PROLOGUE
Two years ago…
“This fucking sucks.”
Chief Petty Officer Logan Hayes didn’t have to see the face of the man whose voice had just filled his ear to know who it was. And while he didn’t disagree with Chace Boyer’s assessment of their current situation, it was Logan’s job to keep his men mission focused.
“Orders are orders, brother,” he reminded his teammate.
“Yeah? Well these orders suck balls. And not just any balls either. We’re talkin’ big, hairy,sweatyballs.”
One corner of Logan’s mouth curved into a smirk. At thirty, Chase was the youngest member of their squadron. The Texas native liked to joke around a little too much, wasn’t afraid to voice his opinion, and the man didn’t always know how to hold his liquor.
But where maturity sometimes lacked, Chase’s God-given talents in the field more than made up for it. The second-generation SEAL was one of the best snipers Logan had ever had the pleasure of serving with.
As for the PO1’s review of their latest op…
You’re spot fucking on, brother.
Their team’s current mission did, in fact, suck balls. Mainly because they were just here two weeks ago looking for the same damn target…
Jamal Hassan Muhammad.
Responsible for the deaths of thousands, Muhammad was the Taliban’s top division commander. When higher-ups in the U.S. government caught wind that he’d been spotted on the streets of Kandahar, SECNAV—the Secretary of the Navy—had wanted his best boots on the ground in a hurry.
And that’s where we came in.
Logan and the other five men walking beside him were members of the elite Black Squadron One. The classified Tier 1 team of operators for DEVGRU—the Naval Special Warfare Development Group—had been sent here two weeks ago to obtain first-hand confirmation of Muhammad’s whereabouts.
And when they’d been here two weeks ago, the team had done exactly as they’d been ordered. They'd infiltrated the area and had set up camp along the street near the restaurant where the bastard had scheduled a business meeting. While hiding in plain sight, the deadly SEALS had then kept a watchful eye for their target, as well as any possible threats in the area.
After that, they’d waited.
But Jamal Hassan Muhammad never showed.
Intel had stated the Taliban commander was scheduled to arrive at his favorite restaurant an hour after Logan and his team had settled in that day. But rather than the man they were after making the planned appearance, Muhammad had sent three of his well-known associates to take his place.
With orders to continue the recon mission in case their HVT, or high value target, was simply running late, Black Squadron One had remained in place and continued to surveil.
Ten minutes later, the smug-looking trio had exited the restaurant. But as they’d made their way to their car, the men they’d just finished meeting with had stormed out after them.
Their voices had become raised, and the unexpected confrontation had quickly turned into a very heated exchange. Within seconds, several guns had been drawn, triggers were pulled, and the bullets had begun to fly.
Logan and his men had drawn their own weapons as they dove for cover to avoid being hit. Several long seconds later, the members of Black Squadron One were all alive and uninjured, while both groups of terrorists laid dead in the street.
But it wasn’t the men who’d been keeping Logan up at night. It was the other death that had stayed with him.
The innocents always do.
This time, it had been a middle-aged woman who’d had the unfortunate luck to come out of the restaurant at the exact wrong moment. Ironically, the woman’s mahram, or Taliban-required male escort, had survived without a scratch.
Rather than take the lead like one would’ve thought, the lazy bastard had let the woman he’d been assigned to guard had stepped out onto the sidewalk ahead of him, putting her directly in the path of the evil men’s bullets.
I can still see her face.
Even now, when Logan closed his eyes, he could picture her lying on the ground.
The hijab she’d been wearing had fallen loose when she’d flown backward, as had the black niqab that had been attached.