by Carr, Jack
The Honorable [Leader Khamenei] stressed the need for each of you to be vigilant in his field of activity, and asks you to be particularly attentive. He also stressed [the need] to be alert to the [possible] negative future consequences of this cooperation [between Iran and al-Qaeda].
The Honorable [Khamenei] said that this struggle must be stepped up by tightening the collaboration with other security and intelligence apparatuses in Iran and with supporters outside Iran, thereby hindering the enemy’s steadily expanding activities.
[Khamenei further instructed] that in carrying out your duties, you must operate under the direct supervision of the security division of the headquarters of the organization [i.e., the intelligence apparatus of the Supreme Leader]. Naturally, identifying [potential] damage is the responsibility of the vigilant and diligent Unit [No. 43].
It has also been decided that, in the upcoming meetings, discussions must be held in order to formulate clear goals and remove the main obstacles and difficulties in achieving these goals and in promoting the issue of expanding the collaboration with the fighters of al-Qaeda and Hizballah [Lebanon].
Finally, I wish to convey [Khamenei’s] full satisfaction with Unit [No. 43] and his full support in the implementation of its future plans. The Honorable [Khamenei] is aware of the important and dangerous [nature of] the tasks you perform. [He] emphasizes that with regard to cooperation with al-Qaeda, no traces must be left that might have negative and irreversible consequences, and that [the activity] must be limited to the existing contacts with [Hizballah Operations Officer Imad] Mughniyeh and [bin Laden’s deputy Ayman] al-Zawahiri.
May Allah grant you success…
[Seal and Signature] Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri
Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri was the chief advisor on intelligence to Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran.
Following the death of Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri ascended to lead al-Qaeda. The United States Department of State has offered a reward of $25 million for information leading to al-Zawahiri’s apprehension or conviction. At the time of this writing he remains at large.
* * *
I was well into the research for this novel before the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world. I was investigating the weaponization of infectious diseases, particularly from the end of World War II through today. It did not escape notice when information began to emerge that a variant of coronavirus had emerged in a market in Wuhan, China. Just three football fields from Wuhan’s Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where China tells the world that the COVID -19 outbreak originated, is the Wuhan branch of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That same market is less than ten miles from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which houses China’s only Biosafety Level 4 laboratory, called the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory. On February 16, 2020, Senator Tom Cotton said, “We have such laboratories ourselves in the United States run by our military… in large part done for preventative purposes, or trying to discover vaccines or protect our own soldiers.” The key part of the senator’s interview is that “we have such laboratories ourselves.”
Unintended release of biological and chemical weapons is not without precedent. In 1979, a Soviet research lab in what was then called Sverdlovsk in the Urals accidentally released anthrax, killing at least one hundred people. The facility was using data from Imperial Japan’s bioweapons program captured in Manchuria during World War II. The medical records of those exposed to anthrax were all edited to limit evidence that the Soviets were in violation of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, of which they were signatories. The deaths were explained away as coming from contaminated meat.
In 1968, six thousand sheep mysteriously died near Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. Dugway was established during World War II in an effort to counter the Axis biological and chemical weapons programs. It remains in existence today. The U.S. Army had been conducting open-air VX nerve agent testing in the days prior to what is now called the Skull Valley Sheep Kill. An internal Army investigation two years later would find that lethal chemical agents tested at Dugway on March 13, 1968, “may have” contributed to the sheep deaths.
The history of biological weapons is both fascinating and chilling. Bioweapons data from Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany in World War II informed the U.S. and Soviet bioweapons programs of the Cold War years.
In the spring of 2002, I was part of a small group of military personnel assigned to a training mission in Uzbekistan. As the junior member of the team, my job was to train up partner force snipers on the SDV, better known as the Dragunov. It was during this assignment to Uzbekistan that I first heard mention of an island on the Aral Sea, an island synonymous with bioweapon research. My later open-source research would indicate that this was Vozrozhdeniya Island, “rebirth island,” a former Soviet biological weapons test site called Aralsk-7. It is clear that the Soviets had not adhered to the United Nations treaty.
