Don Pendleton
The Libya Connection
The essential American is a man
who keeps his moral integrity hard
and intact, an isolate, almost selfless,
stoic enduring man who lives by death.
For mere vengeance I would do nothing.
This nation is too great to look for mere
revenge. But for the security of the future
I would do everything.
I live on the razor's edge that separates
the living from the dead. Vengeance is not
my sword. I fight only for the future of us all,
and it is an endless fight.
Mack Bolan, The Executioner (from his journal)
1
It was almost dawn.
The 125-foot yacht, ghostly silent, rode the calm surface of Exuma Cay, 230 nautical miles southeast of Miami. The smoothness of the water was like dark glass.
It did not look to be a scene just minutes short of shattering into hellfire and destruction.
But it was.
The big man broke the water's surface fifteen feet below the "pleasure craft's" stern.
He moved soundlessly from stern to bow, then wrapped hands and ankles around the heavy chain of the boat's anchor line. The dripping of the water was the first sound he had made.
Bolan moved as one with the darkness. He hoisted himself upward, rapidly.
The nightscorcher was outfitted for a hard, fast hit. At his right hip rode the formidable .44 AutoMag, "Big Thunder." Beneath his left arm was the 9mm Beretta Brigadier equipped with a silencer of Bolan's own design. Both weapons were protected by snap-sealed waterproof holsters. Hardpunch munitions rode dry in the waterproof pouch at his left hip. The slit pockets of his blacksuit carried garrotes and small knives. The suit, designed to Bolan's specifications, was skintight, nothing to get snagged or impede movement.