Ballistic

Table of Contents

 

 

ON TARGET

 

 

“Court is endearing in his perseverance even as his schemes are undermined by sympathetic victims, misleading information, outright lies, poor planning, betrayal, conflicting agendas, and simple bad luck . . . An action-filled yet touching story of a man whose reason has long ago been subsumed by his work ethic.”

—
Publishers Weekly

 

“Fine characterization, witty dialogue, breathtaking chase and battle scenes, and as many unforeseen twists and turns as your favorite Robert Ludlum or Vince Flynn novel—combined. Moreover, author Mark Greaney supplies verisimilitude as well as anyone in the writing business, along with singular attention to detail that doesn't merely bring the exotic locales to life: You will feel the bullets whizzing past.”

—Keith Thomson, bestselling author of
Twice a Spy

 

“Greaney writes smart, sharp, perfectly-paced thrillers. Intense, intelligent, and loads of fun. Pick one up and you won't want to put it down until the last page.”

—Steven James, bestselling author of
The Bishop

 

“Discovering
The Gray Man
was like falling in love for the first time. Reading
On Target
is like going on a second date and realizing this relationship might last for the long haul.”

—Eric Wilson,
New York Times
bestselling author of

Valley of Bones
and
One Step Away

 

 

THE GRAY MAN

 

 

“There's probably a cheetah on the Serengeti who can get a gazelle moving faster than Mark Greaney gets
The Gray Man
into overdrive . . . Greaney keeps this vengeance story red-lined and blistering as a hired killer known as the Gray Man burns like det cord through a small army of trained killers in Prague, Zurich, Paris, and beyond as he zeroes in on the wealthy French aristocrat who betrayed him . . . Writing as smooth as stainless steel and a hero as mean as razor wire . . .
The Gray Man
glitters like a blade in an alley.”

—David Stone,
New York Times
bestselling author of

 

“Hard, fast, and unflinching—exactly what a thriller should be.”

—Lee Child, #1
New York Times
bestselling author of
The Affair

 

“A high-octane thriller that doesn't pause for more than a second for all of its 464 pages . . . Greaney has a good understanding of weapons and tactics . . . and he uses that to enliven his storytelling, including lots of the kinds of details that action junkies love . . . For readers looking for a thriller where the action comes fast and furious, this is the ticket.”

—
Chicago Sun-Times

 

“Here is a debut novel like a well-honed dagger: sharp, merciless, and deadly. Mark Greaney's
The Gray Man
is Bourne for the new millennium . . . Never has an assassin been rendered so real yet so deadly. Strikes with the impact of a bullet to the chest . . . A debut not to be missed.”

—James Rollins,
New York Times
bestselling author of

 

“Take fictional spy Jason Bourne, pump him up with Red Bull and meth, shake vigorously—and you've got the recipe for Court Gentry, hero of
The Gray Man
. . . Gentry's such a souped-up, efficient killing machine, Bourne's a piker by comparison . . . Greaney's writing is crisp.”

—
The Memphis Commercial Appeal

 

“From the opening pages, the bullets fly and the bodies pile up. Through the carnage, Gentry remains an intriguing protagonist with his own moral code. The villain's motives are fuzzy, though he is quite nasty. Comparisons will be made to Jason Bourne, but the Gray Man is his own character. The ending screams for a sequel, but it will be difficult to maintain the intensity level of this impressive debut.”

—
Booklist

 

“[A] fast-paced, fun debut thriller . . . With unbelievable powers of survival, the Gray Man eludes teams of killers and deadly traps, while the reader begins to cheer for this unlikely hero. Cinematic battles and escapes fill out the simplistic but satisfying plot, and Greaney deftly provides small details to show Gentry's human side, offset by the petty rivalries and greed of his enemies.”

—
Publishers Weekly

TITLES BY MARK GREANEY

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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

 

This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.

 

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

Copyright © 2011 by Mark Strode Greaney.

 

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

BERKLEY
^®
is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
The “B” design is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

 

PRINTING HISTORY

Berkley trade paperback edition / October 2011

 

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Greaney, Mark.

Ballistic / Mark Greaney.—Berkley trade paperback ed. p. cm.

ISBN : 978-1-101-54492-1

1. Assassins—Fiction. 2. Drug traffic—Fiction. 3. Organized crime—Fiction. I. Title. PS3607.R4285B'.6—dc22

2010054214

 

 

Thanks to Karen Mayer, James Rollins, Marcie Silva, Marleni Gonzalez, Devin Greaney, Mireya Ledezma, Svetlana Ganea, James Yeager, Jay Gibson, Paul Gomez, Tactical Response,
GetofftheX.com
, Mystery Mike Bursaw,
CovertoCoverBookstore.com
, Devon Gilliland, Bob Hetherington, Patrick O'Daniel, the Andersons, the Leslies, Alex Slater at Trident, Caitlin Mulrooney-Lyski and Amanda Ng at Penguin, and Jon Cassir and Matthew Snyder at Creative Artists Agency.

Special thanks to my agent, Scott Miller at Trident Media, and my editor, Tom Colgan at Penguin.

 

 

 

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.

FRIEDRICH WILHELM NIETZSCHE

In Mexico, if you have a problem and turn to the police, then you have two problems.

LORENZO MEYER, MEXICAN HISTORIAN

The manhunter knelt at the front of the canoe, scanned the far bank as it appeared around the river's bend. Thick green rain forest morphed slowly into a rustic brown village, a settlement of hardpacked dirt and wood and corrugated rust built along the water's edge.

“This is it?” he called back to the Indian steering with the outboard motor. Only by necessity had his Portuguese improved in the past months.

“
Sim, senhor
. This is it.”

The manhunter nodded, reached for the radio tucked between his knees.

But he stayed himself. He needed to be certain.

Seven months. Seven months since the call came for him in Amsterdam. A rushed consultation with his employer, a flight across the Atlantic to Caracas, a mad dash to Lima, and then south.

Ever south. Until he and his prey came to the end of the world, and then the chase wound back to the north.

Ever north.

He'd been on the target's heels, to one degree or another, for all this time. The longest hunt of his storied career.

And it would end here. One way or another, the hunt for Courtland Gentry would end right here.

Outside Quito, the manhunter had come close. He'd even called in a kill team, but they'd gone wanting for a target. Foolish of him, a false start could dull their fervor the next time; he would not cry wolf again. He'd caught fresh wind of the target in northern Chile and a hint of him farther down the Pacific coast, but then he'd lost the scent in Punta Arenas.