Free Fall: A Prelude to Hidden Order

By Brad Thor

The prelude to Hidden Order, Brad Thor's riveting and pulse-pounding Scot Harvath thriller.

Experience the suspense and thrills only Brad Thor can write in Free Fall, the shocking prelude to Hidden Order.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books
• Release date: Jun 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781476756363

Brad Thor

Brad Thor is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-three thrillers, including Dead Fall, Black Ice (ThrillerFix Best Thriller of the Year), Near Dark (one of Suspense Magazine’s Best Books of the Year), Backlash (nominated for the Barry Award for Best Thriller of the Year), Spymaster (named “One of the all-time best thriller novels” —The Washington Times), The Last Patriot (nominated Best Thriller of the Year by the International Thriller Writers association), and Blowback (one of the “Top 100 Killer Thrillers of All Time” —NPR). Visit his website at BradThor.com and follow him on Facebook @BradThorOfficial, on Instagram @RealBradThor, and on X @BradThor.

Book preview

Cover: Free Fall, by Brad Thor

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

Free Fall, by Brad Thor, Emily Bestler Books

GULF OF ADEN

INDIAN OCEAN

JUST OFF THE SOMALI COAST

Through the hazy-green of Scot Harvath’s night-vision goggles, it looked like an illusion. The infrared markers, which had been carefully laid out on the rear deck of the ship beneath him, should have been floating—rolling with the swell of the ocean—waiting for him, not racing up to meet him like tracer fire. He was coming in way too fast.

He’d had no choice. The wind had changed, and coming in quickly was the only way to keep up with the speed of the enormous vessel. There was no other way to do this. It had to be tonight.

They might wait weeks for another moonless night like this, but by then, all the hostages could be dead.

It had to be tonight and it had to be moonless, because that was the only way a dangerous, borderline-psychotic insertion like this could ever possibly work.

Most of the operators Harvath had approached had simply shaken their heads. You didn’t parachute onto a supertanker in the middle of the night, in the middle of a shark-infested ocean, and you didn’t do it with only four guys and expect to take control of the vessel. You used a minimum of eight guys and you snuck up on the hijackers by using one of their own resupply boats. That was how you took pirates by surprise. At least, that was what the previous team had thought.

The supertanker Sienna Star was a vessel owned by a Maltese shipping conglomerate, crewed by Greeks, and insured out of the United Kingdom. Politically, its hijacking was a maritime nightmare. The government most responsible for resolving the standoff was the Maltese, but it had no firepower in the Indian Ocean.

In response to the exorbitant ransom demand, the insurance company had stepped up and sent in a team it had used in similar hijackings. The results this time, though, had been disastrous. The team had not only used the same tactics they had employed in the past, but they assumed their enemy was unsophisticated, and they discounted the hijackers’ ability to network and trade intelligence with other pirates. When the rescue team showed up, the Somalis were ready for them.

The attempt not only failed, but the pirates were so angry, they executed the ship’s navigator as a warning against any future attempts. They also increased their ransom demand, ratcheting it above the conglomerate’s coverage.

The insurance company recommended that the shipping company put up the difference and that, together, they pay the hijackers off. But although the owners of the Sienna Star were ready to spend money, there was no way in hell they were going to do so to buy back their own ship.

They knew all too well that if they paid this time, there’d be another hijacking in the future, and another after that. Someone needed to send a crystal-clear message that their ships, and more important, their crews, were not to be trifled with.

The key to getting that message

Reviews for Free Fall

[thomas rea · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book n a must read to continue the collection

[jfe16 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Review of eBookReed Carlton, the former Central Intelligence Agency operative who created that organization’s counterterrorism center, now heads The Carlton Group, a private intelligence and counterterrorism organization. And, thanks to a disastrous previous mission, he now finds himself in need of business. So he agrees to a mission to rescue the crew of the supertanker “Sierra Star,” currently being held hostage by a group of Somali pirates.On a moonless night, Scot Harvath, Matt Sanchez, Pat Kass, and John Dean parachute onto the deck of the “Sienna Star” to rescue the crew. All proceeds relatively smoothly until they discover that the pirates have separated the crew . . . and they must recover the entire crew.Will they succeed in their mission?First, readers should be aware that this is a prequel, a short but action-packed introduction to the characters and the evolving story of “Hidden Order.” It’s no secret that “Free Fall” is neither a complete book nor a complete story. It says so, right in the title.Following “Free Fall,” readers will find the prologue and the first three chapters of “Hidden Order” in which Claire Marcourt becomes a victim in some as-yet-unnamed operation while case officer Lydia Ryan finds herself in a troubling position. And the story of Scot Harvath and the rescue team continues as they work to complete their mission.“Free Fall” begins with a tension-filled opening and never lets up. The undercurrent of tension running throughout the telling of the tale serves to keep the reader on edge as the unfolding action-filled story races along. A strong sense of place and believable, nuanced characters draw the reader into the narrative while surprises and plot twists continue to ramp up the suspense. It’s a power-packed introduction to an electrifying thriller.Recommended.

[PeterTurnbull · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Short story but very enjoyable. I shall be reading more in this series.

[wongxu · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is such a great teaser for Brad Thor’s Hidden Order. I’m a big fan of the Scot Harvath series and this one got me excited only to end abruptly with so many questions unanswered.

[mswallack_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A fun, quick little action sequence. Thor is probably at his best with the sort of action that takes place in this story. My criticism is not of the story itself, but rather of the decision to pull it out of the beginning of Hidden Order where it clearly belonged and "sell" it separately (yes, I know it was free). Many readers may not realize that this story was published or, if they don't have an eBook, may not have had access to it, and will thus, I think, be a bit cheated by the way Hidden Order begins (with the clear assumption that the reader has read Free Fall.