Captain Dean Watters is the leader of Raptor Six, a Special Operations unit in Afghanistan. His unit is called into action when a school in Mazar-e Sharif is attacked. There he meets Zahrah Zarrick, an American teacher sent to Afghanistan through a Christian missions organization to teach children at this school. Zahrah's father is a retired Army general; her mother was Afghan, but she died several years ago. Zahrah has a soft spot in her heart for her mother's people. Captain Watters and Zahrah have several other encounters, until Zahrah is taken by terrorists.

As the team tries to figure out who Zahrah's captors are, why she is captured and where she is being held, they discover she has an advanced degree in computer science. This is the reason she has been taken. There are also SKIFs missing: military computers holding links to secure intelligent networks and military databases. This is now a cybersecurity issue. Can Dean and his team find Zahrah in time? Or will she be tortured into cracking the code and giving her captors what they want?

Ronie Kendig extracts characters from her A Breed Apart series and places them in the heat of battle in Afghanistan to continue their personal stories in a new series, The Quiet Professionals. Of course her characters are strong; they're Special Ops guys with mad skills. Zahrah has her own strength, but also encouragement from Dean to never give up. Surrounded by an eclectic group of supporting characters, the plot moves along at a relatively slow pace at first, laying the groundwork for the gut- wrenching scenarios that will follow. RAPTOR 6 is a hard- hitting tale of war, loss and love. It's an inspirational story of letting go and letting God take complete control of your life. I chose this book based on the author and subject matter, and once again, Ronie Kendig did not disappoint.

Book Summary

Captain Dean Watters keeps his mission and his team in the forefront of his laser-like focus. So when Dean s mission and team are threatened, his Special Forces training kicks into high gear. Failing to stop hackers from stealing national security secrets from the military s secure computers and networks isn t an option. Zahrah Zarrick is a missionary teacher to Afghan children in Mazar-e Sharif. And a target. When Zahrah is captured because of her expertise in quantum cryptology, compromising the US military, Dean is forced to crack the lockbox around his heart a move that might come at the highest cost.

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