Cross Down

Sampson and Deacon, decked out in tactical gear, discuss Carr’s death and Maynard’s latest attack on their former team. They get into her car but find Maynard’s men at the end of the road. Thanks to her driving skill, they escape their would-be assassins.

Sampson and Deacon arrive in New Hampshire at Bastinelli’s compound. Aside from Sampson and Deacon, Bastinelli is the only surviving member of the Afghanistan mission two years prior. They find his house situated at the end of a concealed driveway, and he announces they have only 30 minutes to plead their case.

Bastinelli and Sampson exchange chit-chat about their respective families, then Deacon explains the nuances of her role in the Afghanistan mission. She dropped off money to resistance fighters, left observation platforms on trailheads, and was meant to meet with a tribal leader who never showed up. Bastinelli says that from his position, he heard something large, like a B-52 Arc-Light, which matches the deceased Ruiz’s story about a village being leveled.

Sampson recalls a French doctor spitting in his face at an aid tent. The doctor said something, which Deacon now translates as “you did it, it’s your fault” (200). Bastinelli’s perimeter alarm goes off.

Maynard is in a motel with Willard, a former subordinate at the NSA whom he coerced into helping him. Maynard gives Willard a file containing the Boss’s voice. Willard removes the modulator and says, “[h]ow does it feel, working for a woman?” (203).

Sampson and Deacon follow Bastinelli to his armory. He climbs up to a tower over his home where he positions himself behind shooting slits and tells Deacon and Sampson to go, offering to cover their retreat.

Maynard has Willard run the modulation through again and he achieves the same result. Willard asks him to stop the extortion, and Maynard kills him.

Sampson and Duncan flee, leaving Bastinelli in the tower. They fight off one pursuing car, and Bastinelli takes out everyone else from his sniper’s tower.

General Grissom is upset that his task force isn’t achieving results. He begs the team to keep working, but Landsdale interrupts saying they’ve achieved nothing. Helen Taft, the president’s chief of staff, walks off with Landsdale, further angering Grissom.

Sampson and Deacon see police rushing towards Bastinelli’s. The Vermont National Guard is with them. They wonder if an emergency has been declared. Later, although they have monitored the news, they hear nothing about Bastinelli or the firefight and assume the police officers and military are on their adversary’s side. Sampson announces they must return to Afghanistan and asks Deacon to make it happen.

Bree wakes up at home to find her stepson, Damon, with a shotgun. He heard a noise, saw that the patrol outside was gone, and got scared. Downstairs, Bree sees the doorknob move and pulls out her weapon. Just as she’s ready to pull the trigger, she gets a call from John Sampson saying it’s him trying to get in.

Sampson eats with Bree, and they catch up on Cross’s progress and Sampson’s recent exploits. He asks Bree to move her family. Sampson recalls seeing Deacon arguing with a general at the airbase before their mission into Afghanistan and asks Bree to find out who the general is.

Sampson visits Mahoney at home, who tells him that they are hauling employees in for loyalty questioning. Sampson asks Mahoney to look into Deacon and find out if she can be trusted. Mahoney tells Sampson to be careful because CIA contractors are more dangerous than the employees, and that Deacon officially left the CIA to do contracting work after the Afghanistan mission.

Sampson visits Cross, and a Metro PD officer tells him he’s been suspended for abandoning his post after the attack on Cross. Sampson talks to Cross, whose eyes open. Cross explains that the start of the attacks wasn’t random, then passes out.

A DC Metro Police officer on guard outside the Air and Space Museum watches an approaching crowd of protestors. Four men dressed in black blow the doors open and the crowds surge inside, destroying the artifacts and nearly killing the officer, who thinks, “[w]hat has happened to us?” (234).

Sampson steps out of the supersonic plane and onto the tarmac in Tajikistan. They’ll retrace their steps into Afghanistan from there. Deacon meets with Bobby, a CIA officer stationed at the base who warns them that they cannot help if Deacon and Sampson get into trouble and pleads with them not to bring trouble back with them across the border.

Bibi Ahmadi, their Afghan guide, demands that Deacon pay a debt the CIA owes him. Instead, Sampson violently threatens to kill him, and they set off.

