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Chapters (39)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Acknowledgements
  4. Epigraph
  5. ONE
  6. TWO
  7. THREE
  8. FOUR
  9. FIVE
  10. SIX
  11. SEVEN
  12. EIGHT
  13. NINE
  14. TEN
  15. ELEVEN
  16. TWELVE
  17. THIRTEEN
  18. FOURTEEN
  19. FIFTEEN
  20. SIXTEEN
  21. SEVENTEEN
  22. EIGHTEEN
  23. NINETEEN
  24. TWENTY
  25. TWENTY-ONE
  26. TWENTY-TWO
  27. TWENTY-THREE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR
  29. TWENTY-FIVE
  30. TWENTY-SIX
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. TWENTY-NINE
  34. THIRTY
  35. THIRTY-ONE
  36. THIRTY-TWO
  37. THIRTY-THREE
  38. THIRTY-FOUR
  39. THIRTY-FIVE

"Captain, wait," said Diaz, staring through her binoculars. "Got a small boat coming from the sand spit. Looks like that Zodiac launched by the patrol boat. One guy on board."

"Who?"

"Can't see him well enough yet."

"Beasley? Jenkins? Target that boat. Get ready to fire."

"Roger that," said Beasley, trying to balance his rifle atop the shattered piece of hull he was lying across.

"Diaz?" called Mitchell.

"He's turned again, coming right at us. Wait. I see him now, but something's wrong. Aw, no."

THIRTY-FIVE

THIRTY-FIVE

ZODIAC
XIAMEN HARBOR, CHINA
APRIL 2012

Tanner began to lose consciousness as he piloted the Zodiac toward the Ghost Team across the harbor. The puddles of burning fuel blurred into a sheet of darkness painted with shimmering stars.

At the moment, the outboard's vibration was the only thing keeping him awake--that and the idea that he was the only guy left who could get the team home. He had to hang on for a little longer. He turned slightly, saw one of the Ghosts watching him through a pair of binoculars.

Behind them, the night sky was already washing down from mottled black to purple and pink. They were nearly out of time.

Tanner came within a hundred meters of the group and cut the throttle.

Only five minutes prior he'd loaded Phillips onto the Zodiac. His friend was already dead, and just as Tanner had fired up the outboard, that last Chinese sailor, the one he'd been concerned about, ran onto the beach and began shooting.

Tanner had taken a round in the back but was able to whirl fast enough to tag the sailor before he fired again.

Grimacing in pain and barely able to move, Tanner had levered himself into the Zodiac and had launched.

Now, as he drifted toward them, he tried to raise his hand and wave but instead swam forward into the darkness.

FISHING BOAT WRECKAGE
XIAMEN HARBOR, CHINA
APRIL 2012

"It's Tanner!" cried Diaz, pushing free from the section of hull she'd been clinging to and swimming out to meet the Zodiac.

Mitchell had, over the years, voiced his criticism of SEALs, Force Recon Marines, and air force combat controllers. Army Special Forces were, in his not-so-humble opinion, the most accomplished warriors in the world.

But as he watched the Zodiac drift forward, he choked up with a newfound respect for Tanner and all his SEAL brothers. Tanner's escape from the sand spit was an act of sheer will, determination, and courage in the face of utter defeat, and Mitchell knew all too well what it took to find that courage when all seemed lost.

He spat again, smacked his lips, and rattled off his orders: "All right, Nolan, get in there, see how he is. Beasley, tie up the bodies to the sides, then we help the wounded into the boat. Everyone else hangs off the side. Smith, you take the outboard!"

"Roger that!" he cried. "But you're wounded, too, Captain. Up in the boat."