Out of the Shadows (Akira and Deane Thriller Series Book 1)

Copyright 2015
Tim Jopling

Author Note

‘Out of the
Shadows’ is book one in a series of novels and tells the tragic
story of Akira and his quest to make his vision become a
reality.

Acknowledgements

My biggest thanks
go to my wife Hannah who has been a tower of strength for
everything in my life but she has also had to listen to me talk
about all the variations that this novel could have been over the
years and the end result would be nothing without her!

Thanks also to all the test
readers who have been so supportive and provided such valuable
feedback!

Licence Notes

This novel is a
work of fiction. Names, events, places, characters, incidents and
businesses are either products of the Author’s imagination or used
in a fictitious manner with kind permission from their owners. As
such, all characters are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual
persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

About the author

My name is Tim Jopling and I love any
spy and espionage books, TV, or films! People always say you write
about what you know and although I've never had any personal
experience (I've worked in the IT sector for 16 years!) I've read a
lot of novels (you can't really beat the original Ian Fleming
novels in my opinion) and watched as many TV shows and films as I
possibly can. I'm a big James Bond fan (not the spoofy ones, my
favourites are the grittier ones with Timothy Dalton my favourite
Bond - nothing to do with the name mind you!) and loved all the
seasons of 24.

There were a
number of things that made me want to try writing. I remember
several years ago when I watched one of the Mission Impossible
films and a James Bond film, both of which were so poor I was
convinced I could write something better! Around the same time I
remember a scene in 24 with a minor character that really hit a
note with me and got the creative juices flowing! Whether I've
written anything better remains to be seen but I have so much fun
writing stories with the Olsen and Deane characters and Akira
lurking the background! I'm currently working on the third and
fourth novels in the series that will be available in 2015 /
2016.

You can keep up to date with me
via my website or connect with through Twitter (@tim_jopling) and
Facebook (tim.jopling.3).

http://www.timjopling.com/

PROLOGUE

Saturday, December 24
^th
02:00,

Moscow, Russia.

Destiny. Some people swore by it and
others were certain it was nothing more than a myth or an old
wives’ tale. For Akira it was the core of his heart and soul. He
had come through so much in his past, so many changes and now he
was on a date with the very thing he believed in the most,
destiny.

At the centre
of his quest was the vision he had been blessed with. A vision of
what the world could be if he proved successful. Ever since his
transformation into Akira, he was now more determined than ever to
rid the world of the cancer that held it in such a vice. The West
had to be conquered; there was certainly no way to save it. The
time had come to start over and Akira would be at the forefront. At
just the start of his journey, he was not about to let anyone or
anything stand in his way, not after what he had endured in the
past.

The December
gloom of snow and icy winds had no effect on him as the thick
flakes continued to fall from a darkened sky on a silent Moscow.
Dressed in black from head to toe, Akira continued to give chase to
the MI6 agent he had been pursuing since midnight. For weeks he had
been tracking his movements and on Christmas Eve he had decided the
time was right to take the risk and confront him. There would be no
chance of anyone finding out his identity or his plans. It would
end tonight.

Russia was
somewhere Akira had always favoured. Not only was it beautiful in a
dark and sinister way but almost every corner of the country
brimmed with power. A power Akira knew he had to harness if he were
to make his vision a reality. To start that change, the MI6
protector ahead of him had to be the first to fall.

Along the banks of Moscow
River, the famous GUM department store could be seen in the
distance as Akira made his move and lunged for the right boot of
Martin Braga, MI6’s man in Russia.

The two men
rose to their feet and squared off against each other, knowing it
was time to stop running. Snow continued to fall and with it came
eerie silence as the tiny flakes started to settle on the ground
nearby.

Akira calmed
his mind and his racing heart. There was no room for error, this
was his first real test and he was not about to fail at the first
hurdle. Outstretching his hands, he made his first move in San
Shou, his preferred method of attack, which used an ancient Chinese
hand-to-hand fighting style. With it came confidence, knowing that
his opponents attack would be based around the fallible Savate
style of fighting. Just like MI6 themselves, it was so
one-dimensional.

That knowledge
alone gave Akira all the confidence he needed. His past ensured he
knew everything there was to know about Martin Braga and yet, to
his opponent, he was an unknown quantity.

Moving forward
all the time, Akira lashed out repeatedly. With his greater speed
and power, he started to make his attacks count very quickly. The
first blow struck hard into Braga’s neck, with the second breaking
a cheekbone; nothing could stop Akira’s relentless attacks. After
all, this was as personal as it could ever be. In all the years
that had passed, he had been biding his time in the background and
this first move was only the beginning.

His mind was
calm; his conscience clear as the final deathblow finished the job
and Akira watched his victim slump to the floor. Still the snow
fell and the silence gave him clarity on what he had just done. It
had been a necessary kill; there always had to be sacrifice for
change.

