WHEN A PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY INJURED EX-GREEN BERET BREAKS A PROMISE . . .

Green Beret hero Jamie Morales returns to Southern California from the Middle East missing an eye and burdened by the horrors of war. After a difficult transition to civilian life with his wife, Brooklyn, he learns his mother is secretly harboring a fascinating antiquity once owned by Mexico's most notorious drug lord, Marco Delgado-the same man who murdered Jamie's father thirty years earlier. Quickly assessing the risks of his mother owning something a brutal cartel boss once cherished and wants back, Jamie acts to protect those he loves from a worst-case scenario. When his sister-in-law selfishly tries to sell The Emerald Cross to Delgado, her plan backfires in terrifying ways.

After the DEA, FBI, and two countries' special forces fail to hold Delgado accountable for horrific deeds, the physically and emotionally injured ex-Green Beret does something he promised Brooklyn he would never do again-pick up a weapon. Jamie Morales isn't sure if his pursuit is about justice or vengeance, and he quietly accepts he probably won't survive the personal crusade stirring in his head.

Delgado's compound in the Sinaloa Mountains of Mexico is about to be breached by a grieving warrior who has lost all he holds dear. Sylvia Sokolov, his ex-Army comrade and Black Hawk pilot, stubbornly inserts herself into her friend's pursuit. Together, they aim to achieve the impossible while reconciling their uniquely painful pasts. Amid the quest, Jamie discovers astonishing truths that rewrite his family's past and permanently alter his future. Then Sylvia risks everything for an unknown Mexican woman whose life lies in the balance, and Jamie's mission evolves in extraordinary ways.

Ken Cruickshank writes thrillers, fiction, historical fiction, and nonfiction. Due to multiple sclerosis and an accident, he creates his manuscripts using speech-to-text software. His goals are simple: He wants to captivate and astound readers with plausible yet distinctive stories they cannot put down.