On Dangerous Ground

On Dangerous Ground
Jack Higgins

A clandestine treaty. A death-bed confession. And the hunt is on for Sean Dillon, who must go head to head with the Mafia.The year is 1944. Just outside Delhi a British Dakota crashes, taking lives and destroying a clandestine treaty signed by Lord Mountbatten and the Communist leader, Mao Tse-tung. An historic agreement, one set to change the course of history.Over thirty years later, a death-bed confession from a Mafia kingpin reveals the answers to untouched secrets about the treaty, and just how much the British and Chinese governments would pay for its destruction.It's not long before Sean Dillon enters the fray; his feared expertise tested as he goes up against the uncompromising violence of the Mafia and the enticing dangers of a beautiful woman, more deadly than any professional killer he has ever known.Battling ruthless killers and the higher unseen powers of the government, Dillon must expose treacheries, colossal truths, and risk everything he loves in an explosive and thrilling quest for justice.

On Dangerous Ground

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by Michael Joseph 1994

Copyright © Harry Patterson 1994

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2015

Photography and illustration © Nik Keevil

Harry Patterson asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

Certain elements of this book are inspired by an earlier work, Midnight Never Comes, published in 1966.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008132385

Ebook Edition © May 2015 ISBN: 9780007352302

Version: 2015-04-01

For Sally Palmer with love

Contents

Cover (#uf58d8721-5680-5835-8820-bc422258f274)

Title Page (#uf0709220-396b-53b9-bacc-205788dcdbd9)

Copyright (#u2e90214a-ad0f-5e3d-a8c3-1a1ddf2fbfb1)

Dedication (#u41ed2fb1-7ef3-5de8-aaaa-78f93463afe7)

Prologue (#ub738905a-25e7-5471-8958-2a917afe0bd4)

1993 LONDON (#u444a2cd3-1d44-51d6-944c-1138f8ab3675)

Chapter 1 (#ub50087a9-a3b8-597a-be19-ad8fa44604ea)

Chapter 2 (#u267dafd5-42c8-51a2-8983-21951560ad7d)

Chapter 3 (#uf38d2c65-54ce-5d29-8310-161d966dce8c)

Chapter 4 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 5 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by Jack Higgins (#litres_trial_promo)

Further Reading (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

PROLOGUE (#udcedcd13-98ec-50bd-af08-ea68a46400a2)

CHUNGKING

August 1944