The silence in the small staging area—a natural depression in the rocks of the cove—was heavier than the roar of the command helicopter that had just lifted away. It was a strained, tactical silence, thick with ozone, adrenaline, and the chilling certainty of impending blood. My men were arrayed around me, black shapes against the low, damp scrub, their faces obscured by balaclavas, their eyes flat and ready. Domenico's elite counter-terrorism unit was positioned slightly further back, ...