Raptor 6 by Ronie Kendig

5/26/2018 Raptor 6 by Ronie Kendig

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R a p t o r 6T H E Q U I E T P R O F E S S I O N A L S

B O O K

R O N I E K E N D I G


2/14

2014 by Ronie Kendig

Print ISBN 978-1-61626-040-8eBook Editions:Adobe Digital Edition (.epub) 978-1-63058-057-5Kindle and MobiPocket Edition (.prc) 978-1-63058-058-2

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

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Additional scripture taken from the H B, N IV. . 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 areeither products of the authors imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarityto actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental.

For more information about Ronie Kendig, please access the authors websiteat 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 exceptionalvalue and biblical encouragement to the masses.

Printed in the United States of America.


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DEDICATION

To the U.S. Special Forces Communityknown 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 coverthank you, sir,for your service and for the sacrifices you and your family have made asyou have served. May God richly bless you!

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

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

Thanks to Colonel Dean (retired) for help with cybersecurity. Well, asmuch 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 thisRapid-Fire Fiction novel to the next level with an ber-amazing cover!Thank you!

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


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Allen and Kellie Gilbertthanks for your helping with skydivinginformation!

A million thanks to Julee Schwarzburgeditor extraordinaire!

Bethany Kaczmarekgirl, you got skillz! Thank you for your constantand incredible help in making this book stronger. Youre amazing!

Rel MolletWhere would I be without you, friend? You keep meencouraged and laughing when, really, I just want to puddle up and cry.

Youre one of the truest and most genuine friends Ive ever had!

Thanks to the Barbour Fiction and Sales teams, relentless in theirefforts 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, andinvariably the people residing there, a certain level of risk isinvolved, including the possibility of dishonoring the verypeople an author intends to honor. With that in mind, I havetaken some literary license in Raptor 6, including renamingsome bases within the U.S. military establishment, creatingsites/entities that do not otherwise exist, and other aspects ofteam movement/integration. Also, some elements of the story

are pure entertainment and as with any work of fiction, demand alevel of suspension of disbelief. I have done this so the bookand/or my writing will not negatively reflect on our militarycommunity and its heroes. With the quickly changing landscapeof combat theater, this seemed imperative and prudent.


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G l o s s a r y o f T e r m s / A c r o n y m s

AARAfter-Action Review

ACUsArmy Combat Uniforms

AHODAll Hands On Deck

ANAAfghan National Army

CICCommander In ChiefCIDCriminal Investigations Department

DIADefense Intelligence Agency

GlockA semiautomatic handgun

IEDImprovised Explosive Device

KlickMilitary slang for kilometer

M4, M4A1, M16Military assault rifles

MRAPMine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicleMWDMilitary Working Dog

ODA452Operational Detachment A (Special Forces A-Team)

OPSECOperational Security

RPGRocket-Propelled Grenade

RTBReturn To Base

SASSpecial Air Service (Foreign Special Operations Team)SATINTSatellite Intelligence

SCISensitive Compartmented Information

SFOCSpecial Forces Operational Command

SOCOMSpecial Operations Command

SIPRNetSecret Internet Protocol Router Network

TEDDTactical Explosive Detector Dog

UAVUnmanned Aerial VehicleWMDsWeapons of Mass Destruction


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C H A R A C T E R L I S T

Dean Patrick Raptor Six Watters (Captain)Raptor team commanderBrian Hawk Bledsoe (Staff Sergeant)Raptor team member; coms

specialist; rank Staff SergeantEamon Titanis Straider (SAS Corporal)Raptor team member;

Australian; engineering specialtyFekiria HaidaryZahrah Zarricks cousin; teacherKamran KhanTaliban memberLance Burnett (General)Raptors commanding officer; attached to

Defense Intelligence AgencyLee Nianzuassassin and associate of Zhang Longwei, son of General

Zhang Guiern; ChineseMitchell Harrier Black (Sergeant First Class)Raptor team mem-

ber; combat medic

Peter Z-Day Zarrick (General, retired)served as commander ofCoalition Forces; Zahrah Zarricks fatherRashid Mustafabrother of Ara, one of Zahrahs studentsSalvatore Falcon Russo (Sergeant First Class)Raptor team mem-

ber; team sergeant, aka team daddy; expert in ops/intelTodd Eagle Archer (Staff Sergeant)Raptor team member; weap-

ons expert; team sniperZahrah Zarricka missionary teacher; daughter of General Peter

Z-Day Zarrick


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S U N D R Y C H A R A C T E R S

Amelia Amy Celine ArcherTodd Archers wifeAra Mustafasister of Rashid, one of Zahrah Zarricks studentsAshgar Asaddrug dealer MajorcaAtash MustafaRashid and Aras father; husband of RaziaBehrooz NemaziPashtunBoris/Scythehacker/spySpecialist Bramlettfemale MP at sub-baseBrie Hastings (Lieutenant)personal aid to General BurnettCandymancallsign for Tony VanAllen, former Raptor team memberChris Riordan (Lieutenant Commander)Navy SEALCardinala spy who works with General BurnettCollin Ramsey (General)Commander of the Coalition ForcesDdrakeTactical Explosives Detector Dog

