Synopsis

"I'll make an example of someone close to you."

On a moonless night on Sanibel Island, Florida, marine biologist Marion "Doc" Ford carefully watches a video of a hooded man executing three hostages. The man is an American working with ISIS, and in the next few days, it'll be Ford's job, as part of his shadowy second life, to make sure he never kills anybody else again.

But a lot can go wrong in a few days, and Ford has no way of knowing that not only will the operation prove to be a lot more complicated than he has anticipated, but that he'll end up bringing those complications back with him to the small community of boaters, guides, lovers, and friends in Dinkin's Bay, where he's long made his home.

Someone has taken Ford's actions very personally, and now no one there is safe—least of all, Ford himself.

Chapter 1 Excerpt

Sitting in his lab, Marion D. Ford entered a numerical password and watched a hooded man execute three hostages with a ruby-handled knife. Different victims, different locations, and months apart, but always the same knife, never pausing to sharpen the blade.

How could that be?

The video had been edited by a pro, that’s how.

The knife was of interest. He zoomed in. It had a curved blade like an antique sword, with a single ruby embedded in the hilt. On the pommel was a crowned triangle of silver, the symbol of Persian assassins from the time of the Crusades.