Midnight Black

Courtland “Court” Gentry, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer who now works as an assassin for hire, is on a personal assignment in the Ferentari neighborhood of Bucharest, Romania. Court has to kill five armed men from the Italian ‘Ndrangheta mafia, who are pretending to fit into their surroundings. Though Court has a phantom headache, a response to the trauma he has endured in his line of work, he cannot allow the pain to distract him. He must complete this assignment to rescue his lover, former SVR (Russian foreign intelligence) officer Zoya Zakharova, who disappeared in Russia months ago. Zoya is thought to have been executed, but Court refuses to believe the rumor.

Although the armed men outnumber him five to one, Court is undaunted. He gets up from his chair, prompting the men—scattered around the bar and watching Court—to converge on him. Court pulls out a subcompact pistol and swings around to face them.

Dorin Balan, the leader of the group who hired Court, is on the roof of a multistoried parking garage near the bar, awaiting news from Court. It was supposed to have been carried out at midnight, but Balan and his men have only heard a single gunshot.