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What Others Are Saying
About R.J. Patterson
“R.J. Patterson does a fantastic job at keeping you engaged and interested. I look forward to more from this talented author.”
- Aaron Patterson, bestselling author of SWEET DREAMS
“Patterson has a mean streak about a mile wide and puts his two main characters through quite a horrible ride, which makes for good reading.”
- Richard D., reader
“Like a John Grisham novel, from the very start I was pulled right into the story and couldn’t put the book down. It was as if I personally knew and cared about what happened to each of the main characters. Every chapter ended with so much excitement and suspense I had to continue to read until I learned how it ended, even though it kept me up until 3:00 A.M.
- Ray F., reader
DEAD SHOT
“Small town life in southern Idaho might seem quaint and idyllic to some. But when local newspaper reporter Cal Murphy begins to uncover a series of strange deaths that are linked to a sticky spider web of deception, the lid on the peaceful town is blown wide open. Told with all the energy and bravado of an old pro, first-timer R.J. Patterson hits one out of the park his first time at bat with Dead Shot. It’s that good.”
-Vincent Zandri, bestselling author of THE REMAINS
“You can tell R.J. knows what it’s like to live in the newspaper world, but with Dead Shot, he’s proven that he also can write one heck of a murder mystery.”
- Josh Katzowitz,
NFL writer for CBSSports.com
& author of Sid Gillman: Father of the Passing Game
DEAD LINE
“This book kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I didn’t really want to put it down. R.J. Patterson has hooked me. I’ll be back for more.”
- Bob Behler
3-time Idaho broadcaster of the year
and play-by-play voice for Boise State football
DEAD IN THE WATER
“In Dead in the Water, R.J. Patterson accurately captures the action-packed saga of a what could be a real-life college football scandal. The sordid details will leave readers flipping through the pages as fast as a hurry-up offense.”
- Mark Schlabach,
ESPN college sports columnist and
co-author of Called to Coach
Heisman: The Man Behind the Trophy
Other titles by R.J. Patterson
Titus Black series
Behind Enemy Lines
Game of Shadows
Rogue Commander
Brady Hawk series
First Strike
Deep Cover
Point of Impact
Full Blast
Target Zero
Fury
State of Play
Seige
Seek and Destroy
Into the Shadows
Hard Target
No Way Out
Two Minutes to Midnight
Against All Odds
Any Means Necessary
Vengeance
Code Red
A Deadly Force
Divide and Conquer
Extreme Measures
Cal Murphy Thriller series
Dead Shot
Dead Line
Better off Dead
Dead in the Water
Dead Man's Curve
Dead and Gone
Dead Wrong
Dead Man's Land
Dead Drop
Dead to Rights
Dead End
James Flynn Thriller series
The Warren Omissions
Imminent Threat
The Cooper Affair
Seeds of War
DIVIDE AND CONQUER
A Brady Hawk Novel
R.J. PATTERSON
For Paul Ragan, from storming the
beaches of Normandy to showing me
how to throw a knuckle ball, you were
one amazing man who I still miss deeply.
CHAPTER 1
12°09’28.5”S 96°49’41.2”E
Cocos Islands
Indian Ocean
BRADY HAWK WORMED HIS WAY across the sand, taking cover beneath the shrubbery growing about ten feet up the shore. A cool breeze brought a respite from the late afternoon heat typical on most tropical islands. He glanced at his watch and then peered through his binoculars at the designated meeting spot. No one had shown up yet.
“Is he there?” Alex asked over the coms.
“No sign of him,” Hawk said. “But he isn’t late yet.”
“In one more minute, he will be,” she said. “And this isn’t exactly the kind of place we can go charging into and inquiring about his whereabouts.”
Hawk sighed and shook his head, still keeping his eyes trained on the meeting spot, which was about twenty meters away on the shore of a small shaded inlet.
Alex was right, and he felt helpless to do anything about it.
Two days earlier, Hawk and Alex were meeting with their boss, Phoenix Foundation director J.D. Blunt, when he received a message from one of his back channel protocols set up when the organization was known as Firestorm. Blunt still kept them open just in case a friend of the group ever needed help. According to Blunt, no one had ever utilized the open line of communication—until now.
The asset’s name was Tyler Timmons, a former engineer at Colton Industries who worked several covert projects with Blunt’s team before disappearing four years ago. His car was found abandoned near the Hoover Dam along with a note saying he was sorry but he just couldn’t go on any more. Local law enforcement officials didn’t discover any signs of foul play and wrote it off as a suicide. Even Blunt had assumed suicide was the logical explanation. However, Timmons’s message changed Blunt’s mind.
Timmons reported that he had some information that was vital to national security, but he needed to be extracted from a remote island in the Indian Ocean. He warned Blunt about the facility’s tight security and suggested that they meet at a location accessible from the interior of the island with a quick escape route back to the water.
Hawk and Alex had arrived the day before on Blunt’s private jet, posing as researchers gathering information on the unique ecology of the atoll. They rented a boat and collected approved samples, all while secretly scouting the best exit strategy from the portion of the island where they were to meet Timmons. Once Hawk and Alex secured the engineer, they’d need to get to the airport on the southwestern portion of the atoll and leave immediately.
Everything was in place to carry out the extraction except for one thing: Timmons.
“It’s a minute past noon,” Alex said. “Is this guy coming or not?”
“Still nothing,” Hawk said.
“The longer this goes, the more I’m starting to feel like this is a trap.”
“Just be patient.”
Hawk scanned the area once more and noticed movement through the