The history of Marburg Variant U described in The Devil’s Hand is true. Dr. Nikolai Ustinov worked at the Vector Bioweapon research center in Koltsovo, Siberia. In April 1988, he accidently injected Marburg into his thumb. He was immediately quarantined. Over the next three weeks, the virus liquefied his organs and drove him insane as it ate away his brain cells. Ever the scientist, he detailed his demise in a journal, its pages stained with blood, vomit, and mucus from his decaying body. Following his death, organ samples were taken. During his autopsy a doctor pricked his skin with a needle that had extracted bone marrow. He was dead a month later. Upon further study, the samples of Marburg taken from Dr. Ustinov’s organs appeared different from the original strain. The virus had evolved. It was now more virulent than the original. The Soviets weaponized this new strain and called it Variant U in honor of Dr. Ustinov.
By all indications, the Soviet Union stepped up their bioweapon development and stockpiling programs following the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention. Biopreparat was the lead Soviet agency tasked with weaponizing infectious diseases. What happened to these programs with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991? What happened to the scientists who developed these programs? According to Dr. Ken Alibek, the deputy chief of Biopreparat from 1988 to 1992, many of his former colleagues relocated to the United States, Europe, and Asia as economic conditions in Russia forced scientists to look for work beyond their borders. In Chapter 20 of his book Biohazard he writes: “In May of 1997, more than one hundred scientists from Russian laboratories, including Vector and Obolensk, attended a Biotechnology Trade fair in Tehran… soon after that Iranians had visited Vector a number of times and were actively promoting scientific exchanges.”
How far along is the Iranian bioweapons program and does the success of using proxies over the past four decades mean that Iran could or would use these weapons through nonstate actors as an instrument of terror? It is certainly a possibility and should not be discounted.
Has the United States remained in compliance with the 1972 Biological Weapon Convention? There is no international agency tasked with verification to monitor compliance. It’s essentially the honor system. The convention bans bioweapon “agents, toxins, weapons, equipment, and means of delivery.” We would be naive to assume that classified bioweapons programs do not still exist. Interestingly, the language of what is officially called the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons (BTWC) does not ban “biodefense weapons.”
Does the United States have protocols in place to eradicate a respiratory-spread virus that threatens to kill 90 percent of the population? I don’t know the answer to that question but inferring what I can from the research for this novel, I would be surprised if those plans do not exist. If you were experimenting with the weaponization of viruses, even “biodefense weapons,” that had the potential to render the human race extinct, what would you do?
Following the targeted assassination of Quds Force Commander General Qasem Soleimani in January 2020, Iran’s Supreme Leade
r Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, “With his departure and with God’s power, his work and path will not cease, and severe revenge awaits those criminals who have tainted their filthy hands with his blood….”
Iran does not forget.
Of note, the United States signed the Biological Weapons Convention on April 10, 1972, the same day as Iran.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I DIDN’T REALIZE AT the outset just how research intensive The Devil’s Hand was going to be. I am indebted to a number of works whose influence will be evident to those who have turned their pages: The Secret War with Iran and Rise First and Kill by Ronen Bergman, The Dragons and the Snakes by David Kilcullen, Beirut Rules by Fred Burton and Samuel M. Katz, Biohazard by Ken Alibek and Stephen Handelman, The Persian Puzzle by Kenneth M. Pollack, A History of Islamic Societies by Ira M. Lapidus, The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk, The Art of War by Sun Tzu, Corporate Warriors by P. W. Singer, Blackwater and The Assassination Complex by Jeremy Scahill, Rules for Radicals by Saul D. Alinsky, The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, Surprise, Kill, Vanish by Annie Jacobsen, and The 9/11 Commission Report.
To the doctors and intelligence officials who spent time with me, reviewed the manuscript and added context, insight, and wisdom, thank you. Any errors are mine and mine alone. Some may be intentional. This is a work of fiction, after all.
