John Birmingham
Without warning
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 Stйphane Colbert: Groupe Hospitalier de la Pitiй-Salpкtriиre
Bilal Baumer (aka al Banna): Cell Master, al-Qaeda in Europe
Nicolas Sarkozy: French Minister of the Interior
Captain Marcel Rolland: 1er Rйgiment d’Infanterie
Bernard Lacan: Director, Action Division, DGSE
Wales Larrison: Echelon’s Paris controller
Monty Pearson: chief of staff, BBC Paris bureau
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: James’s 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 Nuсez: Cuban Army officer
Lieutenant Jenny Kwan: US Marine Corps, Incident Response Unit
Sergeant Guilio Gutteres: US Marine Corps, Incident Response Unit
Captain Vincente Бlvarez: Cuban Army officer
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: ship’s cook on the Diamantina
Sergeant Narayan Shah: formerly of Her Majesty’s Royal Gurkha Regiment
Corporal Birendra: formerly of Her Majesty’s Royal Gurkha Regiment
Private Thapa: formerly of Her Majesty’s Royal Gurkha Regiment
Private Subba: formerly of Her Majesty’s Royal Gurkha Regiment
Private Sharma: formerly of Her Majesty’s Royal Gurkha Regiment
Miguel Pieraro: contracted beef hauler for McDonald’s
Rhino Ross: former CPO, United States Coast Guard
Dietmar Dietz: navigator
Henry Cesky: Brooklyn-based construction magnate
Larry Zood: internet pornographer
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 ship’s mate
Mariela Pieraro: Miguel’s wife
Pankesh Daxa: Sri Lankan chief engineer, Aussie Rules
Rohan van der Meuwe: Dutch ship’s engineer, Aussie Rules
Urvan Plost: Dutch ship’s 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
Admiral James Ritchie: US Navy
Captain Andrew McKinney: PA to Admiral Ritchie
Colonel Brian Maccomb: US Army’s 500th Military Intelligence Brigade
Jed Culver: Louisianan attorney
Commander Damon Oakshott: US Navy aide to Admiral Ritchie
Asher Warat: Israel’s 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
ONE DAY
14 MARCH, 2003
1
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.
‘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 s’est rйveillйe…’
She felt soft hands patting her down, stroking her like one might comfort a child who’s suffered a bad fright. Cathy – that wasn’t her name, was it? – Cathy tried not to panic or to show how much she didn’t want any of these women touching her. They looked weird, not the sort of people she’d want as friends. And then, she remembered. They weren’t her friends. They were her mission. And her name wasn’t 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.
