Showing results by narrator "Paul Thornley" in All Categories

Ex-deniable operator Nick Stone has spent a lifetime in harm's way - but when someone he cares for very deeply is murdered in cold blood, he can no longer just take the pain. A high-level internecine conflict at the dark heart of the resurgent Russian Empire and an assassin's bullet on an isolated Alpine pass propel him from an apparently run-of-the-mill close-protection task into his most brutal and challenging mission yet. As the body count increases, Stone becomes one of Europe's most wanted.

When the beautiful 20-year-old daughter of a Moldovan businessman goes missing from her university, British Intelligence are unusually interested in her safe return. They will do anything in their power to track her down. Only one man is skilled and ruthless enough for the job - but for the first time in his life, Nick Stone doesn't want to play ball.

There's only one thing more dangerous than a corrupt cop...and that's a corrupt cop with a gun. When a group of armed police in an elite unit turns maverick and starts to rip off drug dealers at gunpoint, undercover cop Dan 'Spider' Shepherd is given his most dangerous mission so far. Shepherd is ordered to infiltrate the tight-knit team, to gain their confidence and to ultimately betray them.Facing men with guns is nothing new for the former SAS trooper, but it's the first time he's had to investigate his own. And the job couldn't have come at a worse time for him.

He's a detective hunting cold-blooded killers, but does he know more than he admits? She's a lawyer who must defend a murderer - but how far will she go to protect her only child? They have a plan - but can they trust each other with their lives?

Dan 'Spider' Shepherd is used to putting his life on the line. It goes with the turf when you're an undercover cop. Now working for the Serious Organised Crime Agency, Shepherd is pitting his wits against the toughest criminals in the country. But when the man who once saved his life is kidnapped in the badlands of Iraq, thrown into a basement and threatened with execution, Shepherd has to decide whether his loyalties lie with his country, his career or his friend.

The twentieth century is drawing to a close and the Russians are up to all sorts of dirty tricks in Lithuania and Kaliningrad. MI6 decide to fight fire with fire and send in a crack SAS team led by Dan 'Spider' Shepherd. Their mission - to create chaos in the Baltic region through sabotage, assassination and black ops. But the Russians aren't going to give up without a fight, and soon the SAS team wonder if they might have bitten off more than they can chew.

Tough, resourceful and ruthless, ex-SAS trooper Nick Stone is now working for British Intelligence on deniable operations. And is desperately in need of cash. When he is offered a lucrative freelance job, Stone thinks his problems are over. All he needs to do is kidnap a Russian mafia warlord. And so Stone is thrust into the grim underworld of Estonia, with unknown aggressors stalking the Arctic landscape. Russia has launched a cyber-espionage attack, hacking into the West's most sensitive military secrets. Stone must stop them.

People-smuggling, counterfeit currency and attempted murder. It's all in a day's work for undercover cop Dan 'Spider' Shepherd. But what starts as a run-of-the mill investigation quickly turns into a matter of life and death when he uncovers a terrorist cell on a mission of death and destruction. The target: hundreds of passengers on a cross-channel train deep below the English Channel.

THE UNDERCOVER COP. Having worked undercover the last ten years, Sean Egan is used to life on the edge. He’s recently infiltrated one of London’s most dangerous criminal gangs, and they’ve just informed him that they want him for a very special job: the daring abduction from police custody of a serial killer known as The Night Creeper. THE KILLER. Brutally violent yet highly intelligent, The Night Creeper has earned his reputation by torturing five young women to death.

As an MI5 agent, Spider is used to going undercover, but when he's asked to assume the identity of the contract killer hired to take out President Vladimir Putin, he knows he'll become a wanted man. And things are about to get more complicated: Spider is told that his MI5 controller and close friend Charlotte Button has been running an off-the-books assassination operation, taking vengeance on the men who killed her husband.

