Skydiver

Act 1 Following his acquittal for murdering a fellow Scotland Yard detective, undercover cop, Calum Shaw, quits the force and settles in Scotland. There, the widower runs a unique touring business, ‘Caledonia Calling’, operating out of Arbroath - the small fishing town where many years earlier he had served as a Royal Marine Commando. But behind the quiet facade, Shaw has a secret. Not only did he kill his colleague but one by one he has tracked down and assassinated a team of Israeli drug traffickers who were in cahoots with a band of corrupt Scotland Yard detectives; syndicates he jointly holds responsible for his pilot wife’s murder, whilst on a layover in Louisiana. Act 2 A few years later, Shaw’s past comes back to haunt him. Lieutenant Kathleen Cassidy, a New Orleans detective and the person responsible for investigating the murder of his wife, enters his life. Masquerading as a tourist, Cassidy visits the UK, supposedly to see the sights of Scotland and undertake ancestral research. However, her real reason to visit becomes apparent. Having ‘flagged’ via Interpol those she suspects were responsible for the murder, Cassidy has subsequently been alerted on each occasion Shaw has struck, including the slaying of one of the cartel members in San Francisco. Rightly, she has deduced Shaw is the killer. Before she can challenge Shaw as to his killing spree, Cassidy becomes aware of Shaw’s military career many years earlier, in particular, his participation in the Falklands conflict. Having reason to suspect Shaw is one of the British military personnel responsible for the execution of her brother, a former US serviceman who together with other Americans, served as a mercenary - on the side of Argentina - in the war. (There remain allegations that a number of Americans fought along side Argentinians. It has been suggested on more than one occasion, captured Americans were executed in order to avoid political unrest between the UK and USA.) She confronts Shaw about his participation in the murder of the Israeli criminals and blackmails him into killing someone for her: Mexican drug cartel member, Vicente Pérez, who Cassidy claims killed her partner - and remains a threat to her, her family and friends, as long as he is alive. However, there is one major hurdle; Pérez is incarcerated in Angola, the infamous Louisiana State Penitentiary. Furthermore, he is on Death Row, awaiting execution. Aware he has much to lose and Pérez is unlikely to ever be executed due to an EU directive forbidding the sale to the USA the chemicals used in the lethal injection process, Shaw has no choice but to rise to the challenge. He plans the assassination with precision. Shaw uses a Special Forces parachuting technique to gain entry to the 18,000 acre penitentiary and successfully accomplishes his mission. However, his method of extraction is foiled: payback by Cassidy over the death of her brother. Act 3 Nonetheless, aided by an Afro-American inmate incarcerated for life, former US marine Gordon MacDonald, Shaw is able to break out of the compound - persuading MacDonald to accompany him. On the run, Shaw learns Cassidy's story is false. She has used him to kill an ex-lover she framed for killing her husband, a wealthy accountant employed by a Mexican drug cartel. Using a technique used by British intelligence operatives, Shaw escapes the USA, taking MacDonald with him. Back in the UK, Shaw goes to work tracing Cassidy, who has now fled the US with her late husband’s ill gotten gains. Shaw tracks her down to Cape Town, where she later dies following a business trip to Hong Kong, where a technique - once again used by British intelligence operatives - is used to administer poison to Cassidy. Meanwhile, MacDonald is enticed to visit Glencoe, the place of his family roots [sic], where he is rewarded for assisting Shaw.