John Birmingham - Without Warning

16/08/2010

Without Warning by John Birmingham

WITHOUT

WARNING

By John Birmingham

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CHARACTER LIST

PARIS

Caitlin Monroe (aka Cathy Mercure): Echelon senior field agent posing as international eco warrior and London-based political activist

Aunty Celia Wickstead: English member of The Sorry Committee Maggie Leigh: American member of The Sorry Committee Monique Duroc: French political activist, member of The Sorry Committee Dr Stphane Colbert: Groupe Hospitalier de la Piti-Salptrire Bilal Baumer (aka al Banna): Cell Master, al-Qaeda in Europe Nicolas Sarkozy: French Minister of the Interior Captain Marcel Rolland: 1er Rgiment dInfanterie Bernard Lacan: Director, Action Division, DGSE

Wales Larrison: Echelons Paris controller

Monty Pearson: chief of staff, BBC Paris bureau D://Birmingham, John - Without W

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Noordim ul Haq: Indonesian-born Jemaah Islamiyah commander SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

James Kipper: chief engineer with Seattle City Council Barney Tench: deputy chief engineer with Seattle City Council Barbara Kipper: Jamess wife, and mother of six-year-old Suzie Heather Cosgrove: engineering intern at Seattle City Council Marv Basco: sanitation engineer at Seattle City Council Dave Chugg: water engineer at Seattle City Council Rhonda Thiess: secretary to the chief engineer, Seattle City Council Aaron Metz: Microsoft executive

Malcolm Vusevic: Constitutional Convention delegate from Spokane, WA NORTHCOM, GUANTANAMO BAY

Brigadier General Tusk Musso: US Marine Corps lawyer, acting commander of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

Lieutenant Colonel George Stavros: aide to Musso, acting 2IC of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

Ensign April Oschin: USN sysop, Guantanamo Bay Naval Base Major Eladio Nuez: Cuban Army officer

Lieutenant Jenny Kwan: US Marine Corps, Incident Response Unit Sergeant Guilio Gutteres: US Marine Corps, Incident Response Unit Captain Vincente lvarez: Cuban Army officer

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Professor Norman Griffiths: US National Laboratory Lieutenant Dan McCurry: US Navy

Chief Petty Officer Strom Lundquist: US Coast Guard Sergeant Les Carlyon: US Marine Corps

General Alano Salas: Venezuelan Marine Infantry commander PACIFIC OCEAN/ACAPULCO

Pete Holder: Australian-born skipper of the Diamantina Mr Lee: first mate on the Diamantina

Julianne Balwyn: daughter of English nobility, Diamantina crew member Fifi Lamont: ships cook on the Diamantina

Sergeant Narayan Shah: formerly of Her Majestys Royal Gurkha Regiment Corporal Birendra: formerly of Her Majestys Royal Gurkha Regiment Private Thapa: formerly of Her Majestys Royal Gurkha Regiment Private Subba: formerly of Her Majestys Royal Gurkha Regiment Private Sharma: formerly of Her Majestys Royal Gurkha Regiment Miguel Pieraro: contracted beef hauler for McDonalds Rhino Ross: former CPO, United States Coast Guard Dietmar Dietz: navigator

Henry Cesky: Brooklyn-based construction magnate Larry Zood: internet pornographer

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Phoebe St John: survivor, heiress, from Boston Jason St John: survivor, heir, from Boston

Denby Moorhouse: Basel-based merchant banker

Marc Unwin: oil broker

Lars Havel: Norwegian ships mate

Mariela Pieraro: Miguels wife

Pankesh Daxa: Sri Lankan chief engineer, Aussie Rules

Rohan van der Meuwe: Dutch ships engineer, Aussie Rules

Urvan Plost: Dutch ships engineer, Aussie Rules QATAR/KUWAIT

Bret Melton: former US Ranger, veteran Army Times foreign correspondent Sayad al Mirsaad: Jordanian journalist with Al Jazeera news agency Captain Christian Lohberger: US 7th Cavalry

Lieutenant Leo Euler: US 7th Cavalry

Sergeant-Major Bo Jaanson: US 7th Cavalry

Specialist Vincent Alcibiades: US 7th Cavalry

Corporal Tucson Shetty: US 7th Cavalry

Sergeant Fryderyk Milosz: Polish GROM squad leader Colonel Rudi Molenz: Israeli Air Force pilot

PACOM, PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII

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Admiral James Ritchie: US Navy

Captain Andrew McKinney: PA to Admiral Ritchie Colonel Brian Maccomb: US Armys 500th Military Intelligence Brigade Jed Culver: Louisianan attorney

Commander Damon Oakshott: US Navy aide to Admiral Ritchie Asher Warat: Israels envoy to the United States Governor Linda Lingle: Republican senator, Governor of Hawaii Lieutenant General Stephen Francis Murphy: Commander, US Army, 25th Infantry Division

CENTCOM,DOHA

General Tommy Franks: Commander of the United States Central Command BRUSSELS

General JL Jones: Commander of the United States European Command SOUTHCOM, COMAYAGUA, HONDURAS

Lieutenant Colonel Susan Pileggi: Acting Commander, SOUTHCOM

FORT LEWIS, WASHINGTON

General Jackson Blackstone: US Army, Commander, Fort Lewis Major Ty McCutcheon: US Air Force, aide to General Blackstone

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ONE DAY

14 MARCH, 2003

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PITI-SALPTRIRE HOSPITAL, PARIS

The killer awoke, surrounded by strangers. An IV line dripped clear fluid through a long, thick needle punched into the back of her right hand. Surgical tape held the silver spike in place and tugged at the fine blonde hairs growing there. The strangers

all women, she thought dully - leaned in, their faces knotted with anxiety, apparently for her. But she stared instead at her hands as they lay in her lap on a thin brown blanket. They looked strong, even masculine. She turned them over, examining them.

The nails were cut short. Calluses disfigured her knuckles, the heels of both palms, and the sides of her hands, from the base of both little fingers down to her wrists. The more she stared, the more unsettled she became. Like the women gathered around her bed, those hands were completely alien to her. She had no idea who she was.

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Cathy? Are you all right?

Nurse! somebody called out.

The strangers, three of them, seemed to launch themselves at her bed. She felt herself tense up, but they simply wanted to comfort her.

Docteur! Elle sest rveille ...

She felt soft hands patting her down, stroking her like one might comfort a child whos suffered a bad fright. Cathy - that wasnt her name, was it? - Cathy tried not to panic or to show how much she didnt want any of these women touching her. They looked weird, not the sort of people shed want as friends. And then, she remembered. They werent her friends. They were her mission. And her name wasnt Cathy. It was Caitlin.

The women were dressed in cheap clothing, layered for warmth. Falling back into the pillows, recovering from an uncontrolled moment of vertigo into which she had fallen, Caitlin Monroe composed herself. She was in a hospital bed, in a private room, and in spite of the apparent poverty of her friends, the room was expensively fitted out. The youngest of the women wore a brown suede jacket, frayed at the cuffs and elbows and festooned with colourful protest buttons. A stylised white bird. A rainbow. A collection of slogans: Halliburton Watch, Who would Jesus bomb? and Resistance is fertile.