Prologue
Afghanistan
July 2007
“We have only this one chance,” General Iain MacDonald said in a harsh but low whisper to the younger man by his side.
Group Captain Lord Hugh Smith, the 15th Earl of Lakeside, a billionaire, and one of the deadliest snipers in the United Kingdom, with more kills under his belt than he cared to remember, nodded at the general as he peeked over the edge of the cliff, careful to not give away their location.
Hugh was patient, measured, and soft-spoken; a calm, stabilizing anchor when things were otherwise flying off in all directions.
The perfect man for the job. And he would not disappoint the older man.
General MacDonald had been childhood friends with Hugh’s father, Air Marshal Lord Hammond Smith, and upon Smith’s death he had taken Hugh and his broth
