Raptor 6 Read online

  © 2014 by Ronie Kendig

  Print ISBN 978-1-61626-040-8

  eBook Editions:

  Adobe Digital Edition (.epub) 978-1-63058-057-5

  Kindle and MobiPocket Edition (.prc) 978-1-63058-058-2

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without written permission of the publisher.

  Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

  Additional scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental.

  For more information about Ronie Kendig, please access the author’s website at the following Internet address: www.roniekendig.com.

  Cover Design: Kirk DouPonce, DogEared Design

  Published by Shiloh Run Press, an imprint of Barbour Publishing, Inc.,

  P.O. Box 719, Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683, www.shilohrunpress.com

  Our mission is to publish and distribute inspirational products offering exceptional value and biblical encouragement to the masses.

  Printed in the United States of America.

  Table of Contents

  Glossary of Terms/Acronyms

  Character List

  Sundry Characters

  Special Forces Prayer

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Todd & Amy

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Todd & Amy

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Todd & Amy

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Todd & Amy

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  DEDICATION

  To the U.S. Special Forces Community—

  known as the Quiet Professionals.

  You are warriors with humility and ferocity.

  You possess courage and generosity.

  You fight for freedom and those who cannot fight for themselves.

  I pray this series honors the work you do, the men you are,

  and your families who so tirelessly support you!

  With a grateful heart … thank you!

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Special thanks to:

  The Special Forces veteran who posed on the cover—thank you, sir, for your service and for the sacrifices you and your family have made as you have served. May God richly bless you!

  Former Special Forces operator Jonas Polson for your service to our country and your vigilance over freedom. Thank you for your help and kindness with elements of this story.

  Admiration and thanks to other Special Forces veterans who gave tips and tried to educate on the minutiae of all things SF. Clearly, I still have a lot to learn. Thank you, sirs!

  Thanks to Colonel Dean (retired) for help with cybersecurity. Well, as much as you could give without making it necessary to have me killed (just kidding … mostly).

  Thanks to Kirk DouPonce, who accepted the challenge to take this Rapid-Fire Fiction novel to the next level with an über-amazing cover! Thank you!

  Thanks to my agent, Steve Laube, who remains steadfast and constant in an ever-changing industry. Thanks for keeping it real, Agent-Man!

  Allen and Kellie Gilbert—thanks for your helping with skydiving information!

  A million thanks to Julee Schwarzburg—editor extraordinaire!

  Bethany Kaczmarek—girl, you got skillz! Thank you for your constant and incredible help in making this book stronger. You’re amazing!

  Rel Mollet—Where would I be without you, friend? You keep me encouraged and laughing when, really, I just want to puddle up and cry. You’re one of the truest and most genuine friends I’ve ever had!

  Thanks to the Barbour Fiction and Sales teams, relentless in their efforts to make our books successful: Shalyn Sattler, Annie Tipton, Rebecca Germany, Mary Burns, Elizabeth Shrider, Laura Young, Kelsey McConaha, Linda Hang, and Ashley Schrock.

  LITERARY LICENSE

  In writing about unique settings, specific locations, and invariably the people residing there, a certain level of risk is involved, including the possibility of dishonoring the very people an author intends to honor. With that in mind, I have taken some literary license in Raptor 6, including renaming some bases within the U.S. military establishment, creating sites/entities that do not otherwise exist, and other aspects of team movement/integration. Also, some elements of the story are pure entertainment and as with any work of fiction, demand a level of suspension of disbelief. I have done this so the book and/or my writing will not negatively reflect on our military community and its heroes. With the quickly changing landscape of combat theater, this seemed imperative and prudent.

  GLOSSARY OF TERMS/ACRONYMS

  AAR—After-Action Review

  ACUs—Army Combat Uniforms

  AHOD—All Hands On Deck

  ANA—Afghan National Army

  CIC—Commander In Chief

  CID—Criminal Investigations Department

  DIA—Defense Intelligence Agency

  Glock—A semiautomatic handgun

  IED—Improvised Explosive Device

  Klick—Military slang for kilometer

  M4, M4A1, M16—Military assault rifles

  MRAP—Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle

  MWD—Military Working Dog

  ODA452—Operational Detachment A (Special Forces A-Team)

  OPSEC—Operational Security

  RPG—Rocket-Propelled Grenade

  RTB—Return To Base

  SAS—Special Air Service (Foreign Special Operations Team)

  SATINT—Satellite Intelligence

  SCI—Sensitive Compartmented Information

  SFOC—Special Forces Operational Command

  SOCOM—Special Operations Command

  SIPRNet—Secret Internet Protocol Router Network

  TEDD—Tactical Explosive Detector Dog

  UAV—Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

  WMDs—Weapons of Mass Destruction

  CHARACTER LIST

  Dean Patrick “Raptor Six” Watters (Captain)—Raptor team commander

  Brian “Hawk” Bledsoe (Staff Sergeant)—Raptor team member; coms specialist;
rank – Staff Sergeant

