Agent in Place

Written by Mark Greaney & Reviewed by The Green Vegetable

Court Gentry aka the Grey Man is a prisoner with over 40 others about to be executed near Al-Azzam lake in Syria.  This will also serve as the climax of the book, a move I go back and forth on all the time.  This was an example of me not liking it, as it didn’t enhance the story by informing us at the beginning.  The more likely motive for doing this was that the opening (chapter two) is slow and so an artificial shot of literary adrenaline was needed on page one.  Red Flag.

Dr Tarek Halaby is a rich middle eastern doctor in France that supplies medical equipment and triage to the free Syria resistance fighters. He hires Court through a contact in Monte Carlo to kill President Al-Azzam.  Court goes to Paris fashion week posing as a photographer.  His target is a runway model named Bianca.  Court snuck into her hotel room that night with plans to execute her after she fell asleep, but a bodyguard appears in her balcony. Three professionals appear with machine guns below…

And of course he was there to save her from the ISIS threats below, despite taking the contract for her. Anyway they escape by jumping the hotel balcony and then engage in silly gunfire and even sillier physics.  They escape.  Court and Bianca go to Tarek Halaby at his safe house. His wife is there too and addresses Bianca in Arabic before they chat in another room.  Court leaves angrily because of Tarek and Rima’s amateurism. They mention they did not expect Daesh (of ISIS) to try to kill her tonight. They think their boss monsieur Vincent Voland may be feeding them bad intel. Rima confronts Bianca. She knows that Bianca is the mistress of Ahmed Azzam, president of Syria. And his wife Shakira just tried to convince ISIS to have her killed.

Turns out the wife Shakira is the real pitbull. She arranged the hit on Bianca by using her own mistress, some Swiss named Sebastian Drexler. Google says the male form of mistress is master, but I’m not honoring that.  Sebastian is her mistress and he visits her palace in Damascus to inform her of the ISIS failure on Bianca.

The Syrian doctors want Bianca to admit that her mistress Ahmed has been secretly meeting with the supreme leader of Iran in order to antagonize the Russians who are bogarting Syrian resources and military capabilities in Syria. This should sow discord and bring an end to the suffering of innocent Syrian people. Bianca says no and demands to return to Syria because she has a love child Jamal with Ahmed in Damascus.

Shakira had a son, but he died at six, hence her husband’s affair and bastard child. So she must kill Bianca to preserve her own continuity. She employs Sebastian to go to Paris and kill Bianca. Conveniently his contact there is Henri Sauvage, a French cop who has the line to Tarek and his wife that was introduced earlier.

Tarek and Rima try and temporarily fail to persuade Court to rescue the baby in Syria. And then comes what I consider to be the weakest element of this story:  motive.  It’s super weak.  He walks around the block and changes his mind because he knows the doctors are in over their head.  He returns to their apartment at the precise moment the dirty cops arrived, which of course he magically recognized from memory because of the night before.

Court kills the two dirty cops that were interrogating the two doctors, then has a 007esque chat on the phone with the villain that was piped in via speakerphone. Court then tells Tarek to do some favor for him in exchange for the baby kidnapping, then all three flee the apartment separately.

Chapter eighteen was a boring Sebastian aka Eric aka master aka the mistress chapter. Exposition about his Swiss laundering past that got him to Syria and the Azzams. He gets a call from Henri about his dead cops at the apartment, then somehow magically deduces that some guy named Vincent Voland (the monsieur from earlier) is snooping around Paris police HQ (‘the 36’ in esoteric circles). Then President Azzam calls him to have a meeting at 11 pm.

Court finds this Vincent frog by having Tarek set up a fake meeting. Court learns of Sebastian Drexler’s involvement and of course has history with him. He gets Vincent to admit to subterfuge in using the doctors to lure Drexler to Paris via Bianca. Court demands a meet with Bianca.  Azzam hires Sebastian to go to Paris and retrieve Bianca. He admits to Drexler that Bianca is his mistress. Court talks to Bianca and tells him about an upcoming trip Ahmad is making. And she tells Court he must kidnap the au per Yasmin as well to take care of the baby during transport.  Court plans to sneak into Syria, steal the royal baby, then flee south to Jordan with the baby and Yasmin. He does not trust Voland and keeps him in the dark.

Some random thug named Malik arrives and nabs Henri Sauvage and threatens him unless he finds Bianca.  Lars Klossner is some additional bad guy that trains bad guys living in Germany. Court finds him and miraculously, he has a job in Syria that starts tomorrow! How convenient for Court and the plot. He will be masquerading as a member of the desert hawk brigade which is apparently very bad people. A real eye rolling chapter to be honest.  Drexler goes to a prison north of Damascus and kills a guy that looks like him, then has surgery to graft his fingerprints. Gimme a break, but apparently this is how he’s sneaking into France despite being unwelcome for years now.

