Excerpt

Hardy dropped his binoculars, wrapped his right hand around the stock of the M40A5 sniper rifle in front of him, and shouldered the weapon. He closed his left eye and acquired the two guards at the main gate through the rifle’s scope. Swinging the rifle to the right, he placed Nigerian in his crosshairs. When the man was two steps away from the front door of the building, Hardy had the two guards in the scope again. “Go, go, go!”

While the men from the SUVs fell to the ground, shot by his teammates, Hardy eased back his weapon’s trigger. Two muffled ‘pops’ from his rifle later, the 7.62x51mm NATO bullets found their targets, and the sentries dropped.

“This is Alpha. All tangos are down. I repeat. All tangos are down—over.”

Two massive explosions lit up the night sky, as the two structures to the rear of the main building blew apart. One huge fireball rose from the remains.

Hardy heard small arms fire before his earpiece came alive.

“This is Bravo. All tangos have been neutralized—over.”

Hardy held his breath waiting for the next situation report.

Charlie Team had the most delicate part of the operation. Their orders were to secure Nigerian. They were to engage him only if he returned fire, and they were to shoot to incapacitate, not kill.

Balling his hand, Hardy called for a situation report. “Charlie, I need a sitrep—over.” In his ear, he heard sporadic weapons’ fire, team members shouting, scuffling. Moments later, the commotion stopped, and silence ensued.

“What’s your sitrep, Charlie?” No response. “Bravo, advance on the main building. I repeat. Bravo—”