Cut Out Man

CUT OUT MAN They told him she was dead. They were wrong. Cole Walker used to do the kind of work governments don't put in writing. Now he's trying to stay retired when a former intelligence officer finds him in Miami with a job that can't go through official channels. Fourteen months ago, CIA case officer Patricia Marlowe disappeared into the Colombian interior. The Agency declared her dead and closed the file. But she's alive. And she's not hiding. Marlowe has gone completely off the grid and built something in the jungle: an organized, disciplined armed network protecting displaced families and communities caught between a ruthless cartel and a system powerful enough to keep the truth buried. Cole's mission is simple. Find Marlowe. Bring her home. Keep the whole thing quiet. Then he starts discovering what his employer isn't telling him. A Colombian cartel called Caldera has been systematically clearing villages and seizing their land. A powerful enforcement chief named Luis Garza runs the violence. Government operations against the cartel mysteriously disappear. Evidence points toward shell companies, financial transfers, American contractors, and an intelligence operation buried so deeply inside the system that almost nobody is authorized to see the whole picture. And Marlowe knows exactly what happened. The deeper Cole goes, the harder it becomes to tell the difference between the people he's supposed to protect and the people he's supposed to stop. When a compromised contact leads him into an ambush, Cole realizes someone is actively hunting Marlowe-and that the enemy may have access to information that should never have left American intelligence channels. Then the attacks begin. Marlowe's positions are hit simultaneously. Hundreds of civilians have to disappear into the jungle before the cartel finds them. Cole is wounded, hunted, and increasingly convinced that the mission he accepted in Miami was never the mission he was actually sent to accomplish. Because some secrets aren't protected by one corrupt man. They're protected by an entire system. And when Cole finally comes face-to-face with the people who built it, he has to decide what matters more: following orders-or doing the job he knows is right. CUT OUT MAN is a gritty, intelligent action thriller packed with covert operations, CIA espionage, black ops, military intelligence, Colombian cartel violence, jungle warfare, assassins, undercover missions, international intrigue, conspiracy, corruption, and relentless action. If you like Lee Child, Jack Carr, David Baldacci, Mark Greaney, Jason Bourne-style espionage, hard-edged military thrillers, covert operative heroes, and international conspiracy thrillers, Cole Walker is waiting. The Agency cut her out. The cartel wants her dead. And Cole Walker is about to become the one man neither side can control.