Anyone doubting that Diego Maradona was more than just a football player had only to witness the outpourings after his death on 25th November 2020. During his tempestuous life and career, he played for top clubs in South America and Europe, notably Napoli, where he became an adored hero and adopted son, and grew to be a legend in his homeland of Argentina after leading them to victory in the 1986 World Cup.

Former SAS trooper turned undercover cop Dan 'Spider' Shepherd knows there are no easy solutions in the war against terrorism. But when a killer starts to target pardoned IRA terrorists, Shepherd has to put his life on the line to protect his former enemies. While he is undercover in Belfast, a grief-stricken Saudi whose two sons died under torture in the name of the War on Terror is planning to avenge their deaths. As the Muslim assassin closes in on his prey, Shepherd realises that the only way to save lives is to become a killer himself.

Dan 'Spider' Shepherd is used to putting his life on the line. Working for an elite undercover squad, he has lied, cheated and conned in order to bring Britain's most wanted criminals to justice. But when a powerful drugs baron starts to kill off witnesses to his crimes, Shepherd is given his most dangerous assignment yet. He has to go undercover in a top-security prison, a world where one wrong move will mean certain death.

Not all terrorists are driven by religion or politics. Dan "Spider" Shepherd and his SAS team are on the trail of a terrorist whose motives are much more personal. Sabit Kusen wants revenge and doesn’t care how many innocents he kills along the way. Shepherd and his team hunt their quarry around the world - from Athens to Paris to Zurich to Singapore and on to Sydney - but the elusive Kusen is always one step ahead of them. Can Shepherd catch Sabit Kusen before he carries out his most audacious attack? And does he have what it takes to pull the trigger to end the fanatic’s reign of terror?

The 14th thriller in the Spider Shepherd series promises even more gripping action from The Sunday Times best seller Stephen Leather. Working undercover is all about trust - getting the target to trust you and then betraying them in order to bring them to justice. But what do you do when you believe an undercover cop has crossed the line and aligned herself with the international drugs smuggler she was supposed to be targeting?

1993: Under deep cover, Nick Stone and a specialist surveillance team have spent weeks in the jungles and city streets of Colombia. Their mission: to locate the boss of the world's most murderous drugs cartel - and terminate him with extreme prejudice. Now they can strike. But to get close enough to fire the fatal shot, Nick must reveal his face. It's a risk he's willing to take - since only the man who is about to die will see him.

Somalia - a lawless, violent land, ignored by the West, ripped apart by civil war and famine, fought over by drug-fuelled, gun-crazy clan fighters. They want the world to sit up and take notice. They have a new and terrifying weapon - pirates. And now, the pirates have in their possession the young son of a Russian oligarch, snatched from a luxury yacht in the Seychelles. His father wants him back, will pay anything, stop at nothing to retrieve his boy. Up to now everything he has tried has failed.

Out on the ice, polar bears aren't the only natural born killers. Nick Stone is suffering. The two people he cared for most are gone. Thousands of miles away, five ex-servicemen, badly wounded in Afghanistan, are preparing for a trek to the North Pole in an attempt to begin to rebuild their shattered bodies and minds. When Stone is summoned as close protection for the trek by an old SAS officer, he accepts unthinkingly, desperate for the chance to escape his own misery.

Ex-deniable operator Nick Stone is bodyguarding a TV crew on the streets of war-torn Basra. He seems certain to die when insurgent gunmen attack. Only a reporter's swift action saves his life. When the reporter vanishes within hours, presumed kidnapped, Stone is asked by the Intelligence Service to find him. The trail leads from Iraq to London, Dublin, and Kabul - the brutal city where governments, terrorism and big business collide.

This collection of stories goes back to Dan “Spider” Shepherd’s SAS days, and the missions that shaped him. From his training in the welsh hills and the jungles of Belize, through to his early missions in Sierra Leone and the Middle East, these nine stories chart his rise through the SAS, and his involvement with the elite Sabre Squadron. Along with his comrades Jimbo, McKay and Geordie, Spider puts his life on the line on active duty…and sows the seeds of his future career.