Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
XI
XII
XIII
XIV
XV
XVI
XVII
XVIII
XIX
XX
XXI
XXII
XXIII
XXIV
XXV
XXVI
Afterword
"W.E.B. Griffin has been called the poet laureate of the American military, and it is certain that his books convey a sure portrait of that culture. His grasp of history and his ability to personalize that big picture through the actions of an ever-changing cast of characters not only informs—it is highly entertaining as well.” —Los Angeles Daily News
PRAISE FOR W.E.B. GRIFFIN AND THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING
BROTHERHOOD OF WAR SERIES
“FIRST-RATE. Griffin, a former soldier, skillfully sets the stage, melding credible characters, a good eye for detail, and colorful, gritty dialogue into a readable and entertaining story.”
—The Washington Post Book World
“ABSORBING, salted-peanuts reading filled with detailed and fascinating descriptions of weapons, tactics, Green Beret training, army life, and battle.” —The New York Times Book Review
“A CRACKLING GOOD STORY. It gets into the hearts and minds of those who by choice or circumstance are called upon to fight our nation’s wars.”
—William R. Corson, Lt. Col. (Ret.) U.S.M.C., author of The Betrayal and The Armies of Ignorance
“A MAJOR WORK . . . MAGNIFICENT . . . POWERFUL . . . If books about warriors and the women who love them were given medals for authenticity, insight, and honesty, Brotherhood of War would be covered with them.” —William Bradford Huie, author of
The Klansman and The Execution of Private Slovik
“Captures the rhythms of army life and speech, its rewards, and deprivations . . . A WELL-WRITTEN, ABSORBING ACCOUNT.”
—Publishers Weekly
“REFLECTS THE FLAVOR OF WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A PROFESSIONAL SOLDIER.” —Frederick Downs, author of The Killing Zone
“LARGE, EXCITING, FAST-MOVING.”
—Shirley Ann Grau, author of The Keepers of the House
“A MASTER STORYTELLER who makes sure each book stands on its own.” —Newport News Press
“GRIFFIN HAS BEEN CALLED THE LOUIS L’AMOUR OF MILITARY FICTION, AND WITH GOOD REASON.”
—Chattanooga News-Free Press
W.E.B. GRIFFIN’S ACCLAIMED BESTSELLERS
BLOOD AND HONOR
“ROUSING . . . AN IMMENSELY ENTERTAINING ADVENTURE. ” —Kirkus Reviews
HONOR BOUND
“A TAUTLY WRITTEN STORY whose twists and turns will keep readers guessing until the last page.” —Publishers Weekly
"A SUPERIOR WAR STORY.” —Library Journal
W.E.B. GRIFFIN’S CLASSIC SERIES
THE CORPS
W.E.B. Griffin’s bestselling saga of the heroes we call Marines . . .
"THE BEST CHRONICLER OF THE U.S. MILITARY EVER TO PUT PEN TO PAPER.” —Phoenix Gazette
"A BRILLIANT STORY . . . NOT ONLY WORTHWHILE, IT’S A PUBLIC SERVICE.” —The Washington Times
“GREAT READING. A superb job of mingling fact and fiction . . . [Griffin’s] characters come to life.” —The Sunday Oklahoman
“THIS MAN HAS REALLY DONE HIS HOMEWORK . . . I confess to impatiently awaiting the appearance of succeeding books in the series.” —The Washington Post
“ACTION-PACKED . . . DIFFICULT TO PUT DOWN.”
—Marine Corps Gazette
MEN AT WAR
The legendary OSS—fighting a silent war of spies and assassins in the shadows of World War II . . .
“WRITTEN WITH A SPECIAL FLAIR for the military heart and mind.” —The Kansas Daily Courier
“SHREWD, SHARP, ROUSING ENTERTAINMENT.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“CAMEOS BY SUCH HISTORICAL FIGURES as William ‘Wild Bill’ Donovan, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., David Niven, and Peter Ustinov lend color . . . suspenseful.” —Publishers Weekly
BADGE OF HONOR
W.E.B. Griffin’s electrifying epic series of a big-city police force . . .
"DAMN EFFECTIVE . . . He captivates you with characters the way few authors can.” —Tom Clancy
"TOUGH, AUTHENTIC ... POLICE DRAMA AT ITS BEST . . . Readers will feel as if they’re part of the investigation, and the true-to-life characters will soon feel like old friends. Excellent reading.” —Dale Brown, bestselling author of Storming Heaven and Fatal Terrain
“COLORFUL . . . GRITTY . . . TENSE.”
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
"A REAL WINNER.” —New York Daily News
"NOT SINCE JOSEPH WAMBAUGH have we been treated to a police story of the caliber that Griffin gives us. He creates a story about real people in a real world doing things that are AS REAL AS TODAY’S HEADLINES.”
