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Product Description The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Scot Harvath series and “heir to Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum” (Chicago Tribune) returns with this unputdownable, white-knuckled thriller following the Secret Service agent as he’s on the trail of the world’s most ruthless terrorist. After rescuing the President from kidnappers in Thor’s roaring debut, The Lions of Lucerne, Secret Service agent Scot Harvath shifts his attentions to rooting out, capturing, or killing all those responsible for the plot. As he prepares to close out his list, a bloody and twisted trail of clues points toward one man—the world’s most dangerous terrorist. Only one problem remains: Harvath and his CIA-led team have no idea what the man looks like. With no alternative, they are forced to recruit a civilian—a woman who has survived a brutal hijacking and is now the only person who can positively identify their quarry. From the burning deserts of North Africa to the winding streets of Rome, Harvath must brave a maelstrom of bloodshed and deception before the world is engulfed in flames. About the Author Brad Thor is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-one thrillers, including Near Dark (one of Suspense Magazine’s Best Books of the Year), Backlash (nominated for the Barry Award for Best Thriller of the Year), Spymaster (“One of the all-time best thriller novels” — The Washington Times), The Last Patriot (nominated Best Thriller of the Year by the International Thriller Writers association), and Blowback (one of the “Top 100 Killer Thrillers of All Time” —NPR). Visit his website at BradThor.com and follow him on Facebook at Facebook.com/BradThorOfficial and on Twitter @BradThor. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Path of the Assassin CHAPTER 1 Dressed in the traditional robes of a Muslim pilgrim, a lone figure tore back the carpeting from beneath a window of the sumptuously appointed room and fastened the feet of a tripod firmly into the concrete floor with a commercial-grade bolt gun. The equipment had been smuggled into Saudi Arabia’s Dar Al Taqwa Inter-Continental Hotel via several large suitcases and a hard-shell golf club case. Arabs, even in Medina, loved their golf, after all, and no one had given any of the cases a second look. Finally assembled and secured to its launching platform, the second-generation TOW 2 Short missile was something to behold. Though it retained the same three-foot ten-inch profile of the ones Israel had used during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the effective range of the weapon had increased by almost a thousand yards, and was now the length of forty-one football fields—more than enough to deliver today’s deadly payload. The missile’s optical sighting unit was securely positioned in the adjoining hotel room, and its crosshairs were fixed upon its target. An infrared sensor would track the weapon’s trajectory and progress, relaying any last-minute adjustments. At such close range though, there’d be no need for adjustments. It would be like shooting fish in a barrel. The digital fuse was set for ten minutes into the night prayer session of the Prophet’s Mosque, the second-holiest shrine in Islam. Friday was the most important day of worship in the Muslim faith, and the evening prayer sessions were always the most heavily attended. The timing of the attack ensured maximum carnage. With a Do Not Disturb sign hung on the doors of both rooms, the terrorist would be resting comfortably on a first-class flight to Cairo by the time the missile launched. From Cairo, a clandestine transport network would round out the journey home just as today’s events were being broadcast on the evening news. As the digital fuse began its devastating countdown, the terrorist spray-painted a large hand cradling the Star of David on the wall. For a moment, scenes of a happier time flashed through the terrorist’s mind. A time before the hatred was so deeply entrenched. Two