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TASK FORCE EPSILON

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Full Name: Faraz Abdallah and Bridget Davenport
Series Name: Task Force Epison
Codename: Sandblast
Nationality: American
Organization: DIA
Occupation Agent

Creator: Al Pessin
Time Span: 2020 - 2022

ABOUT THE SERIES

Task Force Epsilon is a counterterrorism unit at the DIA.

The task force does not actually exist at the start of the first recorded adventure; that is a designation given it quite a ways through that first mission which would see its leader, Bridget Davenport, Ph.D., devising a plan to combat a particularly nasty and dangerous terrorist cell, finding the best field operative to carry it out, and then fight like hell to let it play out. While doing so, she "had tracked terrorists, faced down four-star generals, and argued with the President of the United States." All in a day's work sometimes.

The task force would largely consist of the aforementioned Davenport, support staff which would come and go as needed, and the young soldier she picked out of a large list of candidates, Faraz Abdallah.

First, regarding Davenport, she "had arrived at DIA three years earlier via West Point and nine years of active duty as an intelligence officer, including two tours in Afghanistan. It was there that she became disillusioned. From her vantage point, she could see they were chest-deep in s**t and the tide was against them. It hadn't been an easy decision to leave the army, but she told herself she would find another way to serve. So, having more than fulfilled her commitment, Captain Bridget Davenport, holder of two combat badges, numerous commendations, and an impressive array of ribbons on her uniform, resigned her commission and enrolled in Georgetown's national security program. Four years later, she was Bridget Davenport, Ph.D."

As we get introduced, she is the chief of the Central Asia Division at the DIA where she "supervised a staff of intelligence analysts, what the press called "dot connectors." They collected, categorized, collated, and prioritized the mountain of factoids and alleged factoids that came in from troops and agents in the field, from wiretaps and Internet monitoring, and from other intelligence agencies, U.S. and foreign. It was Bridget's job to determine whether their analysis was right, and to conceive, plan, and run clandestine operations to act on the information and generate more dots." One of those covert missions involved Faraz Abdallah.

Second, as for Abdallah, we are introduced to him as he is finally being rescued from imprisonment by the Taliban; his capture coming after months of being undercover in Afghanistan for months, inside the Taliban, eventually close to its top leadership. He had volunteered, sort of. He had been in the military already when a close cousin also serving died in the early days of the Afghan War. That is when the idea of infiltrating the Taliban had been presented. "To protect his mission, the army had faked his death and told his parents that their only son died in a training accident... He had rejected the mission. Then they sent some woman named Kylie Walinsky to mindf**k him. She had convinced him the mission was so important that it justified the lie, justified ruining his parents' lives." He relented and took the job.

When the idea for the operation which would transition to Task Force Epsilon came to Bridget Davenport, she knew there was just one person qualified to be its spear and that was Lt. Faraz Abdallah.

Good Lines:
- Regarding the time Davenport spent back in college earning her Ph.D.: "She counted it as four years, three apartments, two boyfriends, and one cat. By graduation, only the cat remained."
- When asked by Faraz Abdallah waking up in a hospital where he was, how he got there, and what day it was, the nurse responded, "I can tell you it's Tuesday. The rest is well above my pay grade".

BOOKS

Number of Books:3
First Appearance:2020
Last Appearance:2022

1 Sandblast Sandblast
Written by Al Pessin
Copyright: 2020

With the plane carrying US Defense Secretary blown out of the sky, the DIA puts its full force to getting vengeance. DIA operative and handler Bridge Davenport searches for the best person to send undercover to become part of the terrorist group responsible and help bring it down and she finds that person in Lt. Faraz Abdallah. Unfortunately, most of her superiors want to pull the plug on the operation from the get-go.
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2 Blowback Blowback
Written by Al Pessin
Copyright: 2021

Multiple terrorist attacks in DC, London, and Paris has the Western powers demanding retribution. DIA handler Bridge Davenport was nearly one of those victims and she looks to one man to be her weapon of choice: Lt. Faraz Abdallah, still recovering from his last mission. To strike best, they know they need to strike from within which means Abdallah must again go undercover as a terrorist.
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3 Shock Wave Shock Wave
Written by Al Pessin
Copyright: 2022

The terrorist Saddiq al-Assali has launched attacks in both Israel and Jordan and made them look like reciprocal. With the two countries threatening war, the US must prove the real culprit. The DIA's Bridget Davenport looks yet again to Lr. Faraz Abdallah to infiltrate al-Assali's group and strike from within. Even as he does this, though, Davenport herself becomes a target.
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MY COMMENTS

Though the series title indicates a group rather than individuals, it is really about two characters.

The senior of the two is Davenport and she is really a force to be obeyed - woe to you if you get in her way on something she is certain she is in the right. Luckily for, well, everyone, she usually dead on.

The junior part is Faraz Abdallah and his role is that of the weapon sent to put the hurt on the bad guys. He is a very interesting fellow with a fascinating backstory. He is exciting to follow.

Of the two, though, I liked it best when the spotlight was on Davenport because you never knew who was going to think to stymie her next - the fools!

GRADE

My Grade: B+

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SpyGuysAndGals is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, and links with the Buy from Amazon button are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.