—Harold Coyle, bestselling author of Team Yankee and Sword Point
“FANS OF ED McBAIN’S 87TH PRECINCT NOVELS BETTER MAKE ROOM ON THEIR SHELVES . . . Badge of Honor is first and foremost the story of the people who solve the crimes. The characters come alive.” —Gainesville Times (GA)
“GRITTY, FAST-PACED . . . AUTHENTIC.”
—Richard Herman, Jr., author of The Warbirds
Titles by W.E.B. Griffin
HONOR BOUND
HONOR BOUND
BLOOD AND HONOR
SECRET HONOR
BROTHERHOOD OF WAR
BOOK I: THE LIEUTENANTS
BOOK II: THE CAPTAINS
BOOK III: THE MAJORS
BOOK IV: THE COLONELS
BOOK V: THE BERETS
BOOK VI: THE GENERALS
BOOK VII: THE NEW BREED
BOOK VIII: THE AVIATORS
BOOK IX: SPECIAL OPS
THE CORPS
BOOK I: SEMPER FI
BOOK II: CALL TO ARMS
BOOK III: COUNTERATTACK
BOOK IV: BATTLEGROUND
BOOK V: LINE OF FIRE
BOOK VI: CLOSE COMBAT
BOOK VII: BEHIND THE LINES
BOOK VIII: IN DANGER’S PATH
BOOK IX: UNDER FIRE
BOOK X: RETREAT, HELL!
BADGE OF HONOR
BOOK I: MEN IN BLUE
BOOK II: SPECIAL OPERATIONS
BOOK III: THE VICTIM
BOOK IV: THE WITNESS
BOOK V: THE ASSASSIN
BOOK VI: THE MURDERERS
BOOK VII: THE INVESTIGATORS
BOOK VIII: FINAL JUSTICE
MEN AT WAR
BOOK I: THE LAST HEROES
BOOK II: THE SECRET WARRIORS
BOOK III: THE SOLDIER SPIES
BOOK IV: THE FIGHTING AGENTS
PRESIDENTIAL AGENT
BY ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada
(a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)
P
enguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)
Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), Cnr. Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand
(a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196,
South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
SPECIAL OPS
A Jove Book / published by arrangement with G. P. Putnam’s Sons
Copyright © 2001 by W.E.B. Griffin.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions. For information, address: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
eISBN : 978-1-4406-3524-3
Visit our website at
www.penguin.com
JOVE®
Jove Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
JOVE and the “J” design are trademarks belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
http://us.penguingroup.com
For Uncle Charley and The Bull
RIP October 1979
And for Donn Who would have ever believed four stars?
And for Russ Who would have ever believed Pee-Wee’s Dog Robber would grow up to be a major general, a division commander, and a university president?
And for Mac RIP December 1987
And for All Those Special Operations Types Who Laid Their Lives on the Line To Keep Africa and South America Free of the Communists
I
[ ONE ]
TOP SECRET
THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF WASHINGTON, D.C.
Duplication Forbidden Copy 4 of Seven.
For Distribution By Officer Courier Only
8 November 1964
Commanding General, United States Strike
Command
Commanding General, European Command
Commanding General, United States Air
Force, Europe
Commanding General, Seventh United States
Army1. By Direction of the President; by Command of His Royal Highness, the King of the Belgians; and at the request of the government of the Republic of the Congo, a Joint Belgian-American Operation, “OPERATION DRAGON ROUGE,” will take whatever military action is necessary to effect the rescue of American, Belgian and other European nationals currently being held hostage in Stanleyville, Republic of the Congo, by forces in rebellion against the legal and duly constituted government of the Republic of the Congo.
2. By Direction of the President, Counselor to the President Sanford T. Felter (Colonel, General Staff Corps, USA) is designated Action Officer, and will be presumed, in connection to military matters, to be speaking with the authority of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
3. OPERATION DRAGON ROUGE is assigned an AAAA-1 Priority with regard to the requisitioning of personnel, equipment, and other U.S. military assets.
4. Addressees will on receipt of this directive immediately dispatch an officer in the grade of colonel or higher to the United States Embassy, Brussels, Belgium, where they will make themselves available to Colonel Felter or such officers as he may designate to represent him.
FOR THE CHAIRMAN, THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF:
Forbes T. Willis
FORBES T. WILLIS
BRIGADIER GENERAL, USMC
EXECUTIVE OFFICER, JCS
TOP SECRET
[ TWO ]
Brussels, Belgium
1320 11 November 1964
Brigadier General Harris McCord, USAF, thought he had yet another proof, if one were needed, that life was full of little ironies. Sixteen hours before, he had been at the USMC Birthday Ball at the Hotel Continental in Paris, tripping the light fantastic with his wife. He had been wearing his mess dress uniform, complete with real medals rather than ribbons, and with more silver embellishments than a Christmas tree.
