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    Dead Drop (A Spider Shepherd Short Story)
    Dead Drop (A Spider Shepherd Short Story)
    Dead Drop (A Spider Shepherd Short Story)
    Ebook51 pages50 minutes

    Dead Drop (A Spider Shepherd Short Story)

    By Stephen Leather

    ()

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    About this ebook

    A short story featuring SAS trooper Dan "Spider" Shepherd in action in Afghanistan, helping a 12-year-old boy get revenge for the death of his father.

    Shepherd went on to become an undercover cop in London in the series written by bestselling author Stephen Leather.

    Dead Drop is just under 14,000 words long, about thirty pages, perfect if you have half an hour to spare.

    Stephen Leather is one of the UK's most successful thriller writers. He was a journalist for more than ten years on newspapers such as The Times, the Daily Mail and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. Before that, he was employed as a biochemist for ICI, shovelled limestone in a quarry, worked as a baker, a petrol pump attendant, a barman, and worked for the Inland Revenue. He began writing full time in 1992. His bestsellers have been translated into more than ten languages. He has also written for television shows such as London's Burning, The Knock and the BBC's Murder in Mind series. Two of his books, The Stretch and The Bombmaker, were made into movies.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStephen Leather
    Release dateApr 28, 2013
    ISBN9781301470884
    Dead Drop (A Spider Shepherd Short Story)
    Author

    Stephen Leather

    Stephen Leather is one of the UK's most successful thriller writers, an eBook and Sunday Times bestseller and author of the critically acclaimed Dan "Spider' Shepherd series and the Jack Nightingale supernatural detective novels. Before becoming a novelist he was a journalist for more than ten years on newspapers such as The Times, the Daily Mirror, the Glasgow Herald, the Daily Mail and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. He is one of the country's most successful eBook authors and his eBooks have topped the Amazon Kindle charts in the UK and the US. He has sold more than a million eBooks and was voted by The Bookseller magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the UK publishing world. His bestsellers have been translated into fifteen languages. He has also written for television shows such as London's Burning, The Knock and the BBC's Murder in Mind series and two of his books, The Stretch and The Bombmaker, were filmed for TV. You can find out more from his website www.stephenleather.com

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      Book preview

      Dead Drop (A Spider Shepherd Short Story) - Stephen Leather

      DEAD DROP

      By Stephen Leather

      ****

      Published by:

      Stephen Leather at Smashwords

      Copyright (c) 2013 by Stephen Leather

      ****

      All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

      This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

      Smashwords Edition Licence Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

      ****

      Dan ‘Spider’ Shepherd shifted position slightly, trying to ease the pressure from the rocks beneath him and the ammo belt pressing into his chest. He lay prone, scanning the terrain through his sniperscope. A rough dirt road ran along the foot of the hillside below their observation post, leading to the village away to the east, a cluster of mud-brick buildings, surrounded by terraced fields, thick with the vivid pink blooms of opium poppies. The heat was ferocious, rising in waves from the stony hillside around them, while high above vultures were circling on the thermals, the feathers at their wingtips extended like claws as they flexed in the updraft. Shepherd could feel beads of sweat trickling down his brow, the salt and the moisture attracting still more of the flies that had been buzzing around them since they set up the OP.

      ‘Instead of lying there scratching your arse, Geordie,’ Shepherd said. ‘Can you not use your ninja skills to catch a few of these bloody flies?’

      Geordie Mitchell, lying next to him on the rock ledge, gave him a sideways look. ‘No chance,’ he said. ‘Your flies, your problem.’ He was in his early thirties but looked older. His pale blue eyes seemed as sun-faded as his fatigues and the stress of continual active service had etched deep lines into his face.

      ‘They’re attracted to rancid smells,’ Jock McIntyre said in the gruff Scottish growl that made every sentence sound like a declaration of war. ‘So it’s not surprising they’ve gone for you.’ His round face and open features gave him a guileless look that had led many to underestimate him. It was a dangerous mistake to make for he was as hard as Aberdonian granite. ‘Anyway, pal,’ he said. ‘Look on the bright side: if they’re buzzing round you, at least they’re leaving us alone.’

      The fourth member of the group, Lex Harper, a Para who acted as Shepherd’s spotter - part target-spotter, part-bodyguard - whenever he was on sniper ops, smiled to himself but didn’t join the banter, keeping his gaze ranging over the terrain, alert for any movement or anything out of place.

      Shepherd settled himself again, gently placing his sniper rifle on the rock. He’d already zeroed the rifle and scope but the least knock could throw it off a fraction of an inch which would be more than enough to turn a kill into a miss.

      Mitchell gave a theatrical sigh. ‘You’re so precious with that bloody rifle it’s a wonder you don’t raise your pinkie when you fire it.’

      Shepherd grinned. ‘You’d be precious with it, if I was ever dumb enough to trust it to you,’ he said. ‘It’s state of the art kit and it cost the Regiment well over £20,000 but it’s worth every penny. I could drill you a new arsehole from a mile and a half away with it.’

      ‘For fuck’s sake don’t

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