Valentine in Paris
By James Davis
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About this ebook
A Nick Valentine short story.
Disgraced Great War hero, Nick Valentine returns to France for the first time since the war on what should be a routine information gathering assignment in post-war Paris.
But things are never that simple. Not for Nick Valentine.
Nick Valentine is the flawed hero of the full length novel, Noho. This short story includes an opening excerpt from Noho.
James Davis
James Davis is Professor of Biomedical Sensors and Course Director for the BSc Biomedical Engineering degree stream at the University of Ulster. He has authored over 120 peer reviewed publications and has an extensive publication and grant funding record on functional materials for wound management and associated diagnostics.
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Valentine in Paris - James Davis
Valentine in Paris
James Davis
A Wild Wolf Publication
Published by Wild Wolf Publishing in 2011
Copyright 2011 James Davis
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publishers, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed by a newspaper, magazine or journal.
All Characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
E-Book Edition
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Chapter 1
The rain fell in sheets from a leaden sky, so thick and low it felt like a ceiling Nick could reach out and touch. It was only mid-afternoon but the gloom made it seem like twilight.
Nick hated weather like this. He’d spent enough days and nights hunkered under oppressive skies in the trenches, to learn to despise the rain and the filthy havoc it wrought on the ground. It was more than that though, the darkness and closing of horizons and sky made you feel small, made you world small.
Nick pulled his damp greatcoat tighter around him and pressed himself further back into the shop front alcove that was providing some shelter. He cast a look at his watch and cursed under his breath. His contact was late. It could be the weather of course, but he doubted it. He’d had an uneasy feeling about this job ever since he’d stepped on the boat that was to take him across the channel and away from London to Paris. He hadn’t been there since the war and his memories weren’t good ones. He had a horrible premonition that this trip was going to pan out the same way.
The water running down the cobbled streets had started to soak into his battered brogues. He could feel the tweed in his trousers starting to adhere to his skin, as if the wool was trying to graft back onto his flesh for warmth. He glanced at his watch again. The man he was meant to meet was over a quarter of an hour late and Nick had an uneasy feeling in his gut. It was a feeling he’d learnt to trust.
Looking up the alley, Nick’s gaze penetrated the rain and he could see a figure making its way towards him. The man’s hat brim was pulled down low and he had his hands deep in his mackintosh pockets as he splashed purposefully through the puddles. Nick eased himself upright and balanced his weight, taking his own hands out of his pockets.
As the other man neared Nick’s shelter, he glanced up and turned his head around, looking at the shop signs. The man had a couple of day’s worth of stubble growth on his face and close set eyes. Nick stepped forward slightly and as the man saw him, he smiled and stepped towards him.
Mr Valentine?
He asked in a voice that was almost, but not quite English; a hint of a Northern European accent slipped through.
Yes.
Without removing his hands from his pockets the man swung his right arm up inside his mackintosh, but Nick was faster and Nick’s own right hand moved in a blur, that culminated with the gently crushing concussion of brass on bone, as Nick’s knuckleduster met the man’s temple.
The man dropped to the ground with a sickening exhalation