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Chapters (96)
  1. Cover
  2. Berkley titles by David Ricciardi
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. CHARACTER LIST
  6. PROLOGUE
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. FOUR
  11. FIVE
  12. SIX
  13. SEVEN
  14. EIGHT
  15. NINE
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. TWELVE
  19. THIRTEEN
  20. FOURTEEN
  21. FIFTEEN
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. TWENTY
  27. TWENTY-ONE
  28. TWENTY-TWO
  29. TWENTY-THREE
  30. TWENTY-FOUR
  31. TWENTY-FIVE
  32. TWENTY-SIX
  33. TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. TWENTY-NINE
  36. THIRTY
  37. THIRTY-ONE
  38. THIRTY-TWO
  39. THIRTY-THREE
  40. THIRTY-FOUR
  41. THIRTY-FIVE
  42. THIRTY-SIX
  43. THIRTY-SEVEN
  44. THIRTY-EIGHT
  45. THIRTY-NINE
  46. FORTY
  47. FORTY-ONE
  48. FORTY-TWO
  49. FORTY-THREE
  50. FORTY-FOUR
  51. FORTY-FIVE
  52. FORTY-SIX
  53. FORTY-SEVEN
  54. FORTY-EIGHT
  55. FORTY-NINE
  56. FIFTY
  57. FIFTY-ONE
  58. FIFTY-TWO
  59. FIFTY-THREE
  60. FIFTY-FOUR
  61. FIFTY-FIVE
  62. FIFTY-SIX
  63. FIFTY-SEVEN
  64. FIFTY-EIGHT
  65. FIFTY-NINE
  66. SIXTY
  67. SIXTY-ONE
  68. SIXTY-TWO
  69. SIXTY-THREE
  70. SIXTY-FOUR
  71. SIXTY-FIVE
  72. SIXTY-SIX
  73. SIXTY-SEVEN
  74. SIXTY-EIGHT
  75. SIXTY-NINE
  76. SEVENTY
  77. SEVENTY-ONE
  78. SEVENTY-TWO
  79. SEVENTY-THREE
  80. SEVENTY-FOUR
  81. SEVENTY-FIVE
  82. SEVENTY-SIX
  83. SEVENTY-SEVEN
  84. SEVENTY-EIGHT
  85. SEVENTY-NINE
  86. EIGHTY
  87. EIGHTY-ONE
  88. EIGHTY-TWO
  89. EIGHTY-THREE
  90. EIGHTY-FOUR
  91. EIGHTY-FIVE
  92. EIGHTY-SIX
  93. EIGHTY-SEVEN
  94. Children of Fallen Patriots Foundation
  95. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  96. What’s next onyour reading list?

Jake examined a crate of AK-47s lying open against the wall. On the side was stenciled SO XDS.

“What does that mean?” he said.

“Somali Army issue. Somebody raided an armory outside town, sold them to a dealer, and the next day you could buy one in the Bakaara Market for seven hundred bucks. That’s the scale of the problem we’re dealing with down here. Someone literally stole the army’s guns.”

Jake kept walking. Along the back wall was a bench press, a gun safe, and a concrete ramp to a set of Bilco doors that had to be opened from the inside.

“And all you have protecting this is that trap door in my closet?” Jake asked.

Pickens gestured to the ceiling. Evenly spaced around the room were two dozen blocks of C4 plastic explosive that were connected by bundles of explosive detonating cord that ran to an alarm panel.

“You wire that yourself?” Jake asked.

“With a safe-separation timer, a collapsible circuit, and everything.” Pickens grinned. “I’ve become something of an expert in the field.”

“It would turn this place into a volcano.”

Pickens nodded. “If you hear the alarm, it’s probably too late.”

“Do the sellers of all this stuff know you’re Agency?”

“Hell no.” Pickens laughed. “And I’ll be doing this long after you’re gone, so I’ll need to maintain cover while you’re here. I won’t be able to go to every meeting with you.”

Jake nodded as he walked around the basement. “I just can’t get my head around all the weapons,” he said. “How many arms dealers are there in Somalia?”

“Too many to count,” said Pickens, “but most of the serious stuff is handled by a dude named Cawar.”

SIX

THE NICKNAME MEANT “one eye.”

He’d lost the other one to an American bullet during the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993, but unlike most men who’d lost an eye, Cawar didn’t wear a patch or dark glasses.

It was just sewn shut.

And by the looks of it, by someone with no prior experience in the field.

—

HE’D GOTTEN HIS start soon after the Barre regime was deposed and Somalia fell into civil war. Frustrated with the near-anarchy, conservative Muslim elements in the southern part of the country had formed what came to be known as the Islamic Courts Union. Its original goal had been relatively narrow in scope—to provide a judicial system that transcended the clans, in this case, a system based on Islamic sharia law.

But like most bureaucracies, the ICU continually sought to expand its mandate and soon attempted to regulate all aspects of Somali life, by force, if necessary. By 2006, the ICU controlled most of the country from the southern border with Kenya up to the capital city of Mogadishu.