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Chapters (56)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. CHAPTER ONE
  4. CHAPTER TWO
  5. CHAPTER THREE
  6. CHAPTER FOUR
  7. CHAPTER FIVE
  8. CHAPTER SIX
  9. CHAPTER SEVEN
  10. CHAPTER EIGHT
  11. CHAPTER NINE
  12. CHAPTER TEN
  13. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  14. CHAPTER TWELVE
  15. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  16. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  18. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  20. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  21. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  22. CHAPTER TWENTY
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  32. CHAPTER THIRTY
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  42. CHAPTER FORTY
  43. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  52. Acknowledgements
  53. ‘The Survivors’ Ad
  54. ‘The Betrayal’ Ad
  55. ‘The Liberation’ Ad
  56. Copyright

The noise of the engine resounded off the old brick walls, shaking apart the silence of the last hour in the grubby lockup. I flicked into gear and eased the car out into the cobbled courtyard. A one-eared greyhound on the end of a chain sat up on its haunches and barked at us, but no one else took a blind bit of notice.

‘Trust me, André.’

*

I drove slowly, cautiously, through the archway that led out on to the road. Headlights flared, carving holes in the dark streets. Cars rushed past. Even at night Paris traffic gave no quarter. Beside me I could sense André alert, his eyes scanning the dim corners of the street, checking the shadowy doorways and the glowing cigarette ends that peppered the darkness, his mind assessing the danger points.

I whispered, ‘It looks all clear.’

André nodded.

I spotted a gap and swung the big steering wheel, slotting into the flow. That was when the massive grey truck reared up off the pavement, its huge headlights blinding me. I wrenched hard at the wheel, muscles tearing. Too late. The truck slammed its steel bumper into the passenger side of my car and tossed us, spinning us through the air.

Oddly, I heard nothing. No sound. No impact. No noise of any kind. Silence swelled inside my head.

Was I already dead?

No, I could taste blood as my teeth clamped through my tongue. I was hurtling upside-down in a trembling bubble of steel that was not built to fly. Splinters of glass sliced into my skin. The engine was racing, the wheels spinning frantically as they whirled above me in the Paris night, but I heard no scream, though my mouth was open and I felt air rushing out of my lungs.

No pain.

I felt, rather than saw, the blood. Scarlet streamers of it. Twisting and turning through the air, sweeping into my face. Was it my blood? Or André’s?

I didn’t know.

I saw his hand. Reaching for me through the red veil within the car. Or was the veil inside my eyes? Reaching to hold me. To keep me safe.

Then my car smashed down on to the ground and my world broke into a million pieces.

CHAPTER THREE

I woke in a strange bed.

Whiteness was filling my head. At first I thought it was still the shapeless fog from the Pont Neuf, but this was more solid, much heavier. And it was crushing me.