Pushing the
body away, Akira didn’t look at the lifeless face staring back at
him. Many would call him a cold-blooded killer but was he? The West
had betrayed him, after all. Had their failure forced him down this
path? His memories of back then, in what seemed like someone else’s
life, were inconsistent. Only fragments came back to him from time
to time. Closing his eyes, he tried to remember the finer details
but instead, images flashed by. Static and grainy pictures of
former friends, those that should have helped him to the end rather
than turn their back on him in his most desperate hour. The people
he had once trusted with his life had betrayed him with devastating
results. He had lost his soul mate and the only person that really
mattered, his beloved wife Madeline.

The more he
thought about it, the greater the clarity and with it came the
sounds of the machines that had been keeping Madeline alive and the
smell of the hospital room. Pain surrounded everything but Akira
could still remember the faces of those he had trusted, knowing
they could have done more but chosen not to. In those final
moments, Madeline’s voice had been so weak, her smile so faint and
the chest wrenching heartbreak had been too much to take. Akira had
been born then but even he sometimes wondered whether his soul was
still there in that hospital room waiting to take in what had
happened.

In the weeks
that followed, amidst such grief, Akira had no idea how it had come
to be but somehow the voice of Madeline lived on inside his mind.
When he needed her most he would hear her. In the years after her
tragic death, he was convinced they had both witnessed the vision
they were so committed to and in some way, she could live on and
help make it a reality.

The memories
still burned the remains of his heart and a single tear ran down
his face. It didn’t matter how often he thought back to those dark
times, he still felt the sorrow and the heartbreak. All he had
wanted was a life of happiness with Madeline. Why had they not
helped him when he needed it most? How could they betray him after
everything he had done for-

Do not go back to that
place my love. Time has passed and everything has changed. Our
revenge starts now; do not doubt our vision of the future. They
will pay the price for their betrayal.

Madeline. Whenever he needed
support, she would come to him. Her voice sounded as clear as it
always had. He closed his eyes and fought back more tears. ‘I just
wish you were here with me. This is proving…difficult.’ His own
voice broke for a moment but he regained his composure quickly.

Take control of your emotions and
remember what they did to me, what they did to us! The West took
away our future. They stole our happiness…

Akira nodded
slowly. Every word was true. It was just proving much harder than
he had imagined, to start the journey alone.

The vision my love, remember the
vision. What we saw would change so much, do so much good. You must
stay the course. Don’t ever forget what we lost, what we could have
been!

He emerged from
his vision. With it came a sense of hope and strength as if the
knowledge that only he and Madeline had witnessed it somehow
brought them closer together. That day had been unforgettable. Just
the idea of a world without corrupt Governments and their deceitful
foreign policies had given him a ray of light, in what had been his
darkest days after the loss of his wife.

Show no mercy and do what must be done.
I will always be with you.

In his mind he
could feel her presence, as clearly as if she were next to him that
very moment. Seconds passed until he heard no more and he rose to
his feet, leaving the body behind him. Within minutes, he had leapt
from the riverbank into the nearby Alexandrovsky Gardens. Every
inch of it was now covered with snow and a bitterly cold wind
rustled the branches of the trees. With each step, Akira made a
silent promise to himself and his dead wife. His destiny was
somewhere in the future and on that day, the West and its
hypocritical Governments would fall; the world would change
forever.

This was just the start…

Chapter 1

Wednesday, March 1
^st
04:00,

Operations Command, Military
Intelligence Section 6,

(MI6) Headquarters, London.

Despite the early hour technicians were
at every terminal working hard for one united goal, keeping the
peace and bringing those who prevent it to justice. The humming of
computer fans and the constant whir of laser printers could be
heard all around, together with the rhythmic tap of keyboards.

This was
Operations Command, the nerve centre and beating heart of MI6; the
Secret Intelligence Service responsible for any threats from abroad
to British and European national security. Roughly the size of
three tennis courts, there were computer terminals everywhere
together with scanning booths, analysis tables and other specialist
workstations. At one end of the vast space was a large digital wall
of screens detailing the latest updates and progress on each
individual operation around the world.

Technicians
swarmed from one desk to another providing intelligence data to the
service. At the centre of the room were the Government agents; the
sworn protectors and trusted knights of the service. Each one
highly skilled and highly valued, they were devoted to the cause
and whatever challenge they were given. What were looked on as the
elite and pride of the MI6 service, a handful of S.U.C.O. agents
(Special Undercover Covert Operations) were also in attendance,
together with the core of the operation.

Around that
centre table stood that core, arguably the most effective
partnership MI6 and the West had to offer: Thomas Deane and Sam
Olsen.

Olsen felt his
phone vibrate in his back pocket and quickly flipped open his grey
Samsung Galaxy S3. ‘Olsen.’ He said, half expecting one of the
Operation contacts to be calling him with an update. ‘Oh hi….hold
on a second.’ He caught the eye of his mentor and moved away from
the centre table. ‘I need to take this.’