“There are four more in the trees, Mitch—all aiming at your head. Every one of them is a top operator and they know who you are. Even with superior numbers and position, I guarantee they’re scared. One twitch from you and everybody’s going to start shooting.”

Rapp nodded with the dead expression that Nash had seen before during combat. This time, though, it wasn’t aimed at a bunch of terrorists. It was aimed at him.

“Just keep your hands at your sides and everything will be okay.”

“Why do I doubt that, Mike?”

Nash pulled his Colt and backed away, putting another ten or so feet between them. Not doing so would be arrogance. There was a long list of people who at one time or another thought they held all the cards against Mitch Rapp. Talented people. Dead people.

“This isn’t personal, Mitch.”

“How the fuck is this not personal? We’ve been friends for years. We’ve fought together. We’ve bled together. And now I’m standing here in the woods waiting for you and your friends to execute me. For what? A bunch of Saudi money? Your wife makes more than you can spend.”

“Not money, Mitch. And not the Saudis. The president of the United States. It’s probably hard for you to wrap your mind around this, but I don’t work for you. I don’t really even work for Irene. I work for the man elected to the White House.”

“So, you sided with a politician? That doesn’t make me feel any better.”

Nash stiffened. “You think this is what I wanted? Are you fucking kidding me? You can’t imagine what I’ve gone through to try to keep us from ending up here. David Chism should have died in that first attack. Then it would have been over.”

“What’s he to you?”

“To me? Nothing. But to the Saudis a lot. After you saved Chism, Cook asked me to get him information on Nicholas Ward. He said he didn’t want Irene to know but I didn’t think that much of it. I just figured he was fishing for dirt on Ward so he could blackmail him into supporting him or something. But then Ward’s compound gets taken out and he gets snatched at his hangar. It didn’t take long for me to figure out what I’d gotten myself into.”

“But you didn’t go to Irene.”