Authors: Ronie Kendig
Raptor 6
© 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 H
OLY
B
IBLE
, N
EW
I
NTERNATIONAL
V
ERSION
®
.
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.
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!
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.
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
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
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