The Temporary Agent by Daniel Judson

Charlie Cahill, Afghanistan vet, Force Marine Recon, and terribly scarred. His unit was under intense fire and the only help was a Seabee group. The Seabee squad leader, Tom Sexton, saved the Marines, but not before Charlie shielded Tom from a grenade. Both spend excessive time in the hospital, but both survived.

Upon discharge, Tom's simmering PTSD had him drifting the country. He found small town Connecticut comfortable. Got a job at a metal fabricating business and met Sophia, a waitress. But she's more than a waitress. She used to be an affluent citizen with business dealings in real estate, commercial real estate, and more.  But the crash of '08 all but wiped her out. But she's getting by and is looked after by most of the local cops she waits on at the diner. Six months after Tom arrived, she invited him to move in, much to the chagrin of all those cops. Imagine their surprise when they did a little checking to find out Tom is not only a war hero, but also started out at Princeton but had to drop out when his father died. Thus the Navy and the construction battalion.

Charlie, however, is the proverbial silver spoon-baby. Money,  boarding school, Ivy league. But instead of going to Wall Street, he joined the Marines. Won a gold star for saving Tom. Once he recovered, he started to give back by opening up boxing gyms in high-risk neighborhoods. Once opened, staffed, and on good financial grounds, Charlie moves to the next city. He's now in New Haven. But when he leaves a fund-raiser, he and his off the books girlfriend are ambushed. He survives, she doesn't.

Tom's old commander in the Navy went into corporate security. Offered Tom a job years ago that Tom turned down. A call comes to Tom, but it doesn't use their personal coded format. It's a woman. Asking to meet Tom in NYC.

There is some concern that his former boss knows how to get to Charlie. The woman is NSA and certainly paints a picture of Charlie being a traitor. And the government wants Tom to bring Charlie  in.

This is a seriously good book. He presents a triangle of interests facing Tom: Charlie, the government, and Tom's old boss, to whom Tom has an undeniable loyalty. Throughout the entire book, Judson leads us on a chase that results in us having to continually shift our opinion on just who is the traitor and why. A highly intelligent thriller, believable characters, and a tricky circuitous plot. If his other titles are as good as this . . . I see many days with my nose in a Judson book.

ECD

Available July 1, 2016