The Dutchman beside him-who'd placed the calls to Malone-coughed but continued to stand in silence. And if Malone did not deliver exactly what he wanted, he would kill the boy with no hesitation. Torching everything Cotton Malone had worked the past year to achieve had been necessary. Fall in Denmark seemed only a quick prelude to winter, and he slipped balled fists inside his jacket pockets. He stayed in the shadows as Højbro Plads crowded with people watching the firefighters go about their job. Far different from the fools he'd hired-four Dutchmen with few brains, no morals, and little discipline. Reasonably fluent in several languages, possessed of no known addictions or phobias, and prone to self-motivation and obsessive dedication, Malone was also blessed with an eidetic memory, which Sabre envied.Ĭompetent, experienced, intelligent. Other tidbits only confirmed his opponent's competence. Though a confirmed bibliophile, nothing in the psychological profiles Sabre had read satisfactorily explained all the radical shifts. There he remained until last year, retiring early as a full commander, leaving America, moving to Copenhagen, and buying a rare-book shop.Ī midlife crisis? Trouble with the government? Thirteen years ago he'd changed directions again and moved to the Justice Department and the newly formed Magellan Billet, which handled some of America 's most sensitive international investigations.

He was transferred to the Judge Advocate General's corps, where he spent nine years. Interestingly, Malone had followed in his father's footsteps, attending the Naval Academy and flight school, then abruptly changed directions, eventually earning a government-paid law degree. His mother a native southerner, his father a career military man, a navy commander whose submarine had sunk when Malone was ten years old. Like him, though, Malone was American, born in Georgia. Malone was forty-eight, older than Sabre by eleven years.

His given name was Harold Earl, and nowhere in any of the background material was there an explanation of where the nickname Cotton had originated.

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