Deathrace
Authors: Keith Douglass
SEAL TEAM SEVEN
MISSIONS:
S
EAL
T
EAM
S
EVEN
The SEALs are in a bulkhead-to-bulkhead battle against high-tech buccaneers with enough nuke fuel to arm a superpower …
PECTER
When Greek extremists kidnap a U.S. congressional delegation, Murdock and his platoon must spearhead a daring rescue mission …
UCFLASH
In the New World Order, Murdock and his team must stop a group of renegades before they attempt to pull off a nuclear nightmare …
IRECT
A
CTION
When officials link counterfeit currency to an economic terrorism plot against the U.S., there’s only one solution—infiltrate and terminate …
IRESTORM
The SEALs get a hold of top secret plans of the Chinese invasion of Taiwan. They’ll have to prevent the attack … or get ready to fight the next world war …
ATTLEGROUND
When an Army Colonel attacks the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi and declares himself dictator, the SEALs are sent in to restore justice …
By Keith Douglass
THE CARRIER SERIES:
CARRIER
VIPER STRIKE
ARMAGEDDON MODE
FLAME-OUT
MAELSTROM
COUNTDOWN
AFTERBURN
ALPHA STRIKE
ARCTIC FIRE
ARSENAL
THE SEAL TEAM SEVEN SERIES:
SEAL TEAM SEVEN
SPECTER
NUCFLASH
DIRECT ACTION
FIRESTORM
BATTLEGROUND
DEATHRACE
EAL
T
EAM
S
EVEN
DEATHRACE
K
EITH
D
OUGLASS
If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
Special thanks and acknowledgment to Chet Cunningham for his contribution to this book.
SEAL TEAM SEVEN: DEATHRACE
A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with the author
PRINTING HISTORY
Berkley edition / February 1999
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1999 by The Berkley Publishing Group. SEAL TEAM SEVEN logo illustration by Michael Racz.
This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission.
For information address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a member of Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
The Penguin Putnam Inc. World Wide Web site address is
http://www.penguinputnam.com
EISBN: 9781101560105
BERKLEY®
Berkley Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, a member of Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. BERKLEY and the “B” design are trademarks belonging to Berkley Publishing Corporation.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my longtime friend and editor, Tom Colgan, who keeps the wheels turning and the books rolling.
To the writers bunch—Cyndy, Mark, Ken, Lee, Peggy, and Rosie—who have given beneficial criticism, comments, and aid in researching.
It would have been a lot harder to write this book without the help of all of you.
Foreword
SEAL stands for SEa-Air-Land. This specialized group of fighting men was created by President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1962 to meet special quick-strike needs of the U.S. Navy. Today the Navy SEALs are among the leaders of the elite special-operation forces in the world.
SEALs undergo a six-month training course that is enough to break the back and the will of all but the most dedicated, and the strongest. On average, 60 percent of those who start the SEAL training course drop out.
During the Vietnam War there were only two SEAL teams, One and Two. Each was composed of a number of fourteen-man platoons. Today SEALs function with sixteen-man platoons.
As modern warfare changed, in the eighties, the Navy realized that it had to meet the challenge. Through the Ronald Reagan administration, the Navy lobbied for more SEAL teams, pointing out the greater emphasis on “small wars” and covert operations.
By 1990 there were seven SEAL teams. Teams One, Three, and Five were headquartered in Coronado, California, under the direction of the Naval Special Warfare Group
One. The plan was to use these units for emergency actions in the Pacific and Far East.
Teams Two, Four, and Six were assigned to Little Creek, Virginia, under the command of NAVSPECWARGRU-TWO. They would be deployed in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East.
The Navy’s special warfare groups are highly security conscious. They give out no press releases on SEAL actions. Most of the SEAL work is never known to the U.S. public, let alone other nations. They work quietly, often deadly, to achieve the purpose of intense national security that has been handed them.
At my latest report, there is no SEAL Team Seven in real life. That makes this series of books more interesting and exciting, since all manner of actions, problems, crises, coups, takeovers, terrorists, and “small wars” can be dealt with by a realistic prototype of an actual SEAL unit.
After the book
Seal Team Seven: Specter
, Team Seven’s Third Platoon was assigned for full-time use by the Central Intelligence Agency. They selected the best, highest rated team, and the team with the best in-action record for this task. Now SEAL Team Seven, Platoon Three, is at the top secret whispered call of Don Stroh, its CIA control.
