Free THE FIX: SAS hero turns Manchester hitman (A Rick Fuller Thriller Book 1) by Robert White

Airways site. Within a couple of minutes I had booked a first class ticket to Barcelona, leaving in four hours.
    I needed to pack.
    I didn’t go overboard on expensive luggage. Spend a grand on cases and every airport thief this side of Ringway, will be nicking your best Hawaiian number. Therefore, basic serviceable Samsonite was the order of the day. The contents, however, were a different matter. I was going through my lightweights and casuals, Diesel and Ralph Lauren’s Polo Sport collection mainly. Although I did select a little formal stuff, just in case, so I packed a classic black dinner suit by Hugo Boss, a Versace dress shirt and a pair of formal black shoes by John Lobb. Barcelona had some fine dining establishments, and one may have called for formal dress. I wasn’t one to break a dress code.
    I held three separate passports at the time, courtesy of Mr Makris. Other documentation; driving licences, birth certificates, National Insurance numbers, all matched and were genuine.
    None related to my true identity.
    For my little trip I had decided to stay Stephen Colletti.
    Going on holiday made me feel normal, just to engage in ordinary pursuits, playing a little tennis or golf, eating out and lying by a pool, where no one knew me, made me feel human. I’d also decided to take a closer look at some property, as Spiros’s idea of relocation was starting to look much more likely.
    I had booked my ticket to Spain using a Platinum American Express card as Mr. Colletti’s credit was very good.
    I only ever travelled first class. I’d been bumped around in enough Hercs and Hueys in my time and jumped out of too many to count. Now the thought of being squeezed together with a motley assortment of beer-swilling louts and screaming kids, was enough to drive a man to murder.
    In first, you do get to sit in a nice comfortable seat, eat with real cutlery and enjoy a reasonable wine with your meal. Small things, but when, like me, you find flying so very tedious, every little helps.
    I closed the last case and stuffed some emergency cash into my carry-on bag. I was unsure of my return date, so I’d emptied my fridge and cancelled the papers. Normal things, done by normal people.
    When I was in such a happy frame of mind, it would be a very brave, or a very stupid man to spoil my day. My phone bleeped and I eyed the number on the display suspiciously. It was Joel Davies.
    “Yes?” I had no time for pleasantries.
    Neither, it would seem had Davies.
    “Get yourself over here now.”
    “I’m busy. I’m on my way to Barcelona, now, this minute. It will have to wait. You can hang around to get the Porsche back for a few days surely?”
    “This can’t wait and it’s got fuck all to do with that little German number.”
    “What are we talking?”
    “A week’s work, maybe two. A big payday, Colletti; sort this for me and you can retire to fuckin’ Barcelona.”
    Now the one thing Davies never joked about was money. I wanted to go on holiday, but, I was intrigued. There was only one thing for it, I would just have to put my plans on hold for a day or two and go to see what the psycho wanted. 
    I reluctantly cancelled Mr. Colletti’s flight and started to unpack. Even if Davies’s call to arms meant travel, the Spanish wardrobe was bound to be inappropriate.
    I was off within half an hour. The Range Rover was a delight to drive in the Manchester traffic. It was a beast of a motor, but so light and responsive. The high seating position gave great visibility. My mechanic had tweaked the engine whilst I was sorting out Alfred the unlucky. He’d fitted a non-standard exhaust system too. It gave the car a little more edge and made it sound delicious. I felt like the king of the road.
    The sprawling city gave way to leafy suburban Cheadle. I pulled the four-by-four up to the gates of Joel Davies’s walled estate. Some has-been gorilla checked my face and I was waved through. I crawled the final five hundred yards to the