Desi WattersDean Watterss estranged sisterDonny WattersDean Watterss brotherEllen Green (Specialist)female soldier who was captured with Dean

during the ambush ten years earlierSergeant Elliottmentor to Dean; police officer and former Army

Ranger (Vietnam)Grant Knight (Sergeant)Ddrakes handlerHafizah HaidaryZahrahs aunt and Fekeria Haidarys mother; has

dark eyesIsmail Sidiq (Colonel)colonel in the Afghan National Army,

Regional Command, NorthIzzah ZarrickZahrah Zarricks motherJahandar HaidaryZahrahs uncle, father of FekiriaJahandar Peter ZarrickZahrah Zarricks brotherJeffrey BainAmerican journalist

Mr. Kohistanidirector of Kohistani School; older; has a long, grayingbeard; brown eyes; 5'5"Razia MustafaRashid and Aras mother; not much older than

Zahrah, married to Atash MustafaSadri Alia known opium supplierSajjan Takkar/ Variablean operative; a Sikh


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s p e c i a l f o r c e s P r a y e r

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

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

Go with us as we seek to defend the defenselessand 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 maynever 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 victors 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


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9

C h a p t e r 1Present Day

C

ant breathe. Cant breathe.He sucked in a hard breath. Fabric drew against his nostrils. Hot.

Cant breathe.No air! He thrashed, searching for freedom, for air. . .Imgoing 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 couldntsee. 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 hisface. Mouth taped. Hands taped. Feethe tested his legtaped.

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? Wheres Z?Recollection swarmed him in a thick cloud of defeat. Shed walked

out. Willingly. He couldnt blame her. Theyd been through the fires of helland back since they were captured. The enemy had broken her. Gotteninto 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 againanother corner. The truck mustve

turned. Then spinning. . .Still blind and bound, Dean felt himself flying. Through the air.

Unrestrained. He tensed, no idea where hed land. What hed hit. Orin what. And he prayedbeggedGod to let him live. He had to live.Had to find her.


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Down. . .down. . .Crack!

He landed with a thud. White-hot fire shot through his shoulderand arm. He groaned around the tape over his mouth. Shoved aside thepain, reoriented himself. Brightness speared his eyes. Specks of lightglittered through the thick fabric. He scrambled to his knees, desperateto know where theyd 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 remainedstill. Anything to let those with the weapons know he wasnt a threat.

Stay where you are! Hands in the air. Hands. In. The. Air! Thecommand 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 tomove. One wrong twitch, and theyd put him down like a sick dog. A

beam of light struck him. So much like the light torture.The light vanished. Dudes tied up. The voice was right overDean. Hold up.

Careful, came another voice. He could be rigged.Right.Why hadnt 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 Deans head. The lead Marinepointed to the tape as if asking permission.

Dean nodded and his body swayed. He jerked straight. Then hisbody 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 ffour His body surrendered.


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C h a p t e r 2Undisclosed Location, Six Months Ago

S

peed.Surprise.Violence of action.The three principles necessary for successful engagement of an

enemy in combat. Many times these three words carry through thegrainy feed of the hidden camera. The men moving beneath the statickyimage, unaware of the listening ear. Unaware of their vulnerability.

Their mission is not so different from mine, from those I fight forand with on a daily basisto act without hesitation and with fierceaction so the enemy can be caught unaware.

After verifying once more that the feed has gone live, I adjustthe volume, punch the button, then settle back with my hotcup of tea to watch these elite special operators betray their everysecret. Six menonly five in the room as of yet. I wait for their leaderbefore putting on my headphones. The reception isnt the best in the

sub-base command center, but I worked out all the kinks, navigatingthe complications and smoothly rerouting around their jammingtechnology. Still there is an annoying static hiss Id prefer to go withoutfor as long as I can.

They really should update their systems. Then. . .thenthey mighthave a chance. But the orders to cut spendingwell, any tech-savvyperson knows cybersecurity is one of the first things in budgets to getaxed. That right along with breakfast. No more promise of three squareswhen these idealistic punks joined up.

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


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Another man enters the command center. And cue the enter-tainment. I slip on my headphones and sip my tea. Raptor Six himself.

Not real sure how he got thatSpecial Forces isnt known for using thesix designation on team assignments. Must be a personal thing withour fearless leader. Either way, it feels stupid to me. I mean, they soundcoolMercy Six. Rainbow Six. Halo Six. Whatever. The military andtheir 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 guywho hunts demons with his brother on that one show. . .whatever it s

called. I like it. Chicksll dig it.Thats Brian Bledsoe. Staff Sergeant. Now code-named Hawk

ha! Easy one to rememberSquawk Hawk. The guy quick with histongue and his Glock. Not sure one could call him arrogant. He justisnt afraid to voice his opinions. Which are many.

