Once A Pilgrim: a breathtaking, pulse-pounding SAS thriller

Once A Pilgrim: a breathtaking, pulse-pounding SAS thriller
James Deegan

‘You couldn’t make it up. Brilliant.’Jeffrey Archer‘Decades of war has given James Deegan a natural ability to create a world that is incredibly realistic and exciting. This takes military fiction to a whole new level entirely. Deegan is a master’Tom Marcus Mi5 Survellance officer, Author of Capture or Kill‘Move over Andy McNab and Chris Ryan, there’s a new SAS veteran writing thrillers and he’s good. Very good.’Stephen LeatherJohn Carr has recently left the SAS, after a long and distinguished career, and is now working for a Russian oligarch in the murky world of private security.But an incident from his past – in which three terrorists were brutally killed – suddenly comes back to haunt him.Tracked by a hitman out for revenge, John Carr is forced to step over the line to defend himself and his family. It’s a cruel and violent world – and one he thought he’d left behind.But some wars never end.Patriot Games meets Taken: In Once A Pilgrim, John Carr shows all the Reacher-esque hallmarks of a cold-blooded antihero doing what needs to be done, whatever the consequences.JAMES DEEGAN MC is a fantastic new voice in the thriller genre, writing with unprecedented authority and authenticity.‘Carr is a hero for our times’Daily Mail

JAMES DEEGAN MC spent five years in the Parachute Regiment, and seventeen years in the SAS.

He served for most of that time in a Sabre Squadron, from Trooper to Squadron Sergeant Major, and saw almost continuous service on operations in Northern Ireland, the Balkans, Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. He fought in both Gulf Wars, and was on both occasions amongst the first Coalition soldiers to cross the border into Iraq. He was twice decorated for gallantry and, on his retirement from the Special Air Service, as a Regimental Sergeant Major, he was described by his commanding officer as ‘one of the most operationally-experienced SAS men of his era’.

He now works in the security industry, in some of the world’s most hostile and challenging environments.

COPYRIGHT (#ulink_9048c133-3d60-5557-8aaa-77716ac85bd4)

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2018

Copyright © James Deegan 2018

James Deegan asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for 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, downloaded, 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.

Ebook Edition © January 2018 ISBN: 9780008229498

TO ALL THE BRAVE MEN I HAVE KNOWN WHO WILL NOT SEE OLD AGE. THEY ACCEPTED THE RISKS, STEPPED INTO THE BREACH, AND PAID THE ULTIMATE PRICE.

UTRINQUE PARATUSWHO DARES WINS

John Carr – CV

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION.

NONE OF THE EVENTS DESCRIBED HAPPENED, AND NONE OF THE CHARACTERS CONTAINED IN THE NARRATIVE ARE BASED ON ANY PERSONS, LIVING OR DEAD, UNLESS EXPRESSLY STATED.

We are the Pilgrims, master; we shall go

Always a little further; it may be

Beyond that last blue mountain barred with snow

Across that angry or that glimmering sea

From The Story of Hassan of Baghdad and How He Came to

Make the Golden Journey to Samarkand (1913)

JAMES ELROY FLECKER (1884-1915)

These words are inscribed on the clock tower at Stirling Lines,

Hereford, along with the names of those members of the

Special Air Service who have fallen whilst serving.

Contents

Cover (#u1d518f35-367e-5e0d-8609-981848e00353)

About the Author (#ulink_5c92a3f1-89f7-5254-8a35-59a7bb0a8c18)

Title Page (#u97bac390-1fca-51d1-b783-4ba7d57e589c)

Copyright (#ulink_cc20def2-b744-5709-9b4b-19d47ed0ec00)

Dedication (#u7e2b55bc-b23f-5360-9001-dfc57269e90a)

Author’s Note (#u19e54ace-0899-5d15-a98d-ff4b426b63b1)

Part One: Baghdad, Iraq (#ulink_267d9c39-65e4-59a5-86a4-bfbc9d7ce511)

Chapter 1. (#ulink_5230a597-62dc-5639-b1fa-8c74e2c15293)

Chapter 2. (#ulink_4d0fa051-011d-5676-8a3c-38df47eee5c1)

Part Two: Belfast, Northern Ireland Twenty Years Earlier (#ulink_6f20ad4a-f48c-5284-aeed-9ceb1357f809)

Chapter 3. (#ulink_22d0846b-6a52-5e9e-b9d3-000825c4fb75)

Chapter 4. (#ulink_c2adeef9-73ff-5884-97bd-552a5a4515e3)

Chapter 5. (#ulink_bd70b626-91f7-510a-a6cd-120756915336)

Chapter 6. (#ulink_a1162405-f4ae-5fcd-9dd4-ef87e14600f2)

Chapter 7. (#ulink_36d6dee8-a4aa-5751-822e-05a4595495db)

Chapter 8. (#ulink_c5894a42-0552-51a6-845e-f291b8139d94)

Chapter 9. (#ulink_efb8c332-7b41-5b94-b8ec-aa1d118664f9)