Rogue Male

The Wagner Group is trying to assassinate the President of Ukraine; three tries, no cigar.

What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, Putin.

“The protagonist, an unnamed British sportsman and crack shot, sets out in the spring of 1938 to see if he can get an unnamed European dictator in the sights of his rifle. Supposedly interested only in the thrill of hunting a powerful man, he convinces himself that he does not intend to pull the trigger. Caught while taking aim by officers of the dictator’s secret police, he is tortured, thrown over a cliff, and left for dead.

The man survives, and with civilian help manages to make his way to a port, where he stows away on a British ship bound for London. Once there, he discovers that agents of the dictator have also arrived in London with orders to kill him. He is forced to kill one by pushing him onto the live rail in the London Underground, after which the police launch a manhunt for him.

Unable to go to the British authorities, who cannot condone assassination of a head of state, the protagonist decides to hide out in Dorset. Reports that he has been sighted reach a man named Quive-Smith, the leader of his pursuers. Seizing the opportunity, Quive-Smith finds his quarry’s hiding place and blocks the exit, leaving only a single hole for breathing. He intends to capture his prey alive and execute him properly.

The protagonist reflects on his predicament and confesses to himself that he would in fact have pulled the trigger, as revenge for the execution of his fiancée by the dictator’s totalitarian régime. Constructing a makeshift ballista*, he tricks Quive-Smith into looking down the breathing hole and shoots him dead. Taking Quive-Smith’s identification papers, money, and car, he drives to Liverpool and boards a ship for Tangier. From there, he intends to find the dictator and finish what he started.” (Wikipedia)

*The ballista, plural ballistae, sometimes called bolt thrower, was an ancient missile weapon that launched either bolts or stones at a distant target. Developed from earlier Greek weapons, it relied upon different mechanics, using two levers with torsion springs instead of a tension prod. (Wikipedia, again)

I’m on a mission to assassinate the Dictator of Russia. My aim’s a bit wobbly but I’d like to have a crack at him and I can lie low in Dorset afterwards.