True Believer (Carr novel)

In a coordinated attack by terrorists destroys a Christmas market in London. A van explosion forces survivors into a zone where machine gunners and suicide bombers wait. From a secure room in Switzerland, former Russian GRU Colonel Vasili Andrenov watches the bloodshed he planned to manipulate markets. Across the Atlantic Ocean, Reece sails aboard the yacht Bitter Harvest.

Having fled the United States after killing those responsible for the deaths of his wife, daughter, and SEAL troop, Reece believes he is dying from a brain tumor. He seeks safety in Mozambique at a safari concession run by Richard Hastings, the uncle of Raife Hastings. As he settles in, Reece tries to disappear into the daily life of the camp.

While Reece joins the camp and assists with anti-poaching using a drone, strikes hit Europe, including a mortar attack on British paratroopers and a drone strike on a NATO general. In Mozambique, he saves a tracker named Solomon after a fight with poachers, forcing him to show his location to get the wounded man medical care. That choice brings the CIA to his door.

Freddy Strain, a former teammate, arrives and states that Reece's tumor is treatable. He offers a deal: the U.S. will pardon Reece and his friends if Reece helps the CIA find Mohammed "Mo" Farooq, a former Iraqi officer and Reece's old friend. Mo is believed to be managing the European attacks for a leader named Amin Nawaz.

Reece accepts and travels to a desert site to train with Strain. During their work, the compound is attacked. Reece and Strain fight off the assault, but their teacher, Maajid, is killed. Analysis shows the attackers are members of Mo's former CIA-trained Iraqi unit.

To bring Mo out, Reece and Strain travel to Istanbul, where Reece acts as bait and is taken by Mo's team. Mo states that he is not a terrorist but believes he is running hidden operations for the CIA under Jules Landry, a person Reece knows to be unstable. Reece realizes Landry is acting alone and is using Mo to carry out attacks for a third party.

Reece and Strain convince CIA leaders to let them turn Mo rather than kill him. In Albania, they provide sniper cover for a raid on Amin Nawaz. Because they cannot shoot due to a child, they work with Mo to ambush Nawaz as he leaves and kill him.

Meanwhile, Mo captures Landry and asks him questions in Kurdistan. Landry admits he is working for Oliver Grey, a senior CIA analyst who has been a spy for Andrenov since the Cold War. He also states that Andrenov and Grey are using a Syrian general, Qusim Yedid, to hire fighters for an operation in Odessa, Ukraine. Mo kills Landry.

In Odessa, the Russian and American presidents are scheduled to appear together. Reece and Strain join the Secret Service to secure the area. They spot a sniper threat from a shipping container on a ship in the harbor, where two hired guns, Nizar and Tasho, are waiting. Andrenov's plan also involves a chemical attack using Novichok nerve agent moved through the city.

As the presidents take the stage, the snipers fire. The Russian president is killed, but the American president survives. In the chaos, Strain fights a rogue Russian sniper on a nearby roof but is killed by Nizar, who then kills his own partner to hide his path.

Recognizing the chemical threat, Reece goes into the tunnels. He fights the terrorists setting up the device, kills them, and reverses a fan to keep the toxin inside. The move saves the city but leaves no survivors among the attackers.

Reece takes Strain's body back to the United States. Following the funeral, he meets with Vic Rodriguez, a senior CIA officer, who confirms the pardons and offers Reece a job. Reece says no because he wants to finish the mission on his own, and he receives a folder from Rodriguez containing the locations of the remaining group.

Reece travels to Athens, Greece, and enters General Yedid's apartment. After hurting the general, Reece asks him about the locations of Grey and Nizar. Yedid states that Grey has likely fled to a Russian area in South America. Reece kills Yedid by poisoning his vodka with the Novichok found at the scene.

In Basel, Switzerland, Andrenov attends church, believing his plan to put a hardline group in Russia is working. As his cars leave, Reece destroys Andrenov's car with a rocket from a roof. Mo creates a distraction to help the escape, and Reece leaves the scene in a car driven by Raife Hastings.

In the United States, a federal raid leads to the arrest of Stewart McGovern on Christmas Eve. In Argentina, Oliver Grey waits for a call to Russia that will never come. In South Carolina, Freddy Strain's widow receives a letter confirming a trust fund for her son containing the reward money for the death of Amin Nawaz.

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