  Eamon “Titanis” Straider (SAS Corporal)—Raptor team member; Australian; engineering specialty

  Fekiria Haidary—Zahrah Zarrick’s cousin; teacher

  Kamran Khan—Taliban member

  Lance Burnett (General)—Raptor’s commanding officer; attached to Defense Intelligence Agency

  Lee Nianzu—assassin and associate of Zhang Longwei, son of General Zhang Guiern; Chinese

  Mitchell “Harrier” Black (Sergeant First Class)—Raptor team member; combat medic

  Peter “Z-Day” Zarrick (General, retired)—served as commander of Coalition Forces; Zahrah Zarrick’s father

  Rashid Mustafa—brother of Ara, one of Zahrah’s students

  Salvatore “Falcon” Russo (Sergeant First Class)—Raptor team member; team sergeant, aka team “daddy”; expert in ops/intel

  Todd “Eagle” Archer (Staff Sergeant)—Raptor team member; weapons expert; team sniper

  Zahrah Zarrick—a missionary teacher; daughter of General Peter “Z-Day” Zarrick

  SUNDRY CHARACTERS

  Amelia “Amy” Celine Archer—Todd Archer’s wife

  Ara Mustafa—sister of Rashid, one of Zahrah Zarrick’s students

  Ashgar Asad—drug dealer Majorca

  Atash Mustafa—Rashid and Ara’s father; husband of Razia

  Behrooz Nemazi—Pashtun

  Boris/“Scythe”—hacker/spy

  Specialist Bramlett—female MP at sub-base

  Brie Hastings (Lieutenant)—personal aid to General Burnett

  Candyman—callsign for Tony VanAllen, former Raptor team member

  Chris Riordan (Lieutenant Commander)—Navy SEAL

  “Cardinal“—a spy who works with General Burnett

  Collin Ramsey (General)—Commander of the Coalition Forces

  Ddrake—Tactical Explosives Detector Dog

  Desi Watters—Dean Watters’s estranged sister

  Donny Watters—Dean Watters’s brother

  Ellen Green (Specialist)—female soldier who was captured with Dean during the ambush ten years earlier

  Sergeant Elliott—mentor to Dean; police officer and former Army Ranger (Vietnam)

  Grant Knight (Sergeant)—Ddrake’s handler

  Hafizah Haidary—Zahrah’s aunt and Fekeria Haidary’s mother; has dark eyes

  Ismail Sidiq (Colonel)—colonel in the Afghan National Army, Regional Command, North

  Izzah Zarrick—Zahrah Zarrick’s mother

  Jahandar Haidary—Zahrah’s uncle, father of Fekiria

  Jahandar Peter Zarrick—Zahrah Zarrick’s brother

  Jeffrey Bain—American journalist

  Mr. Kohistani—director of Kohistani School; older; has a long, graying beard; brown eyes; 5’5”

  Razia Mustafa—Rashid and Ara’s mother; not much older than Zahrah, married to Atash Mustafa

  Sadri Ali—a known opium supplier

  Sajjan Takkar/ “Variable”—an operative; a Sikh

  SPECIAL FORCES PRAYER

  Almighty GOD, Who art the Author of liberty and the Champion of the oppressed, hear our prayer.

  We, the men of Special Forces, acknowledge our dependence upon Thee in the preservation of human freedom.

  Go with us as we seek to defend the defenseless and to free the enslaved.

  May we ever remember that our nation, whose motto is “In God We Trust,” expects that we shall acquit ourselves with honor, that we may never bring shame upon our faith, our families, or our fellow men.

  Grant us wisdom from Thy mind, courage from Thine heart, strength from Thine arm, and protection by Thine hand.

  It is for Thee that we do battle, and to Thee belongs the victor’s crown.

  For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.

  AMEN.

  Written by SF Chaplain John Stevey,

  the 7th SFG (ABN) Chaplain, 1961

  CHAPTER 1

  Present Day

  Can’t breathe. Can’t breathe.

  He sucked in a hard breath. Fabric drew against his nostrils. Hot. Can’t breathe. No air! He thrashed, searching for freedom, for air … I’m going to die! At the thought, he jerked.

  Where am I? A bounce smacked his head against something hard. Metal. Captain Dean Watters groaned. Opened his eyes. But couldn’t see. The meaty rumble of an engine warned him he was in a vehicle. The tail of one by the roaring sound and steel digging into his shoulder. The way his breath coiled back at him told him he had a hood over his face. Mouth taped. Hands taped. Feet—he tested his leg—taped.

  Get out or die! Dean kicked. Tendons strained against his effort.

  Brakes squealed. Gravity shifted and tugged him. Rounding a corner.

  Again the engine roared.

  Where are they taking me? Where’s Z?

