A former Navy SEAL who speaks perfect Arabic, Salam al-Fayed (a.k.a. "Fade") had been one of the deadliest weapons in America's arsenal―until a mission gone wrong put a bullet in his back, requiring risky surgery the government refused to pay for.

Embittered by a wound that could one day immobilize him, Fade isn't exactly cooperative when Homeland Security insists on putting him back on the payroll. But they're not taking "no" for an answer―and what is meant to be a foolproof deception turns into an explosive bloodbath.

It falls to an estranged friend of Fade's named Matt Egan to clean up the mess made by his superiors. But it isn't going to be easy―because Fade is gunning for the men who set him up. And Matt is at the top of the list...

Amazon.com Review
The government turned its back on Salem Al Fayad after the first Gulf War, but now that Homeland Security needs "Fade's" particular skills, they attempt to recruit him again. He's not only not interested, but he's nursing a very big grudge, and the ham-fisted tactics they use to reel him back in don't help defuse his anger. There's a bullet lodged in Fade's spine that could have been removed years ago, but the feds wouldn't pay for it then and it's too late now, so Fade's got nothing to lose but his life, and that's not worth very much to him now. His old friend and teammate Matt Egan tried to help him then, but now he's charged with bringing Fade in, dead or alive. Both Fade and Egan are appealing characters--if there's a villain here, it's Egan's new boss, and Matt is torn between his loyalty to Fade, his duty to a superior officer he despises, and his fears for his own family's safety. Mills expertly ratchets up the tension page by page and chapter by chapter in a better than average thriller marked by fine charicaterizations, superior pacing, and a strong narrative in which the bonds of friendship are brilliantly delineated and the two men at the center of the action linger in the reader's mind after the expectable but still compelling denouement. Mills gets better and better, and Fade is timely enough to break him out of the midlist and win him a new legion of fans. --Jane Adams