Their team commander, Captain Dean Watters, glares at theyounger Green Beret. Thats something the team commander does

quite wellglare. He isnt big on words, but the dude can put someserious action behind the few words he utters. I wouldnt want to meethim in a dark alley. Or any alley for that matter.

This isnt about chicks. Sergeant First Class Salvatore FalconRussothe meanest guy on the teamsnarls. All bark, but Im not surehe has much of a bite. Mustve had a bad childhood or something to bethat grouchy all the time. But he is a top-notch soldier. Holds his own.Watches out for his team. I guess that makes him an asset. The teams

Italian Stallion studies the documents on the table.And with a twitch of this dial and a flick of that one, I zoom in and

join them studying those documents. Thats what I do after allstudywhat they study.

Ah. Readiness profiles. Good to know.We have to assume these identities, the new roles in moving out

of being Green Berets, out of liaising with villagers and into black ops.Its not about us. Captain Watters leans forward, his fingertips

pressing to the table. This is about freedom, about securing innocentlives. Doing violence on their behalf.

Cue the American national anthem.Or should that be anathema?Arent Americans pretty much eating their young back on their ownsoil?


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R a p t o r 6

Think this is right?See? This guy I likeSergeant First Class Mitchell Black. Which

is weirdhes not black. Hes as white as they come with some good olsun bronzing, compliments of the Afghan deserts. Theyre calling himHairier. Wait. Scratch that. Harrier. Birds of prey. Not hairy meneventhough his thick, light brown hair is longer than most of the guys onthe team. But look at himpicture of calm assurance sitting in a chair,his elbows on the table as he takes in the documents. You wouldnt guessthat since the guy had only joined the team in the last six months. Nextto the captain, I think this guy could be the biggest threat. Whats the

phraseits the quiet ones?I mean, can we do this? Black looks at the others. Can we shift

our specialties and work on a level weve never fully executed before?We have, Russo says as he folds his arms over his chest. We did

it with the MWDs and handlers.I grab my pen and scratch out a note to self: Research MWDs.Harrier wasnt with us then, Hawk says. They stole one of our

best guys out from under us. Bledsoe huffs as he drops into a squeakyoffice chair. I think the dude could bench-press an oil tanker if he triedwith the way his muscles tear at the desert-camo sleeves.

No, terrorists did thatCaptain Watters the purist, the patriotwhen they blew his leg off.

Yeah, Bledsoe says. And thats when they saddled us with theAussie newb.

Oy, mate.

Laughing loud doesnt alert anyone to my presence, and that makesme laugh louder. Bledsoe is not afraid of anyone. And AussieI grabmy notebook and flip back a few pages and find his name: EamonTitanis Straideris nobody to sneeze at. They call him newb mostlybecause hes not American. That guy is as tough and rugged as theycome. I mean, check out the black high and tight. Strong jaw and eyesthat dont miss a thing. Hes a close equal to the captain, but Im notquite sure hes there yet. Still, nobody in his right mind would refer toAustralian Special Air Services corporal as newb to his face. ExceptBledsoe.

Lifting my cup of tea toward the staticky screen where Bledsoestands tall at six foot, I toast him. Your funeral, not mine.

Mate, Im not your enemy. Ferocity laces the words of the Aussie,


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whod received two Victoria Cross medals. Three if you count the oneinked over his left pecnot that Ive seen it myself, but thats what his

dossier says. That Oz native is as hardcore as they come.There is opportunity here, Straider goes on. To act swiftly anddo justice. Youre a fierce fighter. Focus that energy on the combatants,Bledsoe. Not on me.

Electric tension crackles through the command center and thestaticbut only I notice that part.

Because its a feed.Nobody hears the feed. Except me. . .cuz Im here in this tin can of

a trailer.Bledsoe comes to his feet. I dont take orders from you, newb.Oh. Oh! I lean forward and set aside my tea. The two are ready to

go to blows. A match, right here on Sub-base Command Live Feed? Bestill my beating heart!

Enough. Watters saves the day. Again. And makes my duty hereboring. Again. Straiders right.

Why is he here anyway? Bledsoe asks. We were fine on our own.Were you? Straider hasnt earned his nations respect and devotionby being afraid of confrontation. And he clearly isnt going to starttoday.

Come on, cmon. With a fake left cross, I beg them to duke it out.Give him a what-for, Straider. Level the guy. Teach him a lesson.

Do you want to run through the AAR with me on that?Watters straightens, his shoulders squaring as he plants his hands

on his tactical belt. Look. This is a change, but its right up our alley.Right where we were headed. Weve been in field long enough to knowwhat needs to be done. Its second nature.

With a huff, I slump back in my chair. Disappointing. They alwayshave to be so civil. Rules of engagement and all that. Well, Raptor teamneeds to hang up their raptor wings. Playing fair wouldnt bring a win.Itd bring death.

I smirk. Ill make sure of it.

Raptor 6 by Ronie Kendig

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Transcript of Raptor 6 by Ronie Kendig