Target Alpha Black Swan: Seaforth Files

After a long and distinguished career, in International Business, working in many parts of the world, Nicholas now retired, has found another career in writing, Target Black Swan is the fourth book in the Seaforth Files series
.Jack joined MI6 as part of a recruitment drive in the early Seventies to attract a new breed of non-public school, non-Oxbridge graduates who would shake up the moribund service. With the Cold War at a stalemate, it was felt that MI5/6 had to shift the emphasis of its operations towards the very real threat from the IRA, Islamic fundamentalists and hostile regimes in the Middle East. A cryptic advert appeared in national newspapers in 1975 showing three empty chairs, with the catch line 'Godot Isn't Coming'. It read: If you have already achieved plenty, but now find yourself marking time, stuck in a rut and unable to progress, then it's time to act.' But others saw Jack had something to give after his experiences, on the Tongario with the Russians. And recruited him immediately, and sent him straight into the field with a minimum of training. Nick Confused, Jack calls Bryant. Bryant may, in Jack’s eyes, have been a traitor, but he has many useful contacts. Bryant does some digging and comes back with an answer – he tells Jack that there are two different parties looking for the diary.
The first is a breakaway Russian group determined to finish the nuclear strike from 1962 (they were already foiled back then, and again in 1992 when they learned of the existence of the diary). The second is a group much closer to home – the Goodchild family. Geoffrey is part of the family. They like to sell secrets, and this diary could be the making of them. Jack realises that the diary must be in his mother’s grave. There is nowhere else. Bryant arrives unexpectedly and helps him search. The pair steal a digger from a building site, and dig up the coffin. Jack sends Bryant into the grave as he can’t face it, and Bryant says there is nothing there. Jack spot some paper in the man’s pocket – these few pages are the diary copy. Bryant, stuck in the grave, tells Jack everything. Sir Rupert Wisham is the Russian’s British messenger. He, and Bryant, will become very rich if the strike goes ahead. Jack grabs the diary and kills Bryant, burying him in his mother’s grave. Jack reads the diary. It sets out the story of Peter Malaney meeting a man at a party.
This man is in trouble – he is part of the American navy, but has no one to trust. The Russians are plotting to bomb the US submarine base at Holy Loch in Scotland, and he cannot stop it. Peter says he will help. He travels to Holy Loch and gets inside the base with the help of Rum (their first meeting). Once inside, he manages to discover the secret code word that will call off the strike, confusing the Russians and making it unsafe for them to try anything more. The diary is the evidence of a coming strike. No wonder so many people want it, for either monetary gain, or to destroy completely so that they can attack. Without the diary, no one will believe Jack if he tries to explain what is about to happen.