Court lands in Syria, he links up with some guy Saunders who takes him to the convoy that’s traveling to their destination. Convoy includes the desert brigade, Al qaeda and ISIS and Russians. They will be getting shot at by insurgents (and Free Syria Union) during the long drive.  Drexler gets to France via Tussua and his silly fake fingerprints. He approaches the Swiss bankers handling Shakira’s money and requests transfer out of Damascus permanently. They don’t like the idea because it involves deceiving Shakira, their primary customer, but they agree to assist.  But only after he satisfies their client Shakira by killing Bianca.  Then he can fake his own death before being sent wherever he likes. He leaves the meeting to find Malik, the man tasked by Azzam to rescue Bianca.

Court hangs with his new convoy posse at their base. They sneak out to drink at some nearby bar. Court needs a phone so he can call Bianca for Jamal’s location now that he’s in the country.  Drexler, Malik, and an upset Henri Sauvage begin the approach to Bianca’s location with their team. Meanwhile, Court nabs a phone from some rival militia in the bar and a fight starts when the man can’t find his phone. After the big fight, everyone is arrested but Court. He grabs the phone and decides baby time is right now!

Court finds his one pal Walid and tosses him in the trunk and takes his clothes like he’s about to sneak around the Death Star. He calls Bianca, she gives him directions and a way to establish authenticity with Yasmin. Rima says she has a surgeon friend near the baby that Court can rely on if necessary.

Henri and Malik and Drexler case the Bianca safe house. As soon as Drexler IDs Vincent Voland he aborts the team mission and removes his weapons and approaches the house.  Drexler enters the safe house and knows everybody. He demands to speak to Vincent alone and alerts the guards to his team on standby with Malik.  Drexler tells Vincent he’s surrounded and that his only option is to hand over Bianca who he intends to protect (lie).  He also offers Vincent future work for his compliance. Vincent leaves the room to speak to the doctors.  The doctors ain’t having it, they refuse to surrender.   Tarek is shot and Malik’s men raid the house. Rima claims to have killed Bianca and set fire to her body. She is shot by Malik as flames consumed the farmhouse. Drexler is pleased nonetheless.

Court gets the baby and Yasmin, but they need to stock up on the formula (and car keys) sitting in the kitchen with all the mean guards.  Court, Yasmin, and the baby sneak into the Range Rover and flee from the gunfire.  Lots of hijinks and guns and switching cars and Court’s gang are headed toward Jordan.  Chapter fifty was not good. Court calls Vincent. Vincent tells him doctors and Bianca are dead. As a result, the baby is now worthless to Azzam (Syria has a strict no bastard policy) so Court no longer has any leverage to return. So Court decides he’s going to surveil Azzam because he knows where he’ll be from things he’s overheard during his convoy larping. So Vincent can extract Yasmin and the baby while Court hunts Azzam. What a truly poor motive. Even the other characters are remarking on Court’s thin motive. The writing and momentum has gotten better but the story is crap. Anyway, Court is abandoning the Jordan plan and now they’re seeking out the surgeon friend in Damascus that Rima told him about.

Surprise surprise, Bianca is alive!  And would you look at that, the first car she sees just so happens to have Henri Sauvage in the backseat with “Syrian embassy” in the front. Damn what a huge misstep for this book. Really lame and contrived plot point to keep the story from collapsing.  Dr Saddiqi, Rima’s surgeon friend, is explained the scenario and Court tells him to babysit the two while he does his thing. He plans to return to his desert hawk gig to continue his mission.

Bianca is detained wherever the hell they are in France. Malik and Henri and Drexler are all there. Drexler updates Shakira, who is pissed because Bianca is still alive. Drexler plans to go to Syria to return Bianca, then flee to Russia. But he plans to crash the plane with Bianca and Malik and will use Henri’s body to make it look like he was on the plane too. That satisfies his mission to Shakira, it exonerates him to Azzam and it satisfies the Swiss bankers that allowed him to fake his death to get away from Azzam and Shakira.

Voland (wherever he is) stews about Drexler and laments his next steps to get the baby out of Syria. He still thinks Bianca is dead. He finds the passport Drexler used to enter the country though the fingerprints don’t match. But now he begins his hunt.

Azzam received a call from Bianca but he is skeptical of her now and does not admit Jamal is missing. After she hangs up, Malik says change of plans, they’re driving to Athens, then boarding a ship to Syria because Vincent clearly alerted the authorities to their presence. Drexler is pissed, but sees further opportunity to work this out for him. Again, they agree to keep Henri along for the ride.