Thank you to my mom and dad, who instilled a love of reading and writing in me at a very early age. That reading provided the foundation for everything that has followed.
To those authors whose works were, and remain, essential influences in my life: Joseph Campbell, Frederick Forsyth, Jack Higgins, Ken Follett, Robert Ludlum, John le Carré, James Grady, Ian Fleming, John Edmund Gardner, David Morrell, Nelson DeMille, Clive Cussler, J. C. Pollock, Tom Clancy, Louis L’Amour, Marc Olden, A. J. Quinnell, Lee Child, Daniel Silva, Stephen Hunter, Brad Thor, Steven Pressfield, Vince Flynn, Kyle Mills, and Mark Greaney.
To the “Master of the High-Action Thriller” and the “Father of the Modern Action Novel,” the incomparable David Morrell for providing inspiration to follow my two complementary callings: the professions of writing and arms. For writers looking for insight into the craft from a true master, read The Successful Novelist and visit the writing section of David’s website at davidmorrell.net.
To Steven Hunter for your friendship and inspiration. We started our book tours together with a joint event in 2019; it was one of the greatest honors of my life. When asked to give his advice to aspiring writers at Thrillerfest in 2019 he replied, “Sleep late, drink early, and shoot in between.” Legendary. Whoever said to never meet your heroes never met Stephen Hunter.
To Brad Thor for making all this possible.
To Vince Flynn for setting the bar and to Kyle Mills for continuing the legacy. #MitchRappLives
To Mark Greaney for your friendship and support and for giving us The Gray Man.
To Steven Pressfield for capturing the essence of the warrior archetype in your work and for sharing your wisdom in The War of Art.
To Ray Porter for bringing the series to life through your narration of the audiobooks. Ray agreed to narrate the novels when I was a complete unknown. Thank you for lending your voice and talent to the James Reece universe.
If you are looking for a recommended reading list, I highlight six books a month that have been impactful to me on my journey. You can find them on my website blog at OfficialJackCarr.com and on my book-specific Instagram page @JackCarrBookClub.
To trusted friends and confidants David Lehman, James Rupley, Dan Gelston, and Kevin O’Malley for taking time out of your extremely busy schedules to apply keen eyes and sharp intellects to early drafts of the manuscript. This book would not be what it is without you. I am worried that one day I’ll have to start paying you…
To Chris Pratt for the dedication you bring to your craft. To see this project starting to come full circle after I envisioned you as the right person to bring James Reece to screens well before Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World, and Avengers and well before I’d even finished that first novel continues to astonish me. You are going to CRUSH IT!
To Antoine Fuqua, the one person I always imagined directing The Terminal List. I am so excited to get to work!
To Kat Samick for being so supportive of The Terminal List project.
To David DiGilio, showrunner for The Terminal List, for teaching me so much about screenwriting and being such a pleasure to work with.
To Jared Shaw for your time in the SEAL Teams and for being the driving force behind bringing The Terminal List Amazon series to where it is today.
To Michael Broderick for bringing together such a talented team to produce the short film Fathers and Sons—A Terminal List Story. Written by Navy veteran Vernon Mortensen, directed by Army veteran Ryan Curtis and starring Marine veteran Michael Broderick and Army Ranger veteran Tim Abell with Tyne Stecklein, this short film simply blew me away. You can find it in the blog section of my website.
To Joe Rogan for inviting me on the podcast and for being such a strong voice for freedom and independent thought. Looking forward to getting back out after elk and axis with you soon.
To Dylan Murphy for the work you do with operators at the tip of the spear and for all the time you take to work through the combative portions of the novels. The close-quarters-combat chapters are not just imagined in my head. They start there, but then Dylan gears up and choreographs the fights to make them as primal and visceral as possible. Thank you, brother.
To George Kollitides and Wally McLallen for talking me through the world of 2001 New York finance and Silicon Valley tech start-ups. It is sincerely appreciated.
