Alone at the bow, Kyle came to attention and saluted the Arizona, which entombed most of the 1,177 crewmen who lost their lives that day. The memories were as fresh as the oil that still oozed from the bunkers of the dead battlewagon.
Closure. That was what Kyle wanted on this latest war, but he knew he would never live to see it. The War on Terror had already lasted twice as long as World War II and showed no signs of really stopping; there would never be a signing of a peace treaty with the shadowy jihadist religious fanatics and their supporters in so many countries. They would never stop trying to attack the United States.
Kyle would never stop going after them.
He turned back to where the ladies and officers and gentlemen were gathered on the deck beneath a new and cloudless Hawaiian night. He would go back to them now, tolerate the speeches, enjoy the lavish buffet, but pass on the dancing and get back to the hotel. There was a flight out early the next morning that would take him back to Washington, where he would report for duty at Task Force Trident and then go kill Charlie Brown.
ALSO BY JACK COUGHLIN
Shooter: The Autobiography of the Top Ranked Marine Sniper (with Capt. Casey Kuhlman and Donald A. Davis)
Kill Zone (with Donald A. Davis)
Dead Shot (with Donald A. Davis)
Clean Kill (with Donald A. Davis)
An Act of Treason (with Donald A. Davis)
ALSO BY DONALD A. DAVIS
Lightning Strike
The Last Man on the Moon (with Gene Cernan)
Dark Waters (with Lee Vyborny)
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
GUNNERY SERGEANT JACK COUGHLIN was with the Third Battalion, Fourth Marines during the drive to Baghdad and has operated on a wide range of assignments in hotspots around the world.
DONALD A. DAVIS is the author of twenty-three books, including several New York Times bestsellers.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
RUNNING THE MAZE. Copyright © 2012 by Jack Coughlin with Donald A. Davis. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Coughlin, Jack, 1966–
Running the maze / Jack Coughlin, with Donald A. Davis.—1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-312-55495-8 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4299-4093-1 (e-book)
1. Snipers—Fiction. 2. Undercover operations—Fiction. 3. Medical personnel—Crimes against—Pakistan—Fiction. 4. Mass murder investigation—Fiction. 5. Intrigue—Fiction. 6. Terrorists—Fiction. 7. Washington Metropolitan Area—Fiction. I. Davis, Don, 1939– II. Title.
PS3603.O878R86 2012
813'.6—dc22
2011041348
e-ISBN 9781429940931
First Edition: March 2012
Running the Maze Page 29