He yawned as the door closed and his face disappeared.

Outside, a watcher shuddered.

Retired university professor R.I. Penny believed assassins existed only in action movies, dramatic works of fiction, and occasionally politics.

Unfortunately for him, he finds this view shaken when two assassins attempt to ‘retire’ him full stop.

Enlisting his friends Dove and Periwinkle, Penny swiftly becomes both hunter and hunted, as they seek out the assassins, and their reasons for wanting Penny dead.

Luck, Penny believes, is a quality, a personal attribute. But is his about to run out?