Sampson, Deacon, and Bibi stop for tea amid boulders, then continue. They arrive at the village to find everyone alive and well, the buildings intact. Bibi runs away and Deacon raises her rifle to shoot him, but Sampson intervenes, saving the guide’s life.

Mahoney meets with Susan Jones, a DC Metro Police captain, outside Union Station in Washington DC. A female suicide bomber is inside, sobbing. Mahoney says he’s going in. Captain Jones insists that he wear her bullet-resistant vest and directs one of her men to give him a shield. Inside, he finds a well-dressed, middle-aged blonde woman in a bomb vest. She keeps pressing the button on a triggering device, which isn’t working. On the third try, it works.

Deacon and Sampson move on from the first village to find another completely intact. Recalling what Bastinelli said about a bright light, they head west and make camp. They start kissing, but Sampson says that he wants to wait until they are in a nice hotel after the mission. In the morning, they meet Gil Hazara, the local warlord. Deacon says that this is the man she was meant to meet two years prior.

Mahoney wakes up with an injured leg and hears someone yelling that the suicide bomber is alive. Mahoney asks who sent her, and she replies, “America did,” before she dies. Captain Jones calls the suicide bomber’s husband, who was unaware of his wife’s trip to DC.

Sampson and Deacon have breakfast with Hazara. Deacon reveals that the CIA wants to install Hazara as president of Afghanistan once the Taliban loses power. Hazara tells them the bombed village was called Mir Kas and that the village was bombed, and anyone trying to flee was shot from the air. He will tell them how to reach the village, but it is haunted, and no one will guide them. Hazara tells them that a coup is coming to the US.

Sampson and Deacon approach Mir Kas as Sampson gets an update from Mahoney saying that Deacon will put “herself first, agency second and country third” (262).

Bibi Ahmadi and his five cousins approach Mir Kas armed and angry. Bibi’s goal is to avenge himself for the insult Sampson delivered, which especially angered him because it happened in front of Deacon, a woman. They plan to kill Sampson, rape Deacon, then kill her as well. The cousins are reluctant because they say the village is “full of ghosts,” but Bibi says, “we will add two more” (264).

Sampson and Deacon see that the village was bombed to dust. Sampson believes the US did the bombing in preparation for the coming coup but doesn’t know why. He finds a brick of opium and ponders the drug’s role in the demise of his parents. He also finds a small circuit board with a serial number. He doesn’t show Deacon his discovery but puts it in his pocket just as shots are fired.

General Grissom meets with President Kent in a safe room below the White House after he endures extreme security checks. President Kent tells Grissom most officials in DC have fled, and they expect the attack in a day or two. Grissom proposes martial law be enacted immediately but Kent is resistant.

Sampson and Deacon follow their training protocol where one runs at the attackers while the other shoots. They realize the attackers will outlast them, so Sampson offers to provide cover, gives Deacon the circuit board, and tells her to run. She does.

President Kent listens as General Grissom explains what martial law means: “The suspension of habeas corpus, the arrest and detainment of individuals the FBI and CIA know have connections to various terrorist and extremist groups, travel restrictions and government oversight of the news media” (274). President Kent says he cannot become a dictator. Grissom leaves, concerned about the state of America.

As Sampson climbs up a hill for a better position, the altitude sickness starts to drain him. He spots six attackers just as they flank him on both sides, pinning him down.

Deacon is safely away, exhausted, and aware that Sampson is out of ammo and encircled. She keeps moving.

Bibi Ahmadi and his cousins approach Sampson’s position where they find his weapon and bag, but they do not find Sampson. Bibi yells for his cousins not to touch the bag, but it’s too late.

Sampson waits under a tarp in a hole he quickly dug beneath a rock ledge. He hears a loud “Boom!” and then leaves his hiding place and returns to where he left his rucksack, weapon, and a live grenade. He finds Bibi, injured, alive, and still full of vengeance. He shoots Bibi in the head.

Deacon arrives back at the CIA base in Tajikistan. She takes out the circuit board and smashes it to bits before walking into camp.

Sampson arrives at the CIA base to find a jet waiting, but no Deacon. She’s left, and with her any trace of the circuit board. Sampson is angry.