Code Red: A Mitch Rapp Novel by Kyle Mills

By my count, this is book #21 in the Mitch Rapp saga. Serious longevity when it comes to a book character.

Mitch is realizing that a career bouncing mostly around the Middle East and Russia ensuring the best interests of the US remain foremost in the world order is probably coming to an end. In previous books, we see Mitch settling down, sort of, with wife Claudia and daughter Anna (and most all his trusted crew) in the hunt country of western Virginia where he has built a nearly impregnable fortress of a ‘neighborhood’. Add to that a ranch in South Africa when Virginia becomes either too tiresome or dangerous.

Of course, the US is in constant need of his skills. In the previous book (Oath of Loyalty), a drug kingpin (from Guatemala or was it Honduras?) was brought down but in doing so, Mitch had to make a deal with the devil, a Mexican cartel chief, and perhaps the world’s most powerful cartel boss, Damian Losa who directed Mitch were to find his target. Losa now has a chip in his pocket. Mitch owes him a favor. A massive favor.

A new drug has appeared. Captagon. While the drug has been around long enough to be the preferred escape in the Middle East, a new variant has popped up. While this new item still produces the expected high that young desperate Middle Eastern youth gravitate toward, it has been re-compounded to be far more addictive, packs worse withdrawal, and foremost, once one gets addicted, it also sends the user into some intense and often fatal psychoses.

Losa has obtained some samples of this new variety of Captagon so that his chemists can determine its makeup. Problem is that his people say that while this new drug can be replicated, the cost to start production from the ground up would be so high to be too expensive for all but the wealthiest users. Whomever is making it now effectively has a lock on the logistics of its production. Losa figures that if it’s too costly to make, maybe he can make a (significant) buck by opening his worldwide distribution network saving the makers that hassle. The proverbial win-win in the illicit drug business.

Losa knows that the drug begins its life in Syria, a place where traditional cartels have little if any influence. And a man like Losa knows his intelligence network is out of its league when it comes to places like Syria. What Losa needs is someone who knows the Middle East and can get in and try to negotiate a deal whereby the locals maintain production and use Losa’s distribution network.

This is where Mitch comes in. Losa decides to recruit Mitch to be his negotiator. If Mitch agrees, his debt with Losa will be fully paid. Mitch reluctantly agrees. Losa’s people set up Mitch’s legend as a weeny Canadian lawyer hired specifically for this one job. Mitch’s boss at the CIA, Irene Kennedy, isn’t happy and lets Mitch know that while she wants progress reports, he will have absolutely zero Agency assets or support.

He’s entirely on his own. His legend holds as he enters Syria and starts to work his way up the food chain to find the head dog so he can make his pitch. But being who he is, trouble has a way of finding Mitch. In most every confrontation, he successfully manages to play the milquetoast Canadian lawyer. But the closer he gets to the top, the harder it is to pretend to be meek. Mitch is still Mitch.

What he does learn is that the Syrians really aren’t behind this drug. The developers aren’t looking to become wealthy (I’m not going to tell you who. You’ll have to read the book for that detail). They want to sell the drug cheap, addict the youth of Europe and eventually the US making the west vulnerable from within resulting in a collapse of the social order leading (with any luck) to internal destruction. Waging war without firing a shot.

Rapp alerts Losa what he’s learned. While he went in knowing he was expendable, the payoff was mighty - get rid of that chip he owes to Losa. When Mitch he learns who might be pulling that trigger, he does off on his own. In short,  the last 50 pages of the book reveal Rapp’s true colors and character.

Classic Mitch Rapp. Mills delivers again. The foreword of book tells us that Kyle Mills has been carrying the freight for the Mitch Rapp saga for 10 years (after Vince Flynn's death) and it looks like this may be his last. Who’ll pick up the banner remains unknown. Given the popularity of the Mitch Rapp books, I fully suspect that the publisher (Emily Bestler Books) probably has a quality writer linedup. We’ll just have to wait until next year.

ECD