Stone cold series boxset.., p.54
Stone Cold Series Boxset Book 2, page 54
part #4 of Stone Cold Series
"You bastard, Carver."
"Cash please, John. Used notes. You know the score," said Frank, swallowing his drink in one.
13
Death of a Beast
In the dead of a dark Cornwall night, a man six-foot-six inches tall pulled his car up beside a bright red E-Type Jaguar on a country lane and gestured for the driver to lower the window.
The woman in the driver's seat responded and lowered the window, then smiled at the large man who held a map in the air.
"Are you lost?" she asked through the window. "I'll see if I can help. I'm not from around here myself."
The man shrugged his shoulders and lowered the map to reveal a shotgun which was aimed directly at the lone occupant.
The blast could be heard for miles around, and carried across the empty fields, dissipating into nothing. The man drove on into the night and began his long drive back to London.
At about the same, a man similar in stature, size, and looks, reached out of the shadows of a small two-bedroom house in East London and slit the throat of its owner.
The noise of the shotgun in the darkest of Cornwall nights was lost to the wild fields that surrounded the cars. The night simply absorbed the sound, and the assailant drove away calmly as if nothing had happened.
The noise, however, of the blood-curdling screams that were emitted from Olivia Stone as she saw her husband crumple to the floor in the darkness, just before her own throat was sliced open, was enough to wake the entire street.
Neighbours poured from their front doors in slippers and dressing gowns, only to see the huge figure slip from the open front door with young Hannah Stone under one arm, and a hamper with Harvey Stone in the other.
The neighbours were all too shocked and confused to try and stop him. One man ran inside his house to call the police. But by the time he'd made the call, the huge man had escaped into the network of alleyways between the rows of houses.
Inside the house, the scene was heartbreaking. The lady who lived next door pushed the door fully open to find the bodies of Leo and Olivia Stone. Both had their throats slit, and lay in a pool of shiny, sticky blood.
14
A Beast is Born
The village of Theydon Bois was unlit by streetlight. At some time in the sixties, the villagers had petitioned against the council, who had planned on installing them, with the argument that the unsightly poles along the village streets would taint the little village's appearance.
The vast grounds of John Cartwright's estate sat at the top of the hill at the beginning of the village.
A mass of acacia and chestnut trees surrounded the estate and lined the small lane that was used to gain entry to the grounds.
In the dark fields opposite the estate, soaked from the torrential rain that had been falling for several hours, and muddied from trudging through the soft, arable land, a large man stepped through a break in the thick hedgerow.
His shirt clung to his skin, and his boots were heavy with mud. In one arm, he carried a sleeping girl, wrapped in a blanket, who lay with her head on his huge shoulder. In his other arm, he carried a hamper. Bundled inside the wicker frame, beneath a mass of blankets, and a large man's jacket, was a baby boy.
The huge framed man entered the grounds of John Cartwright's estate, and began the final leg of his walk, up the long gravel driveway toward the two huge front doors of the old Edwardian mansion.
It was late evening when John Cartwright heard the large brass knocker on his front door rap against the wood. He was sat at his desk and looked up from his paperwork. He checked his watch.
Barb called through from the reception room adjacent to his office.
“Who’s that at this time, John?”
He didn’t answer. He opened the drawer of his desk and removed silver-plated handgun. It had been a gift from a few of his men when he’d turned fifty and had never been fired. It sat in his drawer on the off-chance that some nut attempted to hit him at his home.
He checked the weapon was loaded and walked calmly out of his office to the front door.
John?” called Barb. “Are you going to see who that is?”
John didn’t respond. He didn’t want to call out and tell the person on the other side of the thick wooden doors that he was close.
He opened the door a crack.
The huge flagstone step at the top of the small steps appeared empty.
He pulled the door open some more and moved to stand in the doorway, his shiny handgun held tightly in one hand. He stared out into the night.
There was no movement.
John stood for a few seconds longer, gazing into the dark night through the rain. He tried to see movement against the still trees, but there was none.
“Who is it, John?” asked Barb from behind him. She’d joined him at the front doors and stood inside with her hands holding her towel bathrobe closed around her neck.
“Nobody, Barb,” said John.
Turning to step back inside the house, he was just about to close the huge door when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the corner of a dirtied blanket laying on the ground outside. He followed the blanket, and there, to his great surprise, he found a young girl standing beside an old wicker hamper.
“What’s that?” asked Barb from behind him.
