JACK
HIGGINS
THE KEYS
OF HELL
HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
Special overseas edition 2001
This edition 2002
Published simultaneously in hardback by
HarperCollinsPublishers
First published in the USA by
Berkley Books 2001
Copyright © Harry Patterson 2001
Jack Higgins asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Source ISBN: 9780006514671
Ebook Edition © JULY 2015 ISBN: 9780008159122
Version: 2015-07-31
HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.
THE KEYS OF HELL was first published in the UK by Abelard-Schuman, London, in 1965 under the authorship of Martin Fallon. The author was, in fact, the writer familiar to modern readers as Jack Higgins. Martin Fallon was one of the names he used during his early writing days. The book was later published in paperback by Coronet Books – under the authorship of Jack Higgins – but it has been out of print for several years.
In 2001, it seemed to the author and his publishers that it was a pity to leave such a good story languishing on his shelves. So Jack Higgins has created an entirely new framework to the original book, added some scenes and made some changes throughout. We are delighted to be able to bring back THE KEYS OF HELL for the pleasure of the vast majority of us all who never had a chance to read the original edition.
There are no keys to hell – the doors are open to all men.
Albanian proverb
CONTENTS
The dream was always the same. Plunging into the marsh, forcing his way through the reeds and mist, pushing the punt hard, Guilio Orsini standing at the front finding the way through and then the engine close by breaking into life and a burst of machine-gun fire.
Guilio went over head-first, always did, and Chavasse floundered through the reeds and the bitterly