Now that he was about to engage in what promised to be a really hairy exercise, he was wearing a somewhat baggy tweed jacket and well-worn flannel slacks. Just before he had left Paris, he had been told to wear civilian clothing. What he had on was all that had come back from the dry cleaners.
There were five peers, most of whom he knew, at least by sight, all in civilian clothing in a none-too-fancy conference room in the U.S. Embassy, waiting for Colonel Sanford T. Felter and his staff. The whole damned continent had been socked in, and Felter’s plane had had to sit down in Scotland to wait for Brussels to clear to bare minimums.
He had heard of Felter, but he had never seen him in person and he was not very impressed with him when he walked into the room. Felter was small and slight, and wearing a baggy gray suit. He looked like a stereotype of a middle-level bureaucrat.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, gentlemen,” Felter said. He threw a heavy briefcase on the table, then took a key from his pocket and unlocked the padlock that had chained—more accurately, steel-cabled—it to his wrist.
“My name is McCord, Colonel,” General McCord said, and went to Felter and offered his hand.
“I’m glad you were available, General,” Felter said.
As the others introduced themselves to Felter, McCord considered that. Felter knew who he was, and there was an implication that he had asked for him by name. That was flattering, unless you were rank-conscious, and thought that general officers should pick colonels, rather than the other way around.
“I think the best way to handle this, gentlemen,” Felter began, “is to give you a quick recap of what’s going on in the Congo, specifically in Stanleyville, and then to tell you what we intend to try to do to set it right.
“There are sixteen hundred people, Europeans, white people, held captive by Olenga’s Simbas in Stanleyville. A four-column relief force—in other words, four different columns—under the overall command of Colonel Frederick Van de Waele of the Belgian Army has been charged with suppressing the rebellion, which includes, of course, the recapture of Stanleyville.
“There have been some successes, as you probably know from your own sources, but there is no way that Van de Waele can make it to Stanleyville before the end of the month. That poses two problems. The first is the rebels’ announced intention to kill the hostages, a threat we consider bona fide, before Van de Waele can get to them.
“The second is that we have hard intelligence that since 20 October, at least two, and probably as many as four, unmarked Ilyushin-18 turboprop aircraft have been flying arms and ammunition into the Arau airbase in northern Uganda, from Algeria. Should they decide to do so, it would be easy for them to move the arms and ammunition to Olenga’s forces. The possibility of their doing so, it is believed, increases as Van de Waele’s mercenaries and ANC troops approach Stanleyville.
“The President has decided, in consultation with the Belgian premier, Spaak, that the first priority is to keep those sixteen hundred people alive. The Belgians have made available the First Parachutist Battalion of their Paracommando Regiment. I’m familiar with it. The First Battalion was trained by the British Special Air Service people in World War II, and they
pride themselves now on being just as good. The regiment is commanded by Colonel Charles Laurent, who is a fine officer, and who I suspect will lead the First Battalion himself.
“They will be carried to Stanleyville in USAF C-130 aircraft. After the airfield is softened up with some B-26s, they will make a parachute landing and seize the airport. Part of the force will remain at the airport to make the airport ready to receive the C-130s, and the balance will enter Stanleyville, find the Europeans, and bring them to the airport. They will be loaded aboard the C-130s and then everybody leaves. No attempt will be made to hold Stanleyville. I don’t want any questions right now. I just wanted to give the rough idea.
“These gentlemen,” Felter went on, turning to indicate the men he had brought with him, “are Lieutenant Colonel Lowell, Captain Stacey, Lieutenant Foster, and Sergeant Portet. They’re Green Berets. Colonel Lowell is on the Strike staff, and wrote Dragon Rouge. Captain Stacey and the others have been practicing a somewhat smaller operation intended for Stanleyville, now called off. But they know the town, and rebel dispositions and the probable location of the Europeans, and I brought them along to share their expertise.”
The light colonel, Lowell, General McCord thought, looks like a bright guy, if not much like a Green Beret. Stacey looks like a typical young Green Beret captain, a hard charger, tough, mean, and lean. The black lieutenant, Foster, looks as if he could chew railroad spikes and spit tacks. The sergeant . . . there’s something wrong with him: His face is scratched and blotchy and swollen. He can hardly see out of his eyes. And whatever’s wrong with his face is also wrong with his hands.
“Colonel Lowell,” Felter went on, “as soon as we wind it up here, will be available to explain any questions you might have about the OPPLAN for Dragon Rouge. Stacey and Foster are going to go liaise with the Belgians.”
Felter looked at General McCord.
“I’m going to give Sergeant Portet, to you, General. He’s a former airlines pilot, with extensive experience in the Congo—including, of course, Kamina and Stanleyville—and equally important, because he was involved in getting the B-26-Ks to the Congo, he knows most, if not all, the Cubans who will be flying them.”