, and then he had sent for Hicks and Ziggy to ask whether they would be interested in working a job with him. Both, more to the point, had long relationships with Milton. He had made it very plain that he was not calling in favours owed, because the assistance that he was requesting would be much more perilous than anything that he had done for either of them. Instead, he had offered them a quarter of a million dollars each. Ziggy was venal, and his acceptance was no surprise. The cancer that Hicks’s wife had been fighting for several years had returned, and her treatment was expensive; he had gladly accepted. Milton had given further thought to Chase’s demand that he be involved, and had ultimately decided that he was not in a position to deny him the chance to avenge his father’s death. He looked capable, too, and Milton knew that doing what needed to be done was not something that he would be able to do alone. There had been no mention of payment for his assistance, but Milton would transfer the same quarter million to him, too, in due course.

  Hicks switched off the TV.

  “This is it,” Milton said to them. “Last chance. If you go any further, there might not be a way back.”

  “You’re giving us a chance to walk away?” Hicks asked.

  “I am.”

  “I didn’t come all the way here to go back home. I’m in.”

  Milton looked at Ziggy. “What about you? Are you sure?”

  “No,” he replied. “I’m not sure. But you’ve made a persuasive case.”

  “You mean he offered you a lot of money,” Hicks suggested.

  Ziggy grinned. “Also true. I’m in.”

  Milton turned to Baxter. The younger man didn’t give him the opportunity to ask the question.

  “I’d do it myself if you didn’t want to do it,” he said.

  Milton went over to the open doors that gave onto the terrace and gazed at the sprawl of the city beyond.

  “When do we start?” Hicks asked.

  “Tomorrow,” he said. “We make contact tomorrow.”

  A word from Mark

  I hope you enjoyed this collection of Milton’s stories.

  There’s much more to come, with Milton’s next adventures taking him to Colombia (he has unfinished business following the end of BRIGHT LIGHTS), the Atlantic coast of Scotland and Kansas City.

  Join my reader club for news on upcoming books and to grab two free books:

  1. A free copy of Milton’s adventure in North Korea - 1000 Yards.

  2. A free copy of Milton’s battle with the Mafia and an assassin called Tarantula.

  3. An eyes-only profile of Milton from a Group Fifteen psychologist.

  You can get your content for free, by signing up here.

  Also By Mark Dawson

  In the John Milton Series

  The Cleaner

  Sharon Warriner is a single mother in the East End of London, fearful that she’s lost her young son to a life in the gangs. After John Milton saves her life, he promises to help. But the gang, and the charismatic rapper who leads it, is not about to cooperate with him.

  Buy The Cleaner

  Saint Death

  John Milton has been off the grid for six months. He surfaces in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and immediately finds himself drawn into a vicious battle with the narco-gangs that control the borderlands.

  Buy Saint Death

  The Driver

  When a girl he drives to a party goes missing, John Milton is worried. Especially when two dead bodies are discovered and the police start treating him as their prime suspect.

  Buy The Driver

  Ghosts

  John Milton is blackmailed into finding his predecessor as Number One. But she’s a ghost, too, and just as dangerous as him. He finds himself in deep trouble, playing the Russians against the British in a desperate attempt to save the life of his oldest friend.

  Buy Ghosts

  The Sword of God

  On the run from his own demons, John Milton treks through the Michigan wilderness into the town of Truth. He’s not looking for trouble, but trouble's looking for him. He finds himself up against a small-town cop who has no idea with whom he is dealing, and no idea how dangerous he is.

  Buy The Sword of God

  Salvation Row

  Milton finds himself in New Orleans, returning a favour that saved his life during Katrina. When a lethal adversary from his past takes an interest in his business, there’s going to be hell to pay.

  Buy Salvation Row

  Headhunters

  Milton barely escaped from Avi Bachman with his life. But when the Mossad’s most dangerous renegade agent breaks out of a maximum security prison, their second fight will be to the finish.

  Buy Headhunters

  The Ninth Step

  Milton’s attempted good deed becomes a quest to unveil corruption at the highest levels of government and murder at the dark heart of the criminal underworld. Milton is pulled back into the game, and that’s going to have serious consequences for everyone who crosses his path.

  Buy The Ninth Step

  The Jungle

  John Milton is no stranger to the world’s seedy underbelly. But when the former British Secret Service agent comes up against a ruthless human trafficking ring, he’ll have to fight harder than ever to conquer the evil in his path.

