A thriller about weapons of mass destruction

Army Captain Ben Hawkins is ordered to follow up on a report of possible missing material from the Tupelo Chemical Research Facility. He thinks it's going to be a simple matter but he's wrong. Some of the deadly chemicals that were part of a weapon system and were gradually being destroyed, have gone missing.

He speaks to the commander of the facility and a report is written to higher up personnel in the FBI and other government agencies.  Soon, officials verify the missing chemicals.

As officials search for answers, one of the army handlers goes AWOL and Ben knows there is a bigger problem.

We also learn of an Iranian named Mahmoud who has thought up a plot to give the United States a payback since the U.S. supplied Iraq with weapons in the war against Iran. Mahmoud's father was in the Revolutionary Guard and he suffered from the chemical weapons Iraq used in the war. Mahmoud has also recruited a young Iranian woman who wants revenge against the U.S. for shooting down an Iranian passenger plane that was flying toward a U.S. warship in the Persian Gulf in 1988. The woman's parents were passengers on the plane.

The plot thickens and we see events in Iran where Colonel Kashani is made aware of the plot and considers the repercussions against his country if the plot succeeds.

The action moves swiftly and the suspense mounts. It is a story that made my heart beat faster and faster.
Ben is well described but for an officer involved in an intelligence operation, he reveals quite a bit of information to his girlfriend. There is also a surprise toward the conclusion that didn't seem logical based on the information about the character involved.

D. C. Hampton knows about chemical warfare and tells a good story. I look forward to his next novel.