When Ursula Flockhart joins the British Army at 18 she is already a martial arts expert. She is recruited into a shadowy department called Special Operations, run by Colonel Peterson. One undercover assignment has her posing as a shop assistant named Colleen, in order to get close to, and to eliminate a senior IRA figure at the height of the troubles. Over a 25 year career, once peace is restored in Northern Ireland, she sees action in Iraq, Libya and Kosovo. Back in the UK she is recruited as an assassin by another department run by Colonel Darbly and is cashiered unexpectedly when Darbly falls out of favour. Darbly's return brings Ursula her strangest assignment to date...Ursula had cultivated a friendship with Deirdre to get to Reilly, but there was something in the woman that she found easy to connect with. If Deirdre had not come out of the toxic world of Irish republicanism with its bitter legacy of hatred and tragedy, she would have been someone Ursula could easily have fallen in love with. A few days earlier Deirdre had turned to her during the tea break. "You don't really like men much, do you Colleen?" she'd said softly. "I had a bad experience as a kid, Dee. It chilled me on them," Ursula had replied, after a pause had dragged out between them. "I can see it in your eyes when you look at them. You smile, but your eyes are about the coldest I've ever seen. And believe me, I've seen some hard bastards in my time. Not when you look at me though. Then your eyes come alive, when we talk. Just for flashes. You don't let a person in very easily. But when you do, wow!" Ursula had grinned, discomforted. Deirdre really was a bit of a witch. She could intuit the damnedest things. That made her dangerous as well as attractive. Ursula took a sip of tea to gather her wits. "I was eight," she said slowly. "My mother finally got herself a new boyfriend. He took the view that I went with the deal," she said. "Bastard," Deirdre said. She put her hand on Ursula's, impulsively. "I'm really sorry love." Ursula had covered Deirdre's hand with her own. "It was a long time ago, and I got my own back in spades," she said, and smiled. Deirdre shivered and pulled her hand away. "Gees, Colleen. When you smile like that, I feel like someone walked on my grave! What did you do?" Ursula took another sip of tea. "Let's just say it will be a cold day in hell before he gets to use his cock again." Deirdre was silent for a while, then she gave Ursula an odd look. "You know, you remind me a lot of Mick Reilly. Actually, a hell of a lot. The two of you are spookily alike. He's a really lovely man - and absolutely deadly. He can kill a man, walk away and an hour later he'll be having a quiet drink, smiling at a joke, talking like nothing happened. I'd really hate to cross you, Col. I reckon you could kill a person just as easy as Mick."