John looked back at his wife with an emotionless face. He bent to pick up the hamper, and took the girl’s hand, then stood and walked the two children into the warmth of the house.
“Who’s that? What have you got there?” asked Barb.
John let go of the girl's hand and looked back out into the rain. For a fraction of a moment, he thought he saw movement near the two wrought iron gates, but then it disappeared, and all was still except the perpetual rain.
He closed the door and found Barb on her knees with a small towel, drying the girl’s long blonde hair.
“It’s Stone’s girl,” she said softly, with compassion set in her eyes, the way only a mother can.
John bent, picked up the hamper and walked slowly into his office. He was dazed and left Barb and the girl in the large hallway.
He set the hamper on the floor in front of him, removed his own woolly jumper, and sat down in his leather reclining chair. He took a long drag of his brandy, then bent and began removing the blankets that had been bundled into the hamper. Gradually, he made a pile of them beneath the window by his side, and when he removed the last one, he knew what he would find.
John lifted the small baby boy, who had lay sleeping silently beneath the pile, and sat the child on his knee as he began to stir. He put the back of his hand against the small child's cheek and felt the soft, chilled skin against his own.
“Harvey,” said John quietly, and ran his finger gently through the soft, thin hair on the baby’s head. “Do you know where you are?” he asked softly. The child began to open his tired eyes and then focused on John’s own. “I’m your daddy now, Harvey,” he said. “I’m going to take care of you.”
John smiled at the child who stared back inquisitively.
“I’m going to make you a man, Harvey,” said John, and kissed his tiny forehead.
Harvey didn’t reply.
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Also By J.D.Weston.
The Stone Cold Thriller Series.
Book 1 - Stone Cold.
Book 2 - Stone Fury
Book 3 - Stone Fall
Book 4 - Stone Rage
Book 5 - Stone Free
Book 6 - Stone Rush
Book 7 - Stone Game
Novellas
Stone Breed
Stone Blood (Available at the end of Stone Rage)
The Alaskan Adventure
Where the Mountains Kiss the Sun
From the Ocean to the Stream
.
Stone Cold
Book One of the Stone Cold Thriller series
One priceless set of diamonds. Three of London's ruthless east end crime families. One very angry assassin with a hit list.
Harvey Stone has questions that someone will answer. Who killed his parents and why? Who raped and killed his sister? And why are his closest allies hiding the truth.
When Harvey is asked to kill east London's biggest crime boss in return for one name on his list, there is only one answer.
Can Harvey survive the gang war, untangle the web of deceit and uncover the truth behind his sisters death?
Stone Cold is the first book in the Stone Cold thriller series.
If you enjoy fast-paced adventure, gritty vigilante stories and no-nonsense heroes, then you'll love J.D.Weston's brand new Thriller Series.
Unlock the Stone Cold Thriller Series with the first book, Stone Cold.
Stone Fury
Book Two of the Stone Cold Thriller series
The lives of twelve young girls are being sold. The seller is on Harvey Stone's hit list.
When ex-hitman Harvey Stone learns of an human trafficking ring taking place in his old stomping ground, he is sickened. But when he learns the name of the person running the show, an opportunity arises to cross one more name of his list.
Can Harvey save the ill-fated girls, and serve justice to those who are most deserved?
Stone Fury is the second book in the Stone Cold thriller series.
If you enjoy fast-paced adventure, gritty vigilante stories and no-nonsense heroes, then you'll love J.D.Weston's brand new Thriller Series.
Click here now to get early access to the next part of Harvey's puzzle.
Stone Fall
Book Three of the Stone Cold Thriller series
One evil terrorist with a plan to change the face of London. One missing child, and one priceless jade Buddha. Only Harvey Stone and his team of organised crime specialists can prevent disaster.
When Harvey and the team intercept a heist to rob a priceless jade Buddha, little did they know they would be uncovering a terrorist attack on London's St Paul's Cathedral, and a shocking hostage scenario.
Can Harvey and the team stop the terrorists, save the little girl and rescue the priceless Buddha?
Stone Fall is the third book in the Stone Cold thriller series.
If you enjoy fast-paced adventure, gritty vigilante stories and no-nonsense heroes, then you'll love J.D.Weston's brand new Thriller Series.
Buy now to read the next adventure in the Stone Cold thriller series.
Stone Rage
Book Four of the Stone Cold Thriller series
Two of east London's most notorious gangs go head to head with the Albanian mafia, and one angry assassin who's out to clean up.