  Buy The Jungle

  Blackout

  A message from Milton’s past leads him to Manila and a confrontation with an adversary he thought he would never meet again. Milton finds himself accused of murder and imprisoned inside a brutal Filipino jail - can he escape, uncover the truth and gain vengeance for his friend?

  Buy Blackout

  The Alamo

  A young boy witnesses a murder in a New York subway restroom. Milton finds him, and protects him from corrupt cops and the ruthless boss of a local gang.

  Buy The Alamo

  Redeemer

  Milton is in Brazil, helping out an old friend with a close protection business. When a young girl is kidnapped, he finds himself battling a local crime lord to get her back.

  Buy Redeemer

  Sleepers

  A sleepy English town. A murdered Russian spy. Milton and Michael Pope find themselves chasing the assassins to Moscow.

  Buy Sleepers

 
In the Beatrix Rose Series

  In Cold Blood

  Beatrix Rose was the most dangerous assassin in an off-the-books government kill squad until her former boss betrayed her. A decade later, she emerges from the Hong Kong underworld with payback on her mind. They gunned down her husband and kidnapped her daughter, and now the debt needs to be repaid. It’s a blood feud she didn’t start but she is going to finish.

  Buy In Cold Blood

  Blood Moon Rising

  There were six names on Beatrix’s Death List and now there are four. She’s going to account for the others, one by one, even if it kills her. She has returned from Somalia with another target in her sights. Bryan Duffy is in Iraq, surrounded by mercenaries, with no easy way to get to him and no easy way to get out. And Beatrix has other issues that need to be addressed. Will Duffy prove to be one kill too far?

  Buy Blood Moon Rising

  Blood and Roses

  Beatrix Rose has worked her way through her Kill List. Four are dead, just two are left. But now her foes know she has them in her sights and the hunter has become the hunted.

  Buy Blood and Roses

  Hong Kong Stories, Vol. 1

  Beatrix Rose flees to Hong Kong after the murder of her husband and the kidnapping of her child. She needs money. The local triads have it. What could possibly go wrong?

  Buy Hong Kong Stories

  Phoenix

  She does Britain’s dirty work, but this time she needs help. Beatrix Rose, meet John Milton…

  Buy Phoenix

  In the Isabella Rose Series

  The Angel

  Isabella Rose is recruited by British intelligence after a terrorist attack on Westminster.

  Buy The Angel

  The Asset

  Isabella Rose, the Angel, is used to surprises, but being abducted is an unwelcome novelty. She’s relying on Michael Pope, the head of the top-secret Group Fifteen, to get her back.

  Buy The Asset

  The Agent

  Isabella Rose is on the run, hunted by the very people she had been hired to work for. Trained killer Isabella and former handler Michael Pope are forced into hiding in India and, when a mysterious informer passes them clues on the whereabouts of Pope’s family, the prey see an opportunity to become the predators.

  Buy The Asset

  The Assassin

  Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, is the most dangerous city in the world. And when a mission to break the local cartel’s grip goes wrong, Isabella Rose, the Angel, finds herself on the wrong side of prison bars. Fearing the worst, Isabella plays her only remaining card…

  Buy The Assassin

  In the Soho Noir Series

  Gaslight

  When Harry and his brother Frank are blackmailed into paying off a local hood they decide to take care of the problem themselves. But when all of London’s underworld is in thrall to the man’s boss, was their plan audacious or the most foolish thing that they could possibly have done?

  Free Download

  The Black Mile

  London, 1940: the Luftwaffe blitzes London every night for fifty-seven nights. Houses, shops and entire streets are wiped from the map. The underworld is in flux: the Italian criminals who dominated the West End have been interned and now their rivals are fighting to replace them. Meanwhile, hidden in the shadows, the Black-Out Ripper sharpens his knife and sets to his grisly work.

  Get The Black Mile

  The Imposter

  War hero Edward Fabian finds himself drawn into a criminal family’s web of vice and soon he is an accomplice to their scheming. But he’s not the man they think he is - he’s far more dangerous than they could possibly imagine.

  Get The Imposter

  About the Author

  Mark Dawson is the author of the bestselling John Milton, Beatrix and Isabella Rose and Soho Noir series.

  For more information:

  www.markjdawson.com

  mark@markjdawson.com

  AN UNPUTDOWNABLE ebook.

  First published in Great Britain in 2019 by UNPUTDOWNABLE LIMITED

  Copyright © UNPUTDOWNABLE LIMITED 2013-2014 v2

  The moral right of Mark Dawson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.