The first shot is never
where the war begins.

James Cuthbert Series / Book One

The assignment was routine.
The war behind it was not.

James Cuthbert left Army Special Operations believing the hardest battles were behind him. Now he takes the contracts nobody else will touch, alongside a team of former soldiers and intelligence officers who know exactly what violence costs.

When a security assignment in East Africa reveals signs of deliberate destabilization, Cuthbert begins pulling at a thread that reaches far beyond the battlefield. Somewhere beyond the smoke, Abshir Hassan is turning wars into opportunities - and human lives into pieces on a board only he can see.

“By the time conflict begins, the outcome was decided long ago.”