Sneak Peak 1: HAMMER

At an elevation of ten thousand feet and a cruising speed of one hundred and seventy nautical miles per hour, the Cessna 208 Caravan turboprop sliced through the darkness as it made its way over Marfa, Texas, flying south towards the U.S.-Mexico border. One of its passengers glared out of the aircraft’s window towards the ground and took note of the remote town’s sparse lights. Seated to his left, a man topped off a magazine with 115-grain hollow point ammunition. He favored the round for its deep tissue penetration and expansion capabilities upon impact with human flesh and bone. Loading the magazine in his 9mm suppressed pistol, equipped with a Holosun 507C X2 Red Dot sight, he racked the slide to chamber a round, completed a press check, and shoved the weapon into the tactical holster attached to his right leg. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and briefly contemplated the task ahead.

His traveling companion ran a thumb along the blade of his Gerber Reserve Terracraft tactical knife, checking the edge of its blade before returning it to the leather sheath attached to his belt. Retrieving a handheld thermal monocular from his rucksack, he confirmed the device’s charge level was adequate and that its calibration mode was set to automatic. He returned the monocular to the rucksack and unzipped a separate small compartment on the side of the pack. Retrieving a small glass vial and unscrewing its top, he methodically tapped his forefinger against the outer surface of the vial, depositing two thick lines of cocaine on the tray table situated over his lap. He inhaled the lines, one through each nostril, and ran the remaining residue from the table over his teeth and gums with his forefinger.

This was not their first execution, nor would it be their last.