  Recollection swarmed him in a thick cloud of defeat. She’d walked out. Willingly. He couldn’t blame her. They’d been through the fires of hell and back since they were captured. The enemy had broken her. Gotten into her head and convinced her that helping them was the smart choice.

  A sudden lurch made him slide.

  Hands pawed at him as shouts erupted.

  He was lifted….

  The truck bounced.

  Gravity pulled him left again—another corner. The truck must’ve turned. Then spinning …

  Still blind and bound, Dean felt himself flying. Through the air. Unrestrained. He tensed, no idea where he’d land. What he’d hit. Or in what. And he prayed—begged—God to let him live. He had to live. Had to find her.

  Down … down …

  Crack!

  He landed with a thud. White-hot fire shot through his shoulder and arm. He groaned around the tape over his mouth. Shoved aside the pain, reoriented himself. Brightness speared his eyes. Specks of light glittered through the thick fabric. He scrambled to his knees, desperate to know where they’d dumped him.

  A siren wailed.

  Shouts.

  He knew those sounds, the shouts. The base. His captors had thrown him at the gate of the base. Armed with that knowledge, he remained still. Anything to let those with the weapons know he wasn’t a threat.

  “Stay where you are! Hands in the air. Hands. In. The. Air!” The command came in English, Pashto, Dari, then Farsi.

  Boots shuffled closer, along with more shouts to get his arms up. One service member came very close. It took everything in Dean not to move. One wrong twitch, and they’d put him down like a sick dog. A beam of light struck him. So much like the light torture.

  The light vanished. “Dude’s tied up.” The voice was right over Dean. “Hold up.”

  “Careful,” came another voice. “He could be rigged.”

  Right. Why hadn’t Dean thought of that before? Am I? Mentally, he patted himself down but felt nothing strapped to him.

  Whoosh!

  Glaring white seared his corneas. He grimaced and ducked. Dean squinted rapidly, trying to force his eyes to readjust.

  A Marine frowned at him as several others gathered around, business ends of their weapons aimed at Dean’s head. The lead Marine pointed to the tape as if asking permission.

  Dean nodded and his body swayed. He jerked straight. Then his body pulled him backward. Dizzy … so dizzy.

  The Marine ripped off the tape.

  After a moment of prickling fire, Dean stretched his jaw. “Watters …” Breathe.

  “He needs water!” a grunt shouted.

  “No.” Dean shook his head. Wet his lips, which tasted of salt and blood. “Watters, Dean … Patrick … captain.” His vision was ghosting. “Four f–four—“ His body surrendered.

  CHAPTER 2

  Undisclosed Location, Six Months Ago

  Speed.

  Surprise.

  Violence of action.

  The three principles necessary for successful engagement of an enemy in combat. Many times these three words carry through the grainy feed of the hidden camera. The men moving beneath the staticky image,
unaware of the listening ear. Unaware of their vulnerability.

  Their mission is not so different from mine, from those I fight for and with on a daily basis—to act without hesitation and with fierce action so the enemy can be caught unaware.

  After verifying once more that the feed has gone live, I adjust the volume, punch the RECORD button, then settle back with my hot cup of tea to watch these elite special operators betray their every secret. Six men—only five in the room as of yet. I wait for their leader before putting on my headphones. The reception isn’t the best in the sub-base command center, but I worked out all the kinks, navigating the complications and smoothly rerouting around their jamming technology. Still there is an annoying static hiss I’d prefer to go without for as long as I can.

  They really should update their systems. Then … then they might have a chance. But the orders to cut spending—well, any tech-savvy person knows cybersecurity is one of the first things in budgets to get axed. That right along with breakfast. No more promise of three squares when these idealistic punks joined up.

  The whole thing makes me laugh. Why would any country cut its defense budget? Were they really that arrogant? They are the only country dialing down their military armaments while the rest of the world is ramping up.

  Another man enters the command center. “And cue the entertainment.” I slip on my headphones and sip my tea. Raptor Six himself. Not real sure how he got that—Special Forces isn’t known for using the six designation on team assignments. Must be a personal thing with our fearless leader. Either way, it feels stupid to me. I mean, they sound cool—Mercy Six. Rainbow Six. Halo Six. Whatever. The military and their numbers and acronyms …

  “So. Raptor team.” A guy with light brown, almost blond hair grins. He has this pretty-boy thing happening. Sort of reminds me of that guy who hunts demons with his brother on that one show … whatever it’s called. “I like it. Chicks’ll dig it.”

  That’s Brian Bledsoe. Staff Sergeant. Now code-named Hawk—ha! Easy one to remember—Squawk Hawk. The guy quick with his tongue and his Glock. Not sure one could call him arrogant. He just isn’t afraid to voice his opinions. Which are many.

  Their team commander, Captain Dean Watters, glares at the younger Green Beret. That’s something the team commander does quite well—glare. He isn’t big on words, but the dude can put some serious action behind the few words he utters. I wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley. Or any alley for that matter.