Lawyers

Iain Campbell

Description

Two lawyers from different backgrounds find that their worlds unexpectedly collide. One lawyer, who is also a Territorial Army Special Services Sergeant, is tasked to rescue an important British scientist from an African coup. The scientist has invented a defence against the sun's solar flares, vital to the world's safety, and is wanted by the African nation. The other lawyer is caught up in the African coup and also needs rescuing. The SAS lawyer is charged with rape on incontrovertible DNA evidence. Can the lawyer's new female legal team defend the charge which will devastate the lawyer's business and personal life...? And what was the other lawyer's involvement in Africa?

Sujets

• Thriller

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Date de parution: 31 juillet 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528963664
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

The Lawyers
Iain Campbell
Austin Macauley Publishers
2019-07-31
The Lawyers About the Author About the Book Dedication Copyright Information Acknowledgement Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Chapter Thirty-Five
About the Author

Iain Campbell has worked in a legal environment for over 25 years. He has seen the judicial system, working at close hand, and his characters are influenced by this experience. Iain lives on the south coast of England. The Lawyers is his first novel.
About the Book
Two lawyers from different backgrounds find that their worlds unexpectedly collide.
One lawyer, who is also a Territorial Army Special Services Sergeant, is tasked to rescue an important British scientist from an African coup. The scientist has invented a defence against the sun’s solar flares, vital to the world’s safety, and is wanted by the African nation. The other lawyer is caught up in the African coup and also needs rescuing.
The SAS lawyer is charged with rape on incontrovertible DNA evidence.
Can the lawyer’s new female legal team defend the charge which will devastate the lawyer's business and personal life…? And what was the other lawyer’s involvement in Africa?
Dedication
For Anna, James, Beth, Freddie, Milo and Ruby
Copyright Information
Copyright © Iain Campbell (2019)
The right of Iain Campbell to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528922098 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528963664 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2019)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Acknowledgement
Thank you to the staff at Austin Macauley who have very professionally steered this book to publication.
Chapter One
The camouflaged shooter looked along the sights of his precision sniper rifle. His left eye closed, his right eye was bright in the morning sun and had the colour of blue ice. The subject was a black silhouette of a soldier which blurred 500 metres away and then became clearer. The target was motionless; the shooter was motionless. Check, check and check again. As his chin pressed hard into the weapon, he controlled his breathing and then squeezed the trigger, taking the first pressure then the second. The rifle kicked into his right shoulder as his bullet flew in a nanosecond to its target. He had scored a direct hit in the bullseye zone, and the second round was pumped into the rifle.
He was a soldier…Yes.
He was a shooter…Yes
But he was first and foremost a lawyer.
Oh yes, he was very good…very, very good with a rifle and a pistol. But he was equally comfortable with the jet-black print on the gleaming white pages of Halsbury’s Laws of England.
By the end of the hour’s rifle practice, he had scored 98 out of a possible 100. Very good shooting for a professional marksman, but for lawyer James Palmer it was excellent. Nevertheless, as he examined the targets to see how good his cluster of shots had been, he swore that he would do better next time. While he collected his gear, he wondered if he would use this skill for real. Shooting holes through an opponent’s legal argument was one thing, but shooting a person was something different. He wondered if he would actually kill someone. Many don’t. One day, he may be tested. Until then, he would carry on being a lawyer.
The mid-thirties lawyer was at the army’s firing range in Dorset. Three years previously, James had joined the Territorial Army’s Special Air Service Regiment. An exhausting 36 months later, and after many exercises and courses, he had become a fully trained member of the TA SAS. Although TA guys were part-time soldiers, they went through some of the same gruelling training that their professional counterparts endured. The race up the Welsh mountain Pen y Fan, which was the culmination of a week’s training and slog, was a dreaded and painful part of the qualification. Bergens got progressively heavier and the miles longer. Never being able to switch off, always wondering whether the next hill was the last or whether the Directing Staff would shout out another map reference that need to be memorised and gained and at running speed – it was no picnic!
The SAS Territorial Regiment is called 21 SAS and C Squadron is based in Bramley Hampshire. James was now badged SAS(R). He had joined a newly formed SAS Territorial Army Unit in Bournemouth where he lived and had his legal practice.
After he had passed the course, James was keen to carry on with his service and enjoyed the thrill of army life, albeit on a part time basis. However, although it was the TA and part-time, Her Majesty could require his services at almost any time, and many TA soldiers were currently serving across the world. It was a commitment that James was happy to sign up to. So far, he had only been away for a maximum of 14 days at one stretch, although that had been an exciting time as he joined the full-time SAS in Malaya on a jungle exercise.
James was involved in some form of training or exercise every other weekend. Last month, it was training in Devon to heighten his reactions and observational skills. Dressed in his army combat uniform, he was working on his own.
One bright Sunday morning, he walked with his captain along a sun-parched track somewhere in the middle of Devon. It was a restricted area, used by the military for training. His 6-foot height was usually an advantage, unless there were tiny crevices to climb through. He checked his SA80 rifle, which most army personnel use, with his long straight fingers and knew every inch of it. His tan from a recent holiday in the Seychelles glistened with small beads of sweat as his persistent eyes surveyed the whole area. His captain, John Walker pointed to a house and briefed him to check just one room out for possible explosives and booby traps. He must not under any circumstances leave any signs to indicate that he had been in the building. The officer left him to it.
James moved slowly through the front door with his weapon clenched in his hands, his leather-gloved finger on the trigger guard. Listening for any sounds, he treaded softly and was looking all round for people and problems. The door led to a short corridor with just one other door off it. The whole building had been erected specifically for army training. Silently, he approached and checked the internal door: nothing around the door frame, no key in the lock, no light under the door and no sound of any movement whatsoever. He stood to the side of the door and opened it slowly with one hand, his rifle ready to deal with any opposition… The door moved inwards to reveal a dingy, small kitchen lit by a small window at the far end.
James moved forward to check if anybody was in the room. No signs of life whatsoever. He then scanned the whole room quickly to gain an overall impression. He knew he would be asked numerous questions about his visit when the exercise was over.
A dry brown lino covered the floor and showed no signs of having been cleaned recently. The dark yellow walls were covered in grease from cooking. The sink had unwashed plates and mugs resting in some murky water.
James’ task was to check for explosives. He looked closely at the dishes in the sink, but there was no sign of anything suspicious there. An under-sink cupboard was checked, together with a cooker and hob that had seen better days. A good deal of use had been made of the left-hand gas burner rather than the right. He pulled open the oven door and could see a couple of metal cooking trays on the two shelves. Apart from a shelf with empty packets of cereal, the only other thing in the room was a small fridge which sat on a table. He looked round the back, sides and peered under the fridge for any leads, explosives, switches or anything suspicious. Nothing out of the ordinary there. He then opened the fridge to check the contents. Three shelves held a number of items including, butter, lettuce, a sausage, a plate with a mouldy piece of cheese and a cheese knife. In the door were a couple of milk bottles. James inspected the interior closely, then closed the door.
One locked filthy window on the wall opposite the door gave no sign of what was outside. He then checked the ceiling and the back of the door that he had entered the room through. The kitchen had coving running round all of the four walls…polystyrene stuck to the walls and ceiling. Most of it was covered by the dirt and grime that covered the walls and ceiling. However, above the door, James noticed that there was a lighter area of wall below the coving as if some of the grime had been wiped away. James checked this area and looked closely at the coving. He could see that it was cut in two places, and as he touched it, he was able to move the coving down the wall. That explained the scraping on the wall. It was stuck on with some very old double-sided tape b