Dead Zero

Who was Staff Sergeant Ray Cruz?

To the grunts of 3-1-3, at war in the remote mountains of northern Afghanistan, he was a hero, a marine's marine, a sniper's sniper, with three tours in one war and three in another. He was the man they called when a patrol was pinned down, or to cover an IED casualty evac or to shadow SEALs on a snatch-and-grab op.

To his superiors, he was a tragedy, another brave man KIA in the scrub hills of a godforsaken land: on a long-range top secret mission into hostile territory, he and his spotter disappeared just as they were closing in on the quarry, an Afghan warlord Sediq Chikari, with ties to both Taliban and al Qaeda. At battalion headquarters, the brass watched helplessly as Cruz’s GPS transmitter signal disappeared on an image relayed from a high-altitude satellite. It was swallowed in a white smear, signifying detonation. Then . . . nothing. They were dead.

But that was last year. This year the question is: Who IS Staff Sergeant Ray Cruz?

Because somehow, he is back.

Now, to the CIA Cruz is a loose end and he has sent an ominous message to Marine HQ.

CRUZ INBOUND TO COMPLETE OPERATION; PUT THE BEER ON ICE, BOYS! WE ARE LOCKED AND LOADED!

To the FBI, tasked with security, Cruz is a target.

And to Bob Lee Swagger, he's an enigma.

Ray Cruz—called the Cruise Missile by the grunts because he never missed a shot—is still hunting Sediq Chikari, the warlord who has since become America's proudest ally in the Afghan war and may be the political savior all have been waiting for.

Is Ray alive? Did Ray survive? Has Ray gone rogue, or insane, or has he turned? Or is someone imitating Ray while playing a deeper game with a more terrifying objective.

Swagger, advising Assistant FBI Director Nick Memphis on the task force meant to catch Ray Cruz before he takes out his pray, has to find out, even if in some deep place, his heart is with the sniper.