It’s finally happened. This first trillionaire. Nicholas Ward. Made billions across multiple disciplines like tech, communications, transportation, pharma. You name it. His fingerprints can be found all over the place. Now he is focused on improving global humanity. He is financially supporting Dr. David Chism in his search for the holy grail of medicine – an antiviral that can be used to treat and prevent most every viral bug on the planet from COVID right down to the common cold.
And Chism is getting close. So close that people whose livelihood is based on treating sick people would like to delay his research. Many of the raw materials that Chism needs are in the Ugandan jungles. But that has good and bad points. Uganda is good because that kind of isolation is good for his research. It’s not so good in that a local terrorist with a god complex, Gideon Auma, has been trying to start his vision of a unified Africa (of course under his leadership) by starting a war between Uganda and its neighbor to the west, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Any terrorist worth his salt needs money. And through a complicated set of channels, Auma has been hired to kidnap Chism. A raid on the research compound nearly wipes out the research effort, but that can all be rebuilt. Chism as a hostage should bring a handsome payment from Nicholas Ward. But Chism and a couple colleagues escaped into the jungle and have yet to be found.
Because both Chism and Ward are Americans, the CIA and the White House are concerned. The new President, Anthony Cook, is one part dreamer and one part a pragmatist. He dreams of a gentler world but realizes the necessity of people like Ward who can get things done that a government can’t. He also realizes that much of the big money that got him to the White House will be severely damaged if Chism/Ward find that miracle anti-viral. He also isn’t a fan of the over-the-top methods of diplomacy that Mitch Rapp practices.
It becomes apparent that the raid on the research facility was a bit more organized. When one of Irene Kennedy’s IT nerds spots an internal breach of the CIA’s background information about Nicholas Ward, it starts to look like there is a mole within the CIA that is feeding info to outsiders that manages to reach Auma. Ergo, a well-planned and mostly successful assault on a reasonably well fortified compound.
Director Kennedy puts a really off the books plan in play. She brings Mitch (and his team of contractors) out of domestic malaise. Their job: find Chism. Use Ward (and his money) to restart the research facility, and put Auma’s army out of business. Oh, and conduct a mole hunt within the Langley headquarters from the jungles of Uganda all the while keeping the President out of the loop.
I’ve said it in earlier reviews. Kyle Mills has expertly picked up the Mitch Rapp saga following Vince Flynn’s passing a few years ago. Kudos to Simon and Schuster and Emily Bestler Books for bring Mills aboard. This story shows two sides of Rapp. His domestic side with his wife and stepdaughter at home in Virginia and South Africa (his wife’s home country). We also see the devastation he can reign down on enemies that don’t have America’s best interests at heart. And we see his cunning as he closes the net on the mole within the CIA. Hard to find any weaknesses in Mills presentation of another Mitch Rapp winner.
Thanks to the good folks at Simon and Schuster for the advance reviewer copy. Always a thrill when a package arrives with their return address. And like I’ve said over and over on this blog. Look to see who publishes a book. Of all the books I’ve read from Emily Bestler Books, each has been a winner.
Enemy at the Gates goes on sale September 14, 2021. Line up, folks.
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