Armored is Mark Greaney's latest release.
If you've ever been struggling to support your family and maintain the most basic of lifestyles, you can relate to Josh Duffy (aka Duff) after having been an elite Close Protection Agent before losing the lower half of his left leg in a brutal battle trying to get his "primary" safely to a destination.
Back home years later, now a mall cop, of all the humiliating occupations for him, and truly in need of a higher paying job, Josh runs into a former friend who he knew while in the military. After talking with him, Josh asks if he'll put in a good word for the new assignment with a group called Armored Saints. Josh is familiar with their tainted reputation and that of their leader, but he's decided for the money his family desperately needs, he wants to be included and has determined they won't find out about his leg.
Josh's wife is a former Army Captain and also well aware of the ugly rep Armored Saints has established. Also working nights doing cleaning services and paying for a friend to watch their two young children, she knows they need a break, but fearing for her determined husband, she finally succumbs to his decision but not without helping him with final preparations.
As it turns out, this assignment has a group of men in superior armored vehicles escorting a UN group trying to establish a peaceful solution between the cartels in the Sierra Madre Mountains in order to avoid a war between them and between them and the Mexican army. It's a delicate balance and their attempt to do this with the cartel that presently owns the mountaintop of drug production and distribution is based on a tentative cooperation to this truce. Underlying the communications and unknown to the peacekeeping party is a man (Cordova) who is familiar with each of the cartels, proclaiming he is "just a consultant" to each group, pretending to favor none and being fair to all.
Greaney takes his time establishing this story, allowing characters to reveal pieces of themselves, slowly displaying the cunning Cordova, the willing betrayers, the foolish expectations of the diplomats, and the real concern of Josh and his fellow protection unit.
When the journey goes forward, yes, as the saying goes, all hell breaks loose. And the action in the story picks up at a frantic pace, leaving terrible destruction and more multiple layers of betrayal. With several exceedingly daring choices, the group with Josh suffers and strains to complete a new mission: survival. There are those twists Greaney always throws in near the end, definitely hard to see coming, and then provides a satisfactory conclusion to what could've been a total disaster.
(Reminiscent of an old NCIS episode that took place at the tip of South America, there was a similar betrayal/connection.)
If you're patient and want to get a feel for the cartels that operate the drug trade, Armored rolls out a bit slowly but when it cuts loose with the action, it's tough, taut, and treacherous to the near end.
(Profanity present.)
Father, may each one who's chosen to use the gifts and talents you've given them know from whom they've come. May you continue to bless Mark's writing endeavors. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.