Stella

By Colin Galbraith

One man, one woman, two terrible secrets...

RANDOLPH LOWE is a distinguished British Secret Agent in the twilight of his career.

When he is handed a mission to kill one of the world’s least accessible, yet most wanted assassins, he never expected a beautiful young woman with the alias, STELLA.

Stella leads him around the world as she picks off her marks with ease, during which time Randolph grows infatuated and falls in love.

But Stella has her own dark secret. Forced into making a terrible sacrifice, she is destined to live her life as a lone killer.

The love of one man may be enough to free her, and only that man can save her now... but only if he can find her...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Colin Galbraith
• Release date: Aug 27, 2012
• ISBN: 9781926704050

Colin Galbraith

Colin Galbraith was born in Paisley in 1973 and raised in Bridge of Weir. After attending the Open College of the Arts, he began writing seriously in 1999. He lives in South Queensferry.

Book preview

STELLA

by

Colin Galbraith

COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

Stella Copyright © 2009, 2017 by Colin Galbraith

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. This book is a work of fiction. Characters, names, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

A Smashing Press Production

Smashwords Edition

Distributed by Smashwords

Cover Art © 2017 by Colin Galbraith

Edited by Pam Slade (Eternal Press)

Copyedited by Betty Ann (Eternal Press)

Layout and Book Production by Ally Robertson (Eternal Press)

eBook ISBN: 978-1-926704-05-0

Print ISBN: 978-1-926704-13-5

First eBook Edition - June 2009

First Print Edition - June 2009

Second eBook Edition – April 2017

www.colingalbraith.co.uk

Mailing List: http://eepurl.com/dkIVBD

CONTENTS

Copyright Statement

Also by Colin Galbraith

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Part 1 - The Spying Game

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Part 2 - Stella’s Secret

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Part 3 - Three Roses

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

About the Author

ALSO BY COLIN GALBRAITH

Novels

SLICK

GATECRASH

HUNTING JACK

Novellas

GREENER IS THE GRASS

Paranormal

STELLA

BACCARA BURNING

(Note: Both available as one-book format)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the following people who helped in various capacities during the writing of this book.

Brenda Birch and David Graham for their expert critical eyes; Eva Schegulla for her unending support and belief in me, and Dieter Meier for giving me an idea.

I would also like to thank the readers of my blog, for living the life of this story as it was born and shaped into what I always daydreamed it might be.

The soundtrack I listened to while writing this book was 'Stella' by Yello.

DEDICATION

For my loving sister, Fiona

PART 1

The Spying Game

Prologue

November 1988

Randolph Lowe had slept all day. Now, as he sat watching the golden glow of an Amsterdam sunset from the window of his canal barge, he wondered just how long it had been since he last enjoyed any form of human contact. The moon would soon rise, and then he would do as he always did: trace its path as it crossed the night sky, disappearing and reappearing between buildings and trees, leaving so many haunting memories in its wake.

The moon fascinated him; its glow, its familiarity, its representation of a previous life; the last six pathetic years of his long and empty existence reflected upon each time he stared into the night sky when the moon was full. Randolph often wondered if others were admiring its magnificence from somewhere else in the world at that same time. For hours he would stare at it, using its silver hue to focus his mind on the memories that haunted him; memories of hunting, of being hunted, of always looking behind and never knowing where quite he was going or why. But above all, memories of a love now lost.

Over the last few weeks night had turned into day for Randolph, but when he thought about it his life had always been that way. He had always lived a vampiric existence – an unfortunate down side to his job – and it had left him unable to follow any normal kind of sleeping pattern. With only the moon to light his darkened world, it offered him the only form of regular contact he had with anything meaningful.

When Randolph did manage sleep it was during the day, and with one hand on the pistol hidden under his pillow. Sometimes he dreamt of far off places he had visited during his life, but one dream in particular he had more than any other. Most nights he would wake having been through the same experience; confused, upset – always angry.

He would be wandering New York, a place he had spent some time in the past, although only a brief stop off on his way somewhere. In the dream, the repetition of that visit continued in infinite detail as though he had spent half his life there.

The dream took him through the streets of New York City, wandering for hours as night passed into dawn. When the summer sun rose too high, and the heat of the city became overbearing, he would pause and look around. That was when he found the café, right behind him on the sidewalk; obvious, yet hidden. He’d never noticed it before.

A young woman was sitting at a pavement table enjoying the sun and an espresso. She wore large shades over her eyes, her wavy blonde hair lifting softly in the breeze. She looked sophisticated, sexy, mysterious; a woman for every man’s fantasy.

Randolph sat down at a table near the side, a single empty cup and fresh pots of sugar and cream already set out. A buckled man with his eyes half closed was busy putting chairs on tables and sweeping the floor. The old man wandered over with a pot and served Randolph coffee despite him never having asked for any, then bent down and collected a shiny quarter from the floor, put it in his pocket, glanced up at Randolph and winked.

The dream was over.

It was almost dark now and the heat from the sun had gone, the moon blowing the sun away as it rose into the sky. The night crawlers were coming out to play and the narrow streets and canals of Amsterdam would seem narrower for the next few hours. Randolph would probably go for a long walk soon, but only once it got darker and the streets ceased to bask in long shadows of amber and grey.

Randolph was tired. He knew he wouldn’t sleep. His mind wandered from one memory to another, memories of the woman he had spent years chasing yet had never managed to hold. He curled up on the narrow bed of his barge and pulled the thin sheets over his shoulders, felt for his pistol; still there. He tried to forget everything, to empty his mind and use the gentle sway of the canal, the lapping of the ripples against the hull, to try and induce the sleep he knew would never come.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

Chapter 1

Three years earlier: July 1985

Operation Baccara, said Everette Burke sternly. It's your new assignment.

Everette Burke was a senior MI5 officer of considerable experience. He was also Randolph Lowe’s boss. Standing at average height and build, he concealed extraordinary hidden strengths both mentally and physically. A natural leader, he displayed little emotion, had been married and divorced, and had one child, a boy, who died at birth. Colleagues attributed his modern manner to that single life event; those who knew him longer disagreed.

It seemed to Randolph that Burke had been around forever. His rise to Director of the MI5 Royal Protection Unit certainly hadn’t been a surprise, but it hadn’t been expected quite so soon either. One day the old guard was gone, thawed out faster than an ice cube in a hot oven, and the next day Burke was in control, making all the big decisions from the luxury of