The Veteran

The Veteran is a short story collection by British author Frederick Forsyth. The book was first published on 8 September 2001, through Thomas Dunne Books and includes five of Forsyth's short stories. This is the second short story collection by the author, following the release of his 1982 collection, No Comebacks. Stories "The Veteran (short story)" An unidentified elderly man is kicked half to death by a pair of thugs in London in a mugging gone wrong (when he resists and injures one of them badly). The police identify and apprehend the pair. By then the elderly man has succumbed to his injuries in hospital, but with the evidence and testimony available, the prosecution is certain of life imprisonment for the two criminals. But they are acquitted when a Queen's Counsel approaches the solicitor of the two accused men and becomes their Legal Aid barrister for no apparent reason, winning the case. Cryptically, after the judgement has been read out, the attorney ignores his clients and shakes the hand of the inspector leading the police investigation, who angrily brushes it off saying that he hopes the QC is proud of himself: they killed that old man and thanks to him they would be at liberty to repeat their crimes. The advocate responds whispering that it may surprise the inspector him, "but it has to do with the triumph of justice". Soon after the dismissal of the case, the detectives identify the dead man as a former SAS trooper who served in "The Battle of Mirbat", Oman. Shockingly, they discover that the very same Queen's Counsellor who argued and won the dismissal of the two thugs was the commanding officer of the dead man in that same battle, together fending off an attack of 300-400 men and forming a tight-knit bond for life, among the soldiers and officer.