Deniable

A thriller which is particularly pertinent given the recent events which have happened in Syria. From an author who knows the region well having extensively travelled there, often walking on the same paths and roads used for centuries by the merchants, conquerors, prophets and pilgrims that have left their mark on the region. Trying desperately to hold on to power, Syria’s dictator resorts to one last, deadly throw of the dice. Using a recently developed bio-chemical weapon developed in an impregnable medieval fortress he hopes to plunge the entire region into the kind of chaos that will allow him to emerge stronger than ever. The Americans have become aware of this weapon but are desperate to eliminate it without a major assault that would trigger a wider war with unforeseeable and unwanted consequences. They pin their hopes on a small group of mercenaries led by a former CIA officer and Delta Force soldier to eliminate the weapon before they are forced to call on the full power of the American army. As if the odds of penetrating the fortress and destroying the bio-chemical weapon were not high enough, the group faces serious opposition from shadowy groups inside the US and Israel that want the weapon to succeed and create the war that will allow them to re-shape the Middle East. Besides their lethal skills, these particular mercenaries have one vital quality that endears them to the Americans – they are completely deniable if the mission ends in disaster.