The warm, humid air, the crashing surf, the shots of tequila all coalesced to create a situation of overwhelming sexual tension. And then they arrived at the private villa overlooking the tranquil beach.

Neither knowing for sure if it would ever go to that next level.

The tension had built for the better part of a year. There had been signposts furtive glances, comments made only half in jest. This moment had not been part of the plan, but it shouldn’t have surprised him. His body was pressed against hers front to back, her head resting on his arm. Mitch Rapp ran his hand along her smooth, naked thigh, up to her waist, and then down along her flat stomach. But when a back-channel meeting between CIA director Irene Kennedy and her Iranian counterpart goes disastrously wrong, Rapp is locked in a showdown with a Hezbollah mastermind in league with Amatullah-and he is given twenty-four hours to do whatever it takes to stop unthinkable catastrophe. Seeing opportunity where others fear reprisals, Mitch Rapp devises a brilliant plan to humiliate Iran’s government and push the nation to the brink of revolution. The attack leaves a radioactive tomb and environmental disaster in its wake, and has Iranian president Amatullah calling for blood-American blood. No longer willing to wait for the international community to stop its neighboring enemy, Israel brings down Iran’s billion-dollar nuclear program in an ingeniously conceived operation. Counterterrorist agent Mitch Rapp is on a collision course with America’s most feared enemy in this white-knuckle thriller from “the best pure adrenaline-charged action writer out there” ( The Providence Journal) and #1 New York Times bestselling author of American Assassin.

Mitch rapp protect and defend