Don Pendleton: Dying Art

DEADLY BLOWBACK

Two high-ranking American customs officials are murdered at a luxury Mexican resort, and the rare artifact they were investigating goes missing. Was the motive terrorism? Mack Bolan’s ultrahoned instincts say something far more sinister is at work. And when he rescues a possible witness to the crime, The Executioner also becomes a target...

Bolan’s merciless hunt for the truth pits him against a vengeful Mexican drug lord and a brilliant weapons contractor—and puts him in the crosshairs of a cutting-edge weapon designed for ultimate carnage. Now he must not only protect the witness, but two major world leaders and hundreds of innocents. And to do so, The Executioner will wreak hard-core, scorched-earth justice...one explosive showdown at a time.

#375 Salvador Strike

#376 Frontier Fury

#377 Desperate Cargo

#378 Death Run

#379 Deep Recon

#380 Silent Threat

#381 Killing Ground

#382 Threat Factor

#383 Raw Fury

#384 Cartel Clash

#385 Recovery Force

#386 Crucial Intercept

#387 Powder Burn

#388 Final Coup

#389 Deadly Command

#390 Toxic Terrain

#391 Enemy Agents

#392 Shadow Hunt

#393 Stand Down

#394 Trial by Fire

#395 Hazard Zone

#396 Fatal Combat

#397 Damage Radius

#398 Battle Cry

#399 Nuclear Storm

#400 Blind Justice

#401 Jungle Hunt

#402 Rebel Trade

#403 Line of Honor

#404 Final Judgment

#405 Lethal Diversion

#406 Survival Mission

#407 Throw Down

#408 Border Offensive

#409 Blood Vendetta

#410 Hostile Force

#411 Cold Fusion

#412 Night’s Reckoning

#413 Double Cross

#414 Prison Code

#415 Ivory Wave

#416 Extraction

#417 Rogue Assault

#418 Viral Siege

#419 Sleeping Dragons

#420 Rebel Blast

#421 Hard Targets

#422 Nigeria Meltdown

#423 Breakout

#424 Amazon Impunity

#425 Patriot Strike

#426 Pirate Offensive

#427 Pacific Creed

#428 Desert Impact

#429 Arctic Kill

#430 Deadly Salvage

#431 Maximum Chaos

#432 Slayground

#433 Point Blank

#434 Savage Deadlock

#435 Dragon Key

#436 Perilous Cargo

#437 Assassin’s Tripwire

#438 The Cartel Hit

#439 Blood Rites

#440 Killpath

#441 Murder Island

#442 Syrian Rescue

#443 Uncut Terror

#444 Dark Savior

#445 Final Assault

#446 Kill Squad

#447 Missile Intercept

#448 Terrorist Dispatch

#449 Combat Machines

#450 Omega Cult

#451 Fatal Prescription

#452 Death List

#453 Rogue Elements

#454 Enemies Within

#455 Chicago Vendetta

#456 Thunder Down Under

#457 Dying Art

Dying Art

Don Pendleton

ISBN: 978-1-474-08614-1

Special thanks and Acknowledgement are given to Michael A. Black for his contribution to this work.

DYING ART

© 2018 Harlequin Enterprises Ltd

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Worldwide Gold Eagle, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

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Bolan heard gunshots ring out inside the room.

The Executioner delivered a powerful kick, and the door flew inward, bouncing against the wall.

Romero lay on the floor. His face was canted to the left, his sightless right eye staring at nothing as a crimson pool soaked into the carpet beneath his head. No one else was in the room, but the window had been smashed out.

A blood trail wound toward the window, and more smears of red decorated the wall next to it. Bolan sprinted to the opening and chanced a quick look. Twenty feet below, the black van revved its engine, then started to roar away from the scene, the rear door partially open. A hand holding an MP5 jutted from the rear and fired another blast of rounds skittering off the side of the building.

Bolan ducked back. By the time he was able to return fire, the van was no longer in sight. He’d been too late...

The best weapon against an enemy is another enemy.

—Friedrich Nietzsche

The road I’ve chosen hasn’t been an easy one to travel, but anything worthwhile seldom is. I’m committed to justice. And I will follow a money trail to the end. Count on it.

—Mack Bolan

Nothing less than a war could have fashioned the destiny of the man called Mack Bolan. Bolan earned the Executioner title in the jungle hell of Vietnam.

But this soldier also wore another name—Sergeant Mercy. He was so tagged because of the compassion he showed to wounded comrades-in-arms and Vietnamese civilians.

Mack Bolan’s second tour of duty ended prematurely when he was given emergency leave to return home and bury his family, victims of the Mob. Then he declared a one-man war against the Mafia.

He confronted the Families head-on from coast to coast, and soon a hope of victory began to appear. But Bolan had broken society’s every rule. That same society started gunning for this elusive warrior—to no avail.

So Bolan was offered amnesty to work within the system against terrorism. This time, as an employee of Uncle Sam, Bolan became Colonel John Phoenix. With a command center at Stony Man Farm in Virginia, he and his new allies—Able Team and Phoenix Force—waged relentless war on a new adversary: the KGB.

But when his one true love, April Rose, died at the hands of the Soviet terror machine, Bolan severed all ties with Establishment authority.

Now, after a lengthy lone-wolf struggle and much soul-searching, the Executioner has agreed to enter an “arm’s-length” alliance with his government once more, reserving the right to pursue personal missions in his Everlasting War.