When Harvey Stone is sent undercover to put a stop a turf war between the Albanian mafia and two of East London's most notorious gangs, nobody expected him to be welcomed like a hero by an old face.
Has Harvey finally gone rogue, or will he put a stop to the bloodshed once and for all?
Stone Rage is the fourth book in the Stone Cold thriller series.
If you enjoy fast-paced adventure, gritty vigilante stories and no-nonsense heroes, then you'll love J.D.Weston's brand new Thriller Series.
Buy now and get your hands on Harvey's next adventure in the Stone Cold thriller series.
Stone Free
Book Five of the Stone Cold Thriller series
Death by internet. A mind blowing masterplan, where death holds all the cards.
Harvey Stone plays guardian angel on international soil when two governments prepare to do battle, and the lives of innocent people are at stake.
Can Harvey free the condemned women and avert an international disaster. Can he defy all odds and escape alive?
Find out in Stone Free, the fifth book in the Stone Cold Thriller series.
If you enjoy intense thrillers, with shocking storylines, then you'll love this new series from J.D.Weston.
Get stuck into the Stone Cold Thriller series, get Stone Free now.
Stone Rush
Book Six of the Stone Cold Thriller series
Europe's slave trade is alive. MI6 is falling down, and Harvey Stone is caught in the middle.
Harvey yearns for the quiet life, but when a close friend is captured and tortured, and refugees become slaves, Harvey is forced out of retirement.
Can Harvey put a stop to the human traffickers and save the girls from a torturous death? Can he prevent the gang's devastating plans?
Find out, in Stone Rush, the sixth book in the Stone Cold Thriller series.
If you enjoy intense thrillers, with shocking storylines, then you'll love this new action crime thriller from J.D.Weston.
Click here to follow Harvey to Athens and possibly his toughest challenge yet.
Stone Game
Book Seven of the Stone Cold Thriller series
Tragedy strikes. A killer runs wild, and an old enemy raises the stakes.
Memories of Harvey's kills return to haunt his freedom. But as the body count grows and the past become reality, the hunter becomes the hunted.
Has Harvey gone back to his old ways? Is he destined for a life on the run?
Stone Game is the seventh book in J.D.Weston's Stone Cold Thriller series.
If you like your action hard and fast, with page-turning intensity, you'll love this series.
Get Stone Game now, and get inside the head of a killer.
Stone Raid
Book Eight of the Stone Cold Thriller series
A pair of cursed diamonds. A brutal gang ran by evil twin brothers. And an ex-hitman who finds himself deep inside a Victorian legend.
When ex-hitman Harvey Stone emerges from laying low, he stumbles into a cruel and twisted plot devised by evil twin brothers to bring together two cursed diamonds, and unleash hell in London.
But the deeper Harvey delves into their plans, the more twisted they become, and saving the diamonds becomes his toughest challenge yet.
Can Harvey bring down the evil twins and prevent the cursed diamonds from destroying more lives? Can he find right from wrong in this twisted tale of lies and deceit?
Find out in Stone Raid, the eighth book in the Stone Cold Thriller series.
A Note from the Author
The Stone Cold Thriller series is set in East London and Essex and features places from my own childhood.
While many of the buildings, pubs and streets are fictitious, some of the more prominent locations in the series are borne from my own life experience and are as accurate as my memory allows.
My family were originally from Theydon Bois, in Essex, where John Cartwright’s house is located. In fact, my parents lived in the great house before I was born, renting a room off the wealthy owner.
The headquarters building is based on the same road as my first flat in Silvertown, east London.
In the first book, Stone Cold, the location of the Bradley Thompson’s murder was in fact in the same building as my first job.
While the locations may offer an insight into my own childhood, and early working years, the characters are all fictitious. I handed the first draft of book one, Stone Cold to some family members soon after it was completed and discovered that John Cartwright is the name of my great-grandfather. I hope that he wasn’t into the same things the character John Cartwright, but if he was, I’d like to know where the money went.
Stone Cold sets the scene for the rest of the series and is the result of a considerable amount of research. I tried to understand what books were out there, what people wanted and, of course, what I wanted to write.
I do hope you’ve enjoyed the series so far, but more than that, I hope you’ve grown to feel for Harvey and the other characters, and if you’ve come this far, perhaps you’ll come a little further and see how the next part of Harvey’s story unfolds. I wish I could tell you, I’m itching to just blurt it out. But hey, where’s the fun in that?
