Page 1 of Scarred Sunrise

Prologue

He watchedfrom afar as she alighted the vintage Rolls Royce outside St Mary’s Church. She looked like a vision in froths of satin and lace, the ivory colour only enhancing the radiance of colour in her cheeks. She turned as if sensing him, and their eyes locked. For just a moment he wanted to run to her, sweep her off her feet and take her away. Beg her not to do this, not to marry another man when he loved her with every breath in his body.

The wind blew her veil across her face and the connection was lost, so was the moment. When she lifted her hand to pull the lace away from her features, he saw her falter and knew he was wrong for coming here. He’d wanted to see her one more time before she belonged to another man. It had been selfish, and he could see by the tremble in her lip he’d once again hurt the woman he loved.

As her sister approached her with a bouquet of pink flowers, he stepped back into the shadows. Lizzie looked for him and he saw the wistful longing on her face before she lifted her head, straightened her shoulders, and took her father’s arm. Smithy watched until she was inside before he moved down the alley, walking until he found himself outside the Pool Centre.

He looked at the old signs with fondness as he remembered a time when all that mattered was a game with his friends and catching a sneaky snog with whatever girl he was with at the time. Anything to get away from the life he’d lived at home.

Now his life had changed. He’d left the depressing, day in day out slog of caring for a person more intent on their next fix than being a parent to him. He’d closed the door on the woman he loved and would never be good enough for and followed his best friends into the army. Now he had a brotherhood, a family of sorts. A job he excelled at and loved, and a determination to make the best of himself.

He’d walked away to let Lizzie live the life she deserved with a man worthy of her, who’d give her everything good in life. Not a man like him who had nothing to offer except his body and his heart, because that wasn’t enough for her.

Smithy sighed and tipped his head to the sun on this day in June when everything changed and the future he’d wanted, craved, disappeared into dust. He strolled past the busy shops, the soles of his military boots silent on the pavement. He took no heed of the people around him except to ensure they weren’t a threat, the heat of the mid-afternoon sun making him sweat in his military fatigues.

The car was waiting when he turned the corner to his home, and he felt a calm come over him as he slid in the back seat and the man in the front lifted his gaze to him. The older man wore a plain black suit, his face held an expression as unreadable as a blank sheet of paper. “Smith, are you ready?”

“Yes, sir.” He was ready and yet he wasn’t because he was leaving half his soul and all of his heart in St Mary’s Church.

“You know nothing will be the same after this mission, don’t you, son?”

Smithy lifted his gaze from the window where the scenery was speeding past the car. Smithy cocked his head in question. “Sir?”

“This life, it changes you in a fundamental way, and the mission you’re about to take on isn’t one that will leave you without scars.”

“I understand, sir.”

The man looked at him with speculation on his face. Smithy held his gaze not wanting to be taken off this op. It was what he needed; a focus so complete that it would drive all other thoughts from his head. Especially how beautiful his Lizzie had looked today and how, by now, she was a married woman.

“I don’t think you have any clue, but you will.”

Smithy kept silent as the car drove him towards a future that was uncertain and filled with mystery. He’d embrace this life and make it his own. On that thought he smiled. He finally had a chance to shine, to prove to all those that had doubted him, had looked down on him, that he was worthy. That he could make a difference in this world and not end up a strung out junkie or serve time for petty crimes that would lead to bigger ones.

He wouldn’t become a statistic in this world. He may have been born poor and weak but now he was strong, and he had enough money to keep him in what he needed.

The car slid to a stop and he saw two men standing beside a small aircraft that would take them to an unknown location. He recognised Fitz, a man from his unit, and hid his shock as he alighted the vehicle and pulled his Bergen from the boot.

He and Fitz lifted a chin to acknowledge each other before he did the same to the other man. He didn’t know his name, but he knew his face from the barracks.

“Gentlemen, this is your last chance to back out. From this point forward, until this mission is complete, you’ll be subjected to things that will leave a mark on you, that will scar so deep it will be tattooed on your soul.”

Smithy felt a second of doubt, a moment he’d later wish he’d heeded. But with nothing left to lose, he walked up the steps of the aircraft and towards a future that was so dark he wasn’t sure he’d ever see the light again.