Reviews: From Russia With Love and Live And Let Die (Blu-ray)

My reviews of From Russia With Love and Live And Let Die are now up at DVDActive.

The Rising - Chapter 53: Out Of Your Depth

Jane did a U-turn and stopped the car on the road outside the storage facility. She checked her pistol was loaded and clipped it back into the holster under her jacket.

‘Okay, Doc, you’re the expert. What’s the plan?’

Doctor Owen looked at Jane with a blank expression on his face. She’d known the answer to her question before she asked it but she wanted to see his reaction. Unfortunately, it was exactly what she suspected.

‘You mean you haven’t got a plan?’ she asked, anger growing in her voice.

‘Have you still got your Mantek badge?’ he asked.

‘Yes,’ she said and fished it out of her pocket.

‘That’s our best option.’

‘Jesus Christ, Andrew. This is a shambles. We’re going to get ourselves killed.’ Jane shook her head and rubbed her eyes. ‘Come on, let’s go.’

They got out of the car and ran through the rain to the front door. Jane was despairing at their lack of organisation. Her work was always so well planned but now she felt helpless. She always had to have a plan A, B and if possible C, but they barely had a plan A. For all she knew, they were walking right into a trap and there was nothing they could do about it, but as Doctor Owen had told her, they didn’t have a choice. They had to recover everything on his list. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be able to stop The Brotherhood developing and distributing the primary treatment.

‘Wait,’ she said as they approached the front step, ‘the door’s open.’

Jane drew her pistol as they reached the door. With the fingertips of her left hand, she slowly eased the door open.

Blood.

There was a pool of dark red blood on the floor. Jane stepped inside and took a deep breath as she saw a dead body lying in front of her, stopping the door opening all the way. He was clad in combat gear, with blood was still slowly pouring from the hole in his head. Jane grabbed Doctor Owen’s arm and dragged him inside the building, closing the door behind them.

‘Oh my God,’ he exclaimed.

‘It looks like someone’s beaten us to it. We’re too late. What the hell is going on here, Andrew?’

‘But this is a Brotherhood facility. Who did this?’

They slowly followed a trail of wet footprints up the stairs. At the top they found a security pass hanging from a cord tied to the handle of the door. They shared a look that told each other they had no idea what was going on. They were out of control, out of their depth and they knew it.

Jane removed the pass and opened the door to the reception area. She had no idea what to expect when she opened the door but the sight before her left her speechless.

The bodies of four dead soldiers were lined up on the floor next to the reception desk. Just in front of Jane as she stepped through into the reception area was a heavy clear plastic bag that was filled with data tapes.

A hand-written note sat next to the bag. Jane picked it up and read it out loud. ‘Doctor Owen, you and your companion are out of your depth. If you want to stay alive, go to the following address: 112 Abbey Tower. The Brotherhood are coming. Go now.’

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Review: The Edge Of Love (DVD)

My review of this war-time movie with Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller is now up at DVDActive.

The Rising - Chapter 52: Out Of Hiding

Traffic was heavy on the Expressway and the rain continued to pour in torrents. Becky Clarkson put some distance between her and the doctor by dodging in and out of the slow-moving cars, ignoring the honking horns that were becoming all too familiar.

After taking the exit ten miles down the road, she turned the corners that led to a plain, uninspiring industrial estate. The roads were relatively quiet, with the last of the commuters arriving late to their office jobs. Becky slowed down and stopped her bike in the car park of the building that sat opposite the storage facility. She stared at the building for a moment. There were no vehicles parked in any of the spaces at the front, but she hadn’t expected The Brotherhood to leave military jeeps sitting outside.

Looking around to ensure she was out of sight of any security cameras, Becky unzipped a long pocket on her right thigh. She took her pistol out of her pocket, checked it was loaded and the safety catch was on, screwed the silencer into the barrel and tucked it into the back of her leathers.

She then turned her bike round and zoomed across the road, splashing through puddles and stopping just in front of the main door. Her heart was pumping fast as she dismounted and walked up to the door. She took off her gloves and dropped them on the ground under the shelter of the awning above the door so the rain wouldn’t soak them through before she returned. If she returned.

‘Who is it?’ was the reply almost as soon as she hit the intercom button.

‘I’ve got a delivery,’ she said, lifting her visor just enough for her voice to be audible.

‘What have you got?’

‘I don’t know what it is. Look man, I just get paid to deliver this crap. Do you want to sign for it or not?’

There was a brief silence, followed by ‘Okay. Wait there.’

For an insufferable amount of time nothing happened but as soon as the lock buzzed and the door opened slightly, Agent Clarkson was unstoppable.

In one swift move she booted the door open, smacking the man behind who answered her call right on the nose. His hands instinctively went for his bleeding nose when he should have reached for his gun, but he didn’t get the chance. Becky drew her gun and shot a hole directly between his eyes. There was no immediate noise from inside so she knew he was on his own.

