Second Saladin

In the windswept sands of the Middle East, Paul Chardy fought side by side with Ulu Beg: one, a charismatic, high-strung CIA covert warrior, the other a ferocious freedom fighter.  Then Chardy fell into the hands of the enemy, and Beg was betrayed.  Now the two men are about to meet again.

A second gun...

Beg has come over the Mexican border under a hail of bullets--determined to assassinate a leading American political figure and avenge his people's betrayal.  The CIA wants Chardy to stop the hit.  Chardy wants to save Beg's life.

Between the two men is a tragic past, a failed mission, and a woman who knew them in war--and who knows their secrets now.  Around both men is a conspiracy of lies and violence that reaches back to the Cold War.  But as Beg moves in for his kill and as Chardy breaks loose from his handlers, a terrible truth begins to emerge: somewhere, someone wants both men to die.

Master storyteller Stephen Hunter weaves a pulse-racing tale of international terrorism and intrigue using Washington, D.C. as his backdrop. Sharing a past of war in the Middle East and the fallout of a failed mission, Paul Chardy, a former CIA covert warrior and Ulu Beg, a Kurdish freedom fighter, meet again in the midst of a conspiracy of lies and violence. When key members of the Beltway elite start dropping dead, the CIA knows that only Beg can be responsible and that only Chardy can stop him. As this remarkably taut thriller races towards a searing conclusion, both men realize that nothing is what it seems to be, and that somewhere, someone wants them both dead.