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Back The Black Earth Save as PDF
Chapters (56)
  1. Cover
  2. THE BLACK EARTH
  3. Dedication
  4. Contents
  5. BOOK I
  6. CHAPTER ONE
  7. CHAPTER TWO
  8. CHAPTER THREE
  9. CHAPTER FOUR
  10. CHAPTER FIVE
  11. CHAPTER SIX
  12. CHAPTER SEVEN
  13. BOOK II
  14. CHAPTER EIGHT
  15. CHAPTER NINE
  16. CHAPTER TEN
  17. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  18. CHAPTER TWELVE
  19. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  22. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  24. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  25. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY
  27. BOOK III
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  42. BOOK IV
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  46. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  47. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  54. About the Author
  55. By Philip Kazan
  56. Copyright

‘Look, Ioannis!’ Feathers exclaims, almost squealing in delight. ‘It’s my sister-in-law!’ She begins to laugh, a thin, unhinged sound that reminds Zoë of the screams she heard earlier in front of Apostoli’s house. Captain Pandelis is striding towards her, his hand undoing the flap of his holster. I didn’t get away after all, she thinks as she turns away from him, smells the shockingly familiar scent of Feathers’s cheap perfume mixed with his sweat. She feels the barrel of his pistol shoved hard into the dip behind her right ear, and closes her eyes almost gratefully.

The pistol’s muzzle digs harder. Her eyes are squeezed shut, waiting for the shot, which she knows she won’t hear, but will she feel it? Christ and the Holy Virgin protect me … A hand clutches her wrist and jerks her arm up between her shoulder blades, almost wrenching it out of its socket. The pistol pivots agonisingly in the dip behind her ear, forcing her to turn her head towards the Bren carriers. Captain Pandelis shoves her, using the pistol to steer her across the pavement and up to the nearest carrier. ‘Get in.’ The vehicle is a riveted steel box on tank tracks. The pistol digs deeper, the blade of the front sight drawing blood. She can feel it trickling down her neck. She has to put a foot up on the track and lift her leg up and over, the men hooting at her stockinged legs. She can feel the cold wind on her bare thighs. Pandelis pushes her and she falls forward into one of the narrow rear compartments, hitting her head viciously. Panicked, she twists around so that she can look up at a rectangle of grey sky. She can taste blood in her mouth and her vision is swimming. Someone gives a whistle. A man jumps into the driving seat, another two men into the compartment beside her. A pair of legs clad in baggy tweed trousers swings above her and a scuffed but plainly expensive brogued boot lands hard on her stomach. Feathers’ face appears, outlined against the clouds. She puts the sole of her boot against Zoë’s face and pushes. Zoë feels the skin beneath her left eyebrow split.