Stepping inside, Becky pointed her gun left and right but the only route was up the stairs ahead of her. Removing her helmet to improve her vision, she spotted a security pass around the dead man’s neck and tore it free. With no time to lose, she ran up the stairs and spotted a security camera at the top. She shot it with pinpoint accuracy, shattering it and debris rained to the ground but she knew her face must have been recorded.

Got to move quickly.

The door buzzed as she swiped the security pass and she took a step inside, holding her pistol behind the open door. Two men in camouflage combat gear stood in the reception area, their pistols clipped in their holsters.

‘Hey, who are you? Where’s Bill?’

Without replying, Becky revealed her gun and shot the man furthest away from her in the throat. Blood sprayed over the white wall next to him and he fell to the ground, clutching his neck and gurgling blood in his throat with his final breath. Before the man closest to her could react, she grabbed his right arm with her left and twisted it behind his back. She pushed the gun hard into his neck.

‘What the hell are you doing? You won’t get away with this.’

‘Where do you keep the tapes?’

There was no reply. Becky cocked the hammer on her pistol.

‘None of that counting to five bullshit. Tell me now or you’re dead.’

‘Okay,’ he relented, ‘There’s a safe in the main office.’

‘Where’s the key to the safe?’

‘Behind the desk.’

There was a loud bang of a door being flung open around the corner followed by two sets of heavy footsteps. In a flash, Becky released her grip and pushed the man forward, then took a step back and went down on one knee, obscuring her from the view of two more men in combat gear who appeared round the corner. Before they could react, she fired a shot into the back of the man she had interrogated.

As he sunk to his knees, she used the cover of his body to fire a shot over either shoulder. Both bullets hit their targets, one hitting a soldier in the eye and the second tearing through the other soldier’s ear. The man with one ear gripped his head and didn’t have time to return fire at Becky before she finished him off with a bullet to the forehead.

Anticipating the appearance of more soldiers, Becky got to her feet and took deep breaths to regulate her heartbeat, but there were no more obstacles in her way. There was no one else for her to kill. She took a second to take in everything that had happened and tucked her pistol back into her leathers, pleased with the fact that none of her shots had missed their targets.

She searched behind the desk and found the long safe key hanging on a hook. She checked her watch. Almost four minutes had passed since her arrival.

They’ll be here any second. Better get my calling card ready for them.

Buy Rebirth and The Rising in print
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Review: London Film Festival

Last Friday I took a trip to the London Film Festival to see W., Frozen River and Johnny Mad Dog. My article about the day is now online at DVDActive.

The Rising - Chapter 51: Time To Come Out Of Hiding

As soon as she saw them take the ramp onto the Expressway, Agent Becky Clarkson knew where Doctor Owen and his companion were going. She’d tracked them out of the city using the PDA mounted on her motorbike, following the blinking red dot along every road and round every corner.

She had already checked out the offsite storage facility a long time ago, not long after her disappearance. She made it her mission to know as much as she could about every installation that belonged to the World Health Organisation or The Brotherhood, both official and unofficial.

What the unsuspecting souls in the car she had been following didn’t know, at least not for sure, was that The Brotherhood would be waiting for them. And they were armed and ready. Becky had been listening in on Captain Sayers’ chatter with his men all morning. When the patrols failed to find the fugitives, Sayers had predicted they would attempt to pick up the backup tapes.

They should have gone there first, Becky thought.

In the time it took for them to visit the bank, Sayers had already sent a team of men to assist the man on site and more were on their way. Becky thought there had to be at least five men waiting for them when they arrived, with at least another five en route.

They haven’t got a chance.

Faced with the almost certain death of the subjects she was pursuing, Becky couldn’t intervene if she was going to remain out of harm’s way. It was the philosophy she’d lived by for two long years as she tried to get to the bottom of what she’d seen that night. Above all else, self-preservation had been her motivation, above even the lives of others.

But Becky knew she didn’t have a choice. Everything that was going on right now pointed to the beginning of something. Something she heard from people she had met on her travels all over the world. Something that was going to happen here, and was going to happen soon. It would shake the world and wake every man woman and child up to the terrible secrets that had remained in the domain of the underworld for centuries.

The Rising.

She knew that if Doctor Owen was deleting data and had The Brotherhood chasing after him, he was no longer part of the plan. He was working outside the terms of the treaty, unaware that the wheels were probably already in motion and nothing could stop the plans of both sides.

But he must know something. Something I don’t know. There’s very little time left. I have to help him.

With no more than ten minutes until they reached the storage facility, Becky knew she would have a window of only five minutes, even if she could get there twice as fast as the doctor. There was no other option in her mind. Five minutes was all she needed to neutralise the threat at their destination.

She hit the gas and roared past the doctor’s car into the mist that filled the Expressway.

Time to come out of hiding.

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	Amazon: £7.99 Play: £7.99		Amazon: £9.50 Play: £9.49

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