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Prologue

Diploent Alec Jones turned autoht into the coffeehouse He and his date were in the vestibule waiting to be seated, along with a couple of her local acquaintances—husband-and-wife schoolteachers Alec watched with detached, professional interest as two bearded young arb and their holstered sidear off And Alex’s sixth sense instantly went on the alert

He glanced over at Darla, but she was caught up in conversation with her friends Alec had only been posted as regional security officer, or RSO, for afor a year as personal assistant for the US ambassador to this tiny Middle Eastern nation, and this was their first date

Alec’s eyes flicked back to the two men They’d taken seats near the front door as if they were patiently waiting their turn at a table But oneout the street The other atching the movements of the customers in the coffeehouse with cold, hard eyes Alec’s sixth sense was hu

His hand slid inside the jacket he alore, even on the hottest days—and there were a lot of hot days in the Middle East—for his SIG SAUER P229R, one of the standard-issue concealed carry weapons DSS personnel used

Without warning, the two men abruptly ju colish Alec’s semiautomatic was instantly out

Nearly everyone in the coffeehouse hit the ground i Darla’s two friends But Darla was shocked into iunmen, frozen with fear And when the men turned their weapons on Darla and Alec—their faces twisted with hate, a fanatical light in their eyes—Alec fired

It was all over in seconds The two youngTheir eyes were open and fixed sightlessly, guns still clutched in their hands The shots they’d un cri around their bodies

But Alec felt no guilt No reh Arabic to know theseto the non-Americans to take cover and leave the infidels to them was easily understood, even with his less-than-perfect knowledge of the language Their sole intent had been to abduct or kill the only two Americans in the coffeehouse

Alec uns from the hands of both rained in hiranted The only way to ensure safety was to neutralize the threat by re any and all weapons from the vicinity He didn’t think these men had any other partners in the coffeehouse, but you could never be sure And he wasn’t taking any chances

How had they known Darla and he would be here? The answer to that question would have to wait Could Darla’s so-called friends have set them up? Possibly This coffeehouse wasn’t frequented by Americans from the embassy, but Darla’s friends had insisted it had true “local flavor,” so to considerbut not right at thisat hiated this confrontation

Alec bent over and quickly checked both men for a pulse he kneouldn’t find Then he rifled through their pockets He found zip ties, blindfolds, gags and a couple of switchblade knives—confir to tell hianization they were affiliated with

He lifted a corner of the curtain and glanced out theThese two likely had a driver and a getaway car so that looked suspicious And he couldn’t very well leave the scene to check Not now He’d have to depend on the local authorities to follow up on the getaway carif it was still around The gunfire had to have alerted the driver that things hadn’t gone down as planned, and he was probably long gone by now

Most of the coffeehouse patrons had risen from the floor in the few seconds Alex’s back was turned, andfor the door when police sirens were heard in the distance Alec holstered his weapon, turned to the You are all” His ht word “Witnesses You are all witnesses” He culled his knowledge of the language and added, “All of you will give a complete and accurate statement to the police” He stared them down until they returned to their tables