Hawk (The Quiet Professionals, Book 2)
Read Hawk (The Quiet Professionals, Book 2) Online
Authors: Ronie Kendig
© 2014 by Ronie Kendig
Print ISBN 978-1-62416-318-0
eBook Editions:
Adobe Digital Edition (.epub) 978-1-63058-971-4
Kindle and MobiPocket Edition (.prc) 978-1-63058-972-1
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 New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.
Used by permission.
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
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Printed in the United States of America.
DEDICATION
Narelle Mollet—Steadfast, loyal, beautiful, encouraging—you are a light in my life! Thank you!
XOXOX
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special thanks to:
To my family—Brian, Ciara, Keighley, Ryan & Reagan—thank you for enduring on-your-own meals as I race toward deadlines and for loving me through the zombielike states after all-nighters spent writing!
Julee Schwarzburg—thank you for the countless hours you’ve spent on my many manuscsripts. I am very grateful!
Tom Dean, David Dean, and Troy McNear—thank you for your time and help to make the thread against the super-secure network plausible and yet protecting not only me but our men and women in uniform by not supplying too much information.
Steve Laube—thank you, Agent-Man, for your steadfast support and encouragement.
Narelle Mollet, Dineen Miller, Carla Laureano, Shannon McNear, and Sarah Penner—thank you for your steady encouragement, laughter, and friendship!
Thank you, Barbour Fiction Team—Annie Tipton, Shalyn Sattler, Becky Germany, Kelsey McConaha, Elizabeth Shrider, Linda Hang, and Mary Burns, for making this book happen! You’re awesome!
Ironmance Team: Rachel Hauck, Lynette Eason, Katie Ganshert, Dani Pettrey, and Becky Wade—Wow! What would I do without you ladies, your prayers, and your support?! Thank you!
Rapid-Fire Fiction Task Force—You are absolutely awesome! Thank you for your help, encouragement, and loyalty!
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 Hawk, 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. Writing about a potential threat to our American military personnel can be tricky, and those experts within that field cannot divulge too much information. Therefore, to protect our heroes, some elements of the story about the cyber-security threat have been left intentionally and paritally vague. 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 the combat theater, this seemed imperative and prudent.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS/ACRONYMS
AHOD
—All Hands On Deck
ANA
—Afghan National Army
CID
—Criminal Investigations Department
DIA
—Defense Intelligence Agency
Glock
—A semiautomatic handgun
HK416
—Military assault rifle
IED
—Improvised Explosive Device
Klick
—Military slang for
kilometer
M4, M4A1, M16
—Military assault rifles
MRAP
—Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle
MWD
—Military War Dog
OIC
—Officer In Charge
OPSEC
—Operational Security
QBZ-95
—Chinese assault rifle
RPG
—Rocket-Propelled Grenade
RTB
—Return To Base
SAS
—Special Air Service (Foreign Special Operations Team)
SCIF
—Secure computer used by the military
SFOC
—Special Forces Operational Command
SOCOM
—Special Operations Command
STK
—Shoot To Kill
UAV
—Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
WO1
—Warrant Officer, 1st Class
Boris Kolceki
—expert computer hacker
Brian “Hawk” Bledsoe (Staff Sergeant)
—Raptor team member; coms specialist
Cassandra Walker (Lieutenant)
—works for DIA’s National Military Joint Intelligence Center
Dean “Raptor Six” Watters (Captain)
—Raptor team commander
Eamon “Titanis” Straider (SAS Corporal)
—Raptor team member; Australian; engineering specialty
Fekiria Haidary (a.k.a., Second Lieutenant Rhmani)
—ANA helicopter pilot; Zahrah Zarrick’s cousin
Kiew Tang
—executive assistant to Daniel Jin
Lance Burnett (General)
—Raptor’s commanding officer; attached to Defense Intelligence Agency
Meng-Li Jin /Daniel Jin
—Chinese businessman
Mitchell “Harrier” Black (Sergeant First Class)
—Raptor team member; combat medic
Mitra
—Fekiria’s friend; runs a secret girls’ school
Mitra’s “girls”
—Aadela, Hadassah (Mitra’s daughter), Jamilah, Sheevah, Wajmah
Salvatore “Falcon” Russo (Warrant Officer)
—Raptor team member; aka team “daddy”; expert in ops/intel
Sandor Ripley (Captain)
—U.S. Air Force pilot; Fekiria’s flight advisor
Todd “Eagle” Archer (Staff Sergeant)
—Raptor team member; weapons expert; team sniper
Zahrah Zarrick
—Fekiria’s cousin; Dean’s girlfriend; missionary teacher
Adam Brennan (Sergeant)
—soldier stationed at Bagram Airfield
Adeeb Haidary
—Fekiria’s older brother
Baktash and Belourine
—married couple who help Mitra
Brie Hastings (Lieutenant)
—General Burnett’s administrative officer
Chris Riordan (Lieutenant Colonel)
—Navy SEAL officer
Ddrake
—military war dog
Garret Slusarski (Major)
—officer stationed at Bagram Airfield
Grant Knight (Sergeant)
—Ddrake’s handler
Jack Bledsoe
—Brian’s grandfather
Kitty Bledsoe
—Brian’s grandmother
Mahmoud (Colonel)
—ANA officer
Mason (Captain)
—female officer at Bagram Airfield
Mike Sanderson (Specialist)
—soldier at Bagram Airfield
Sajjan Takkar
—CEO of Takkar Corp.
Tony “Candyman” VanAllen
—former Green Beret on Dean Watters’s team
Zmaray/“The Lion”
—assassin, terrorist
I am an American Special Forces soldier. A professional!
I will do all that my nation requires of me.
I am a volunteer, knowing well the hazards of my profession.
I serve with the memory of those who have gone before me:
Roger’s Rangers,
Francis Marion, Mosby’s Rangers, the first Special Service Forces and Ranger Battalions of World War II, the Airborne Ranger Companies of Korea.
I pledge to uphold the honor and integrity of all I am—in all I do.
I am a professional soldier.
I will teach and fight wherever my nation requires.
I will strive always, to excel in every art and artifice of war.