Private Wars

  FSB

  Forward Support Base (U.K. Military)

  FSO

  Foreign Service Officer (also FO); indicates a career State Department Officer (U.S. State Department)

  GSPC

  Groupe Salafiste pour la Predication et la Combat (The Salafist Group for Call and Combat); violent religious extremist group based in Algeria

  GWOT

  Global War on Terror

  Hizb-ut-Tahir

  The Islamic Party of Liberation, a banned Uzbek opposition party seeking greater religious freedom in Uzbekistan

  HOS

  Head of Station; also Station Number One (SIS)

  IMU

  Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan; terrorist organization with ties to al-Qaeda, responsible for terror attacks in Uzbekistan. Often confused with Hizb-ut-Tahir

  JI

  Jemaah Islamiyah (Islamic Community); extremist terror organization operating in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines. Has ties to al-Qaeda.

  JIC

  Joint Intelligence Committee (U.K.)

  LNG

  Liquefied Natural Gas

  LS

  Landing site

  MANPAD

  Man-portable air defense system; a surface-to-air missile capable of being launched by a lone individual

  MCO

  Mission Control Officer (SIS); Ops Room post responsible for oversight of actual mission execution; also Main Communications Officer (SIS); responsible for recording and coordinating communications between the Ops Room and the field

  Mission

  Generic term used interchangeably with “post” or “embassy,” referring to the entirety of the official representation made to a host country (U.S. State Department)

  MOD

  Ministry of Defense (U.K.)

  NCTC

  National Center for Counterterrorism (U.S.)

  NVG

  Night-vision goggles

  PA

  Personal Assistant

  PRC

  People’s Republic of China

  PUS

  Permanent Undersecretary

  RSO

  Regional Security Officer (U.S. State Department)

  RV

  Rendezvous

  S

  Office of Secretary, Department of State; Secretary of State (U.S.)

  SAS

  Special Air Service (U.K.)

  SIS

  Secret Intelligence Service (U.K.)

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  GREG RUCKA has worked at a variety of jobs, from theatrical fight choreographer to emergency medical technician. The author of A Gentleman’s Game, A Fistful of Rain, and five previous thrillers, he resides with his family in Portland, Oregon. He is currently working on the next Atticus Kodiak crime novel, Patriot Acts, which Bantam will publish in fall 2006.

  ALSO BY GREG RUCKA

  Keeper

  Finder

  Smoker

  Shooting at Midnight

  Critical Space

  A Fistful of Rain

  A Gentleman’s Game

  PRIVATE WARS

  A Bantam Book / November 2005

  Published by

  Bantam Dell

  A Division of Random House, Inc.

  New York, New York

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright © 2005 by Greg Rucka

  Map by Robert Bull

  Bantam Books is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Rucka, Greg.

  Private wars / Greg Rucka.

  p. cm.

  1. Women spies—Fiction. 2. Americans—Uzbekistan—Fiction. 3. Illegal arms transfers—Fiction. 4. Uzbekistan—Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3568.U2968P75 2005

  813'.54—dc22

  2005050115

  Published simultaneously in Canada

  www.bantamdell.com

  eISBN: 978-0-553-90209-9

  v3.0