To Clint Smith, Larry Vickers, James Rupley, Jason Swarr, Jim Fuller, James Rose, and Gary Hughes for taking the time to help me with the Kalashnikov description. You have all forgotten more about that rifle than I will ever know.
To Chip King and Christopher Ellender at Gulfstream for all your help on the aviation side of the house.
To Frank Argenbright for the idea.
To Ryan Steck, aka The Real Book Spy, for all you do for authors and readers of the genre.
To Sean Cameron, author of Amateur Hour; Mike Houtz, author of Dark Spiral Down; and C. E. Albanese of The Crew Reviews Podcast. Aspiring authors—listen to this podcast, take notes, and most important, apply what you learn to your craft.
To C. E. Albanese for his time in the Secret Service and for answering my federal law enforcement questions. I can’t wait to see Drone Kings on the bookshelf!
To Eric Bishop for your early support of The Terminal List. Looking forward to my signed copy of The Body Man.
To James Rose, Jamie Swanson, and the entire crew at the Park City Gun Club. If you swing through Park City, Utah, stop in and give the fully automatic AK a run. I might see you there!
To Larry Vickers and James Rupley for the incredible Vickers Guide series of books. There is nothing else like them and they are always my first stop when researching the weapons-centric chapters of my novels. If you are a student of the gun, these should without a doubt be in your collection. Find them at vickersguide.com.
To Clint and Heidi Smith of Thunder Ranch. If you have not made the pilgrimage to train at Thunder Ranch, make this your year!
To Jack Daniels for holding the line in law enforcement and for your patience with me when I need help ordering and attaching all the different rifle accessory components…
To James Yeager of Tactical Response for being all in on the James Reece series well before I was a New York Times bestselling author or had a social media account. Thank you for being the catalyst for what became a word-of-mouth campaign that got all this started.
To Ironclad Media for filming and producing the most epic book trailer videos of all time and for jumping on board to produce my new podcast, Danger Close: Beyond the Books with Jack Carr.
To Katie Pavlich for the years of friendship and support. Pick up and read Katie’s books, Fast and Furious and Assault & Fla
ttery, today!
Daniel Winkler and Karen Shook of Winkler Knives for all you have done and continue to do for those at the tip of the special operations spear and for forging the tomahawks for James Reece.
To Jim Shockey for all your enthusiastic support! I can’t wait to help introduce the world to your outstanding novel when the time is right.
To Kyle Lamb of Viking Tactics for your leadership and your time in uniform in service to this great nation.
To Dom Raso of Dynamis Alliance for always being there for me and my family.
To Bill Rapier of AMTAC Shooting for the killer blade that James Reece uses in this novel. Hope we can get on the range together soon. I need a tune-up!
To Biss for a wild ride in the Teams and out. Thank you for all your support, brother.
To Tom Flanagan of Eagles & Angels for all you’ve done for the nation and all you continue to do for veterans in the private sector.
To Ron Cohen, Tom Taylor, Jason Wright, Samantha Piatt, Olivia Gallivan, Aisling Meechan, Bobby Cox, Max Michel, Phil Strader, Lena Miculek, Daniel Horner, and Hana Bilodeau at SIG Sauer. I’m forever a fan.
To Teddy Novin for your early and enthusiastic support of the novels.
To Elias Kfoury for all you did and continue to do for our brothers.
To Dave Rogers for the spark.
To David Bolls for your energy and for connecting the dots.
To Craig, Heather, Savannah, Zachery, and Cadan Flynn. Thank you for all your support. You are going to make great neighbors.
To Tucker Carlson for inviting me on the show and for holding our elected officials—our employees—accountable.
To Lexi Ciccone for standing strong and for all your support.
To Frank LeCrone for your friendship and for always going above and beyond in all that you do. It’s an honor, my friend.
To Brendan O’Malley for being so thoughtful. I’m looking forward to my next delivery of whiskey.