Court fights some peer named Broz because the guys don’t trust him now on account of his superhuman abilities during combat as well as his moral compass that keeps angering him when they slaughter innocents. The boss van Wyk breaks it up, then
Court says he speaks Russian, so they bring Court toward the comm center where he can ostensibly process some intel for Vincent while translating Russian for his Arabic comrades.  Court deduces the Where, but not exactly the When of Azzam’s visit. But it should be enough intel to feed Vincent. He also gives slightly inaccurate gps coordinates to Russian allies in the hope it saves innocent lives.

Vincent magically knows somehow that Drexler may try to flee via ship and adjusts his hunt accordingly. Sigh. Not seeing a chance to reach out to Vincent regarding Azzam’s arrival, Court instigates the nearby enemy by using a cd to flash their position via glints with the sun. The enemies notice and arrive, taking Court prisoner.  But how convenient, it was actually a Free Syria Army unit that picked up Court and they’re led by an American. Court convinces him he’s a good guy then gets a sat phone to call Matt Hanley, dCIA.  Court and Hanley chat and Hanley tacitly approves Court going rogue to eliminate Azzam. Then Hanley makes a mysterious phone call??? (this was never paid off to my knowledge btw)

Court deduces that the Russians are resurrecting the airport near Palmyra and that’s why Azzam is visiting. Court’s given a terp (interpreter) and supplies and a few guys to make the trip near Palmyra and set up a sniper nest. Drexler, Malik, Henri, Bianca and three men hole up in Athens until their ship to Syria arrives in the morning. Bianca begins to wear down Henri to help her escape her captors.

Voland’s software gets a hit and there’s footage of Drexler and his gang in Greece, including Bianca, so Vincent now knows she’s alive.  Hmmm, Drexler secretly gives Henri a gun to kill two men tomorrow as they walk to the ship, claiming Malik plans to kill them both anyway. Henri takes this info to Bianca and they secretly plan to take Drexler as well when Henri makes his move tomorrow.

Court and the terp arrive to their planned nest, but their building is destroyed. They find another nest, but it’s too far for Court to make the shot. A VIP plane arrives in the AM - the airport is already functioning.

Vincent arrived just in time for the Malik shootout in the Greek alleys. He rescues Bianca, but she wants to “die in Syria with Jamal” now. All the others are dead but Drexler, who is snatched by the Syrian skiffers before authorities arrive on the scene.

Court fires off two shots near Azzam and then lined up a third. (They’re so far it takes 7.5 seconds for the bullet to reach him). Azzam is hit by shrapnel but not critical. They make for his plane where the other two from Court’s team hopefully can take him.  A Russian helo deduces where Court is and blows up the building. Him and terp are captured by ISIS while fleeing.

Yasmin and Bianca’s baby make their escape via a coordinated helicopter rescue and reunite with Bianca at a Jordanian air base.  This baby was really the central point and mcguffin to everyone’s story, yet it ended up being so anticlimactic.  And this scene underscores and exemplifies that.  What an underwhelming reunion that should’ve been the emotional high water mark of the book.  The baby made for some fun comedic beats with Court as he struggled to care for it, but otherwise what a dead end dud of a detail.

And chapter seventy eight sounds like the return to the prologue. Court and the terp at Lake Azzam about to die, but Court goes Wolverine and saves many of the prisoners about to be executed.  Court and the terp are rescued. Azzam was killed by terrorists (off page) and Court is given a sat phone to speak with Vincent who confirms the safety of Jamal, but also that Bianca is alive!  The reader doesn’t care as we’ve known all these things for pages and pages now.  Normally third acts are overly complicated and so bogged down that the story suffers tremendously.  This one was planned and calculated well, but the author decided to waste all the meticulous outlining by having most of the resolutions happen off the page.

In the epilogue, Shakira and Drexler escape to Switzerland now that Azzam is dead. Court finds them with Vincent’s help and kills her. He maims Drexler before he jumps off the balcony, fate unknown. Court calls Suzanne Brewer for his next mission…

This franchise has a serious motive problem.  There’s just no reason for Court take on the missions that he takes on.  He has nothing to live for, and the first few books always focused on the “one last job” trope before Court would ride into the sunset.  Unfortunately, the only thing Grey about this Man is the reason to keep reading more of these books.

The only comparable persona that comes to mind would be an elder person who has lost their family, but has continued to work at the same place they’ve always worked at for however many years now.  There’s a part of him that doesn’t even know why he keeps getting up and going to work in the morning, as he has plenty of his own cash saved up and no one else left to spend it on.  But for some reason, probably something rooted in comfort or familiarity, there he is every morning when the business opens.  Court (and his future books) could probably learn a thing or two from what makes this kind of person tick.