Free The Arab Fall (A James Acton Thriller, Book #6) (James Acton Thrillers) by J. Robert Kennedy

had
retired young in his mind, mid-forties. When he had been promoted to a desk
after being wounded on a mission in Afghanistan, he had labored long and hard
to recover fully so he could return to active duty, but it wasn’t to be. He had
gone crazy with paperwork before he could return himself to the physical
condition a soldier in the Special Air Service needed to be. They were
Britain’s elite soldiers, the best of the best, and there was no way he would
let himself return to them unless he was in top form.
    It would
put the rest at risk.
    So he
had retired, and taken the gig as Professor Laura Palmer’s head of security.
When he had first heard of the position, he had laughed, then cried a little
inside at the thought of what had become of his life. One day he was a super
soldier, killing the enemy and protecting his country, and the next, he was a
babysitter to some woman and her children in Egypt.
    But he
had recruited a few of the lads from the unit that had rotated out for various
reasons, or followed him out, and created his own firm, with four of them here
in Egypt now, another four in Peru at Professor Acton’s dig site.
    When he
had heard what had happened to the professors—and even that was through the
news and through friends in the know since the Profs never talked about it—he
had been gobsmacked. And after working with them for a couple of years, he had
come to respect them, and even admire them.
    And he
had quickly decided they needed to be trained if they were going to survive the
ordeals they continually found themselves in. Professor Acton already had a
fair amount of training from his days in the National Guard and his time in
theatre during Desert Storm, and with Leather’s guidance, Acton’s old training
quickly came back, and he excelled at the advanced self-defense techniques
Leather and his men would teach. Professor Palmer had come green, but had no
fear. The woman was remarkable in Leather’s mind, not afraid to try anything, and
would insist on continuing until she got it right.
    They
were ideal students who were appreciative of his efforts, and he took some
pride in hearing about some of their exploits, and how his training had saved
their asses on more than one occasion.
    Which
was why when they had suggested the students be trained as well, he had jumped
at it. These kids were going to be working in hotspots all around the world,
and living in cities that were becoming more and more violent. Knowing how to
take care of yourself not only gave confidence, but it allowed you to not only
help yourself when needed, but others too.
    And with
the disaster Egypt was turning into, these students may need the skills sooner
than he hoped.
    “Look.”
    He
followed the outstretched arm of Sergeant Hewlett and saw a puff of dust on the
horizon, then a second. He gunned the engine and sped along the top of a ridge,
closing the distance then skidded to a halt, jumping up onto the driver’s seat,
his binoculars already at his eyes.
    “Two men
on horseback, armed. AK’s most likely.”
    Hewlett,
also standing on his seat, nodded.
    “Dressed
like Bedouins. What do you think?”
    “I think
we’re being watched. We’ll do a loop around the camp, just to see if there are
others, then I think it’s time to increase security.”
    They
both dropped into their seats and Leather gunned the engine, the jeep surging
forward as they made their round. Two curious Bedouins didn’t concern him too
much, but his encounters with them in the past showed them to be bold warriors,
who wouldn’t have run just because two white guys showed up in a jeep.
    This was
something different.
    And
Leather knew from the tingling running up and down his spine that this was more
than what it appeared.
     
     
     

 
     
    Tarik’s Residence, Alexandria, Egypt
    30 BC, Seven Weeks After Cleopatra’s Death
     
    Tarik and Jabari sat quietly on the veranda overlooking the Nile, it
now evening, the sun having just set behind