Quiet War

Cade Grayson spent nearly two decades in the Middle East, first as a sniper with the 75th Ranger Regiment's 2nd Battalion and later as the youngest operator in the Army's Delta Force. He has now returned to Portland, Oregon, and is working to settle into civilian life. That effort is disrupted when two Pelican cases appear on his porch, left there by a stranger in an unmarked panel van. Cade suspects the delivery is connected to his former career and to the rapid collapse of Kabul and the surrender of the remaining American forces to the Taliban, so he opens the cases with reluctance.

The cases were sent by his former Delta commander and contain evidence that Al-Simoom, a militant group whose leaders Cade's Pale Riders unit had captured and imprisoned for life in Kabul's Pul-e-Charkhi prison, has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing at Abbey Gate. That attack killed thirteen American service members and many Afghan civilians. Intelligence also suggests that after the bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport, dozens of Al-Simoom members slipped into the panicked crowds fleeing the scene and boarded flights bound for the United States. The number of cells on American soil and their locations are unknown, but with the twentieth anniversary of 9/11 approaching, Cade and his former Pale Riders teammates sit at the top of the list of likely targets. The novel runs to about 106,000 words and was edited by Monique Happy Editorial Services.

Cade summons his old teammates to his home, and the group soon identifies the whereabouts of one cell leader through facial recognition software. With only a city and a last known location to work from, the Pale Riders go on the offensive, aided by contacts still active in the special operations community and by funding from a billionaire who offers support without being asked. Their task is to find the single lead that will unravel Al-Simoom's plans.