John Corey and his wife Kate are part of the Anti Terrorism
Task Force and based in NY. He’s former NYPD detective and she is FBI. They
have the dubious distinction of being on a top 10 list. Trouble is, the
list belongs to Al Qaeda and both are targeted for extermination. See, John
killed one of their leaders who was known as The Lion (in Demille’s previous
John Corey book) and Al Qaeda ain’t happy.
The CIA isn’t all that happy about not having caught the
mastermind behind the bombing of the USS Cole in a Yemeni port. Corey had been
part of the investigative team and everyone knows that Yemen’s local Al Qaeda
chieftain, Bulus ibn al-Darwish, aka al-Numair, aka The Panther. Also goes by
Paul. That’s because he is an American born of Yemeni parents, grew up in Perth
Amboy, NJ and graduated from Columbia University. But, obviously he has grown
marginalized and now hates America with every fiber of his being. He lives in a
cave, trains a cadre of believers way back in the mountains, and conducts
missions against American targets with good, but not perfect, success.
So, the CIA has come to John and Kate with an offer. Go to
Yemen and try to pick up the trail of the Panther, especially now that al-Numair
has surfaced with a few recent attacks on Western targets. The problem is that
Bulus/Paul is an American citizen and as such has rights that foreign born
terrorists aren’t accorded, such as Miranda and due process, even in a dump
like Yemen. The State department has even placed a lawyer on the team, which
includes Paul Brenner (another DeMille character played by John Travolta in The
General’s Daughter).
There is more at play. In a previous Corey book, rogue CIA
agent Tom Nash was caught and cornered by Kate who then killed him. The guy was
dirty, but the CIA didn’t agree, making Kate persona non grata with The
Company.
Thus, Operation Clean Sweep. John is sure that Clean Sweep
is not just about finding the Panther, but also about payback for Nash. And
John and Kate are less ‘investigators’ and more ‘bait’. The local CIA agents
have a plan. Make John and Kate visible in Sana’a and Aden, pay off a tribal
warlord (who is not liked by the Yemeni military) to ‘kidnap’ the team and
offer them up to the Panther for ransom. Once the deal is struck, Predator Hellfire
missiles would wipe out the meet taking out the Panther (for the US) and the
warlord (for the Yemeni gov’t) while F/18s bomb the training camp into
oblivion, John and Kate then head home to NY. Good deal all around.
The meet is set. The Panther and his team are prepared to make
the exchange with the warlord. John is all ready to place eyes on the guy he’s
been after since the Cole bombing and watch him fry from Hellfire heat or put a couple 9mm into his skull, either works. But when
the CIA schmuck running the operation says that John and Kate’s role is done
and that one of the warlord’s guys is waiting to take them out, John paranoia
goes into overdrive. He’s sure that one of those circling Predator’s will
target their transport and they’ll get chalked up to accidental friendly fire. Payback making Clean Sweep a clean sweep.
I’ve read a number of books by DeMille. Actually one of the
very best spy novels ever (in my insignificant opinion) was written by DeMille
(The Charm School). You just have to know what you are getting in for with
DeMille . . . long books. This even felt heavy in my Kindle. This book has
three components. First is a heavy commentary on Yemen’s history and culture
and on that level, was quite interesting. Better to learn about it this way
rather than in some dry non-fiction description. Second is the actual story of
stealth and deceit on the SW corner of the Arabian peninsula. And DeMille knows
how to bring the goods. You don’t get repeat trips to the NY Times best seller
list if you can’t. The third component is the wise-ass, irreverent, my way or
the highway attitude of John Corey; subtracting that aspect of book might
shorten the whole thing by maybe a quarter, but then it wouldn’t be a true John
Corey book. That’s what his fans like. Great story telling, cool John Corey,
nasty bad guys, and exotic locations (if you think a country that resembles the
bottom of an outhouse can be considered exotic) all make for a terrific, if a
bit long, escape from what passes for winter here in NC.
East Coast Don
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