If you have any questions about the SEALs or comments on the books, please drop me a line at: Keith Douglass, 8431 Beaver Lake Drive, San Diego, CA 92119. Hope to hear from you.
Keith Douglass,
December 1998
EAL
T
EAM
S
EVEN
T
HIRD
P
LATOON
*
C
ORONADO
, C
ALIFORNIA
Lieutenant Blake Murdock.
Platoon Leader.
W
EAPON
: H&K MP-5SD submachine gun.
F
IRST
S
QUAD
David “Jaybird” Sterling.
Platoon Chief. Machinist Mate Second Class.
W
EAPON
: H&K MP-5SD submachine gun.
Ron Holt.
Radioman First Class. Platoon radio operator.
W
EAPON
: H&K MP-5SD submachine gun.
Martin “Magic” Brown.
Quartermaster’s Mate First Class. Squad sniper.
W
EAPON
: H&K PSG1 7.62 NATO sniper rifle or McMillan M-87R .50-caliber sniper rifle.
Joe “Ricochet” Lampedusa.
Operations Specialist Third Class. Platoon scout.
W
EAPON
: Colt M-4A1 with grenade launcher.
Kenneth Ching.
Quartermaster’s Mate First Class. Platoon translator. Speaks Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Spanish.
W
EAPON
: Colt M-4A1 with grenade launcher.
Harry “Horse” Ronson.
Electrician’s Mate Second Class.
W
EAPON
: H&K 21A1 7.62 NATO-round machine gun.
James “Doc” Ellsworth.
Hospital Corpsman Second Class. Platoon corpsman.
W
EAPON
: H&K MP-5SD or no-stock, 5-round Mossburg pump shotgun.
S
ECOND
S
QUAD
Lieutenant (j.g.) Ed DeWitt.
Leader Second Squad. Second in Command of the platoon.
W
EAPON
: H&K G-11 automatic rifle.
Al Adams.
Gunner’s Mate Third Class.
W
EAPON
: Colt M-4A1 with grenade launcher.
Miguel Fernandez.
Gunner’s Mate First Class. Speaks Spanish and Portuguese. Squad sniper.
W
EAPON
: H&K PSG1 7.62 NATO sniper rifle.
Colt “Guns” Franklin.
Yeoman Second Class. Speaks Farsi and Arabic.
W
EAPON
: Colt M-4A1 with grenade launcher.
Les Quinley.
Torpedoman’s Mate Third Class. Explosive specialist.
W
EAPON
: H&K G-11 caseless rounds, 4.7mm automatic rifle.
Rodolfo “RG” Gonzalez.
Damage Controlman First Class. Speaks Spanish, Italian, and Russian.
W
EAPON
: Colt M-4A1 with grenade launcher.
Joe Douglas.
Quartermaster First Class. Machine gunner. Second radio operator.
W
EAPON
: H&K 21A1 7.62 NATO-round machine gun.
Fred Washington.
Aviation Technician Second Class.
W
EAPON
: H&K MP-5SD submachine gun.
*
Third Platoon assigned exclusively to the Central Intelligence Agency to perform any needed tasks on a covert basis anywhere in the world. A top secret classified assignment.
1
1040 hours
Chocolate Mountain Gunnery Range
Niland, California
Lieutenant Blake Murdock rubbed the stinging sand out of his eyes, and watched the target ahead. Nothing moved. Good. He glanced to his right and saw the first two men in his Third Platoon flat on their bellies in the hot rocks and dirt.
Their weapons were up and ready.
They both wore full combat gear.
Their faces were daubed with black and brown paint.
Their desert cammies showed the grime of a long crawl two hundred yards up to this vantage point.
Murdock nodded sharply at the first two men.
David “Jaybird” Sterling, Machinist Mate Second Class, and platoon chief, surged off the ground into a crouching run and charged the squat building directly in front, twenty yards away. He held his H&K MP-5SD submachine gun ready, his finger on the trigger set for three round bursts.
Right behind him, Ron Holt, Radioman First Class and the platoon’s communications man, jolted to his feet and charged the low building. He carried a Remington 870
shotgun with no stock, a pistol grip, and virtually no barrel. The pump-action weapon carried five 12-gauge rounds.
Sterling hit the door first, kicked it open, and darted inside. Ron Holt went in right behind him.
From long practice, Sterling took the right-hand side of the room. Two terrorists stood over a woman tied to a chair. Sterling put three-round bursts into each of the terrs, and looked for more.
As he did, Holt dove through the door covering the left-hand side of the room. One terr held a knife, and was about to move toward a captive tied to a table.