Veil of Civility: A Black Shuck Thriller (Declan McIver Series) Read Online Free

Veil of Civility: A Black Shuck Thriller (Declan McIver Series)
Book: Veil of Civility: A Black Shuck Thriller (Declan McIver Series) Read Online Free
Author: Ian Graham
Tags: a Black Shuck Thriller
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the head of one of Israel's chief lightning rods. As a member of Kafni's all-too-necessary security detail for several years before leaving to start his own company and begin a new life, Declan had been responsible for thwarting three of the assassination attempts himself.
    "So I'll see you tomorrow night?" Declan asked rhetorically.
    "I'll look forward to it. I will send a car for you at six," Kafni said.
    "That won't be necessary. I prefer to drive myself."
    "Spoken like a true security-minded professional. Very well then, I will have Levi meet you at the front door. And thank you, my friend, you know I wouldn't call if it wasn't important."
    "Of course," Declan responded, taken off guard by Kafni's suddenly solemn tone. "Is there something else going on? What aren't you telling me?"
    "I will see you tomorrow." The line went silent as Kafni hung up.
    Ending the call, Declan returned the phone to his pocket. He stood looking through the trees, unable to shake a sense of foreboding. Abaddon Kafni wasn't the type of man to be troubled by trivial things. In his world something of concern could be anything from Iranian nuclear weapons aimed at Israel to Russian submarines off the coast of Florida. Although he had exited the stage of international espionage years earlier, Kafni's influential status and many friends had kept him well-informed.
    Returning to his jog at a full run to elevate his heart rate, Declan exited the gravel path and ran across a concrete bridge spanning an ankle deep creek that connected the neighborhood to a two acre spread of mostly wooded land. On the opposite side of the lane from the park a half-mile strip of pavement that served as his driveway stretched along behind two moss-covered stone columns, each supporting a rusted wrought iron gate. Jogging from column to column like a pacing wolf, Declan waited as the gates swung open with a metallic screech.
    Rain-drenched leaves from the maple trees above squished under his feet as he made the final push towards his house. Slowing to a stop and pulling his sweat soaked T-shirt off as he broke the tree line into the small clearing where his home stood; he placed his hands on his knees, bending over to catch his breath. With Kafni's voice still echoing in his head, he stood looking down on his bare arms, thoughts of the past haunting him as he took note of the many scars.
    A large chunk of skin on the back of his left hand was permanently scarred following an accident with the chemical component of a letter bomb. His left forearm had suffered a four inch gash when a piece of flying glass had hit him when a building he had been entering was blown up by an IED, an attack that he had only barely escaped, and his left shoulder bore a round burn mark from a flaming piece of timber broken loose from the same building as he'd tried unsuccessfully to free a friend from the rubble.
    Still breathing heavily, wiping his brow with his T-shirt, he looked at his right arm. It had only one scar, but it was the deepest of all of them in his mind. It sat just below his elbow on the underside of his forearm and symbolized a former life he'd like to have forgotten. The three claw-like markings had been tattooed onto his arm during his days as the lead operator of the Provisional Irish Republican Army's secret weapon, an elite terror unit codenamed Black Shuck.

 
     

Chapter Two
     
     
    A baying sound filled the humid night and jarred Declan's thoughts back to the present. He bent down with a broad smile as a flabby, floppy-eared guard approached his position. "Hello, old girl," he said, stroking the beagle on both sides of its face as it lapped its tongue over his hands. "Out for a bit of nighttime gallivanting, are we?" The pooch responded by happily padding its front feet up and down and wiggling its rear end. Declan stood and looked up towards the two story cedar-sided house that stood in the clearing atop a rounded hill, a forked driveway stretching around it.
    Belmont
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