PART 1: THE KILL BOX The Kunar Valley doesn’t look like a graveyard at dawn. It looks like a painting—jagged peaks washed in…

PART 1: THE GHOST IN THE RAIN   They told me to wait in the rain while the “real” snipers handled business. I…

PART 1: THE GHOST IN THE GLASS The white tank top and faded Levi’s didn’t belong on a Marine Corps rifle range. Neither…

PART 1: The Ghost in the Machine   The smell of JP-8 jet fuel is distinctive. It’s a greasy, sweet, chemical scent that…

PART 1 The rain in Brookdale doesn’t wash things away; it buries them. It was a gray, relentless curtain that had been falling…

PART 1: THE UNMASKING   The sound of a human bone snapping is distinct. It doesn’t sound like a dry branch breaking under…

PART 1 I didn’t park with the other parents. Habit is a difficult thing to kill, harder than a man, harder than a…

PART 1: THE TRAP   The amber light of the Riverside Grill reflected against the windowpane, turning the glass into a dark mirror.…

Part 1: The Invisible Man   The thing about being invisible is that you hear everything. You see the things people hide when…

PART 1 The first rule of survival is that you never truly stop running; you just change the pace. My hands moved over…