A look at terrorism in the period prior to 9/11 from an anti-terrorist mercenary and SAS reservist. Identified as Gayle Rivers, the author describes a half dozen jobs for different clients including the US, Egypt, Spain, and Germany, making sure to select none that are in conflict with Britain, which has hired him for mercenary jobs, as well. For the Spanish, he targets Basque terrorists who strike then retreat to neutral France. In another, he helps Egypt train pilots for Mirage jets the country is secretly acquiring and gets out just before the plan fatally collapses. For the Americans, he enters Syria two months after the explosion at the Marine barracks and grabs a Syria advisor from a terrorist headquarters then shoots it up. These and other missions are described in detail and give a good cross-section of where terrorism was in the mid-1980's, before 9/11 changed the landscape. Very interesting, very authentic-sounding. ( )