DONT PITY ME

Al-Qaida, he said. Is good for you to know who killed you. American, I said. Good for you to know who s going to take your head off. Tuco, I whispered into the headset, and in that moment, the man s head came apart in a mist of blood, bone, and brain matter, as a watermelon smashed to the ground. Crete Sloan lives alone on an island in the Bahamian Atlantic. Bimini is to the west, the Berry Islands to the east. He is a mercenary who fights wars for the good guys. Private wars, not government wars. Someone steals your million-dollar Ferrari LaFerrari. The local cops can t locate it. Interpol can t find it. Sloan brings it back-for half its value. A slice of human debris kills your wife in a carjacking gone sour. You want justice. Sloan gets it for you. Sloan is pulled into action when his friend Deke McCain is captured by al-Qaida warriors and held for ransom in Kabul, Afghanistan. McCain is the founder and CEO of the Pittsburgh Pump & Valve, a major manufacturing operation located in Pittsburgh, PA. Sloan travels to Kabul to negotiate with the al-Qaida captors for McCain s release. The ransom is pocket change for McCain s company, and the company is willing to pay. But in Kabul, Sloan is beaten, humiliated, and run out of town. Bad move by the al-Qaida warriors. Forced back to Pittsburgh empty-handed, Sloan recruits a team of mercenaries, the boys from the old neighborhood, to go up against all of al-Qaida in an effort to free McCain. When the al-Qaida warriors gain an upper hand, Sloan risks his own life to save his friend s. Or die trying._,