by Jim DeFelice
Somewhere along the way, someone put a Styrofoam cup in Knowlington’s hand. He got halfway through before realizing it was a beer.
No. That was a lie. He realized it on the first sip. He realized it and felt the light tingle on his tongue. A voice in his head screamed to spit it out, but a louder voice just laughed and said, “drink.”
When he finished the cup, someone put another in his hand, and then another and another. He drank them all, the tingle melting into a steady hum, a pleasant, familiar vibration that warmed his brain and rubbed his back, loosened the knots in his shoulders and asked why he had waited so damn long to feel so damn good again.
A NOTE TO THE READER:
The operations described in the book, while in some respects inspired by actual events, are all invented and should be treated as fiction. Officially, the U.S. and its allies did not target Saddam for capture or execution.
In a few instances, details relating to procedures that could conceivably assist an enemy have either been omitted or obscured. These did not materially affect the story. And of course actions depicted in the book that are contrary to military law and procedures, not to mention good sense, are all fictional.
The STAR retrieval system does exist and works more or less in the manner described— though I for one would rather walk.
C-130s of various descriptions performed a wide variety of missions in the Gulf; though the plane began flying in the 1950s, it remains an important though often overlooked member of the service.
Al Kajuk is an invention.
French aircraft flew a total of 2,258 sorties during the war, roughly 2 percent of the total missions and fourth among coalition partners after the U.S., Britain, and Saudi Arabia. While several French aircraft sustained heavy battle damage, no French pilots were shot down during the war. Naturally, Hog drivers would have been there to snag their butts and haul them home if they had.
Some more boring statistics: The day before most of this story takes place, something on the order of forty percent of the sorties flown against Iraq were devoted to Scud hunting. That represented a major revamping of priorities to go against a small though admittedly politically significant threat. If that’s not an argument for providing a serious defense against ballistic missiles from rogue states and terrorists, A-Bomb’s a neat freak.
- Jim DeFelice
Other Books by Jim DeFelice
This is the fifth book in the original Hogs six-book series including
HOGS #1:GOING DEEP
HOGS #2: HOG DOWN
HOSG #3: FORT APACHE
HOGS #4: SNAKE EATERS
HOGS #5: TARGET SADDAM
More in the series coming out soon including:
HOGS #6: DEATH WISH
Number One New York Times Bestselling author Jim DeFelice (American Sniper), writing as James Ferro, originally published this series in paperback for Berkley in 1999 to 2002. His other books on Kindle include:
Novels:
Leopards Kill
Brother’s Keeper
Havana Strike
Short Stories:
Wolf Flight (WWII)
Ace Combat (based on Ace Combat game)
Military History:
Omar Bradley: General at War
Rangers At Dieppe (WWII)
Andy Fisher FBI technothrillers:
The Helios Conspiracy
Cyclops One
Threat Level Black,
Patriot Spy Revolutionary War series:
The Silver Bullet
The Iron Chain
The Golden Flask
You can also find his co-authored series listed on Jim’s Amazon Author’s page:
Rogue Warrior with Dick Marcinko
Larry Bond’s First Team and Red Dragon Rising series
Dale Brown’s Dreamland and Whiplash series.
The first five books in the Stephen Coonts Deep Black series
Find out more on the author’s website on the world wide web at jimdefelice.com
Table of Contents
Copyright
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A-BOMB’S HOG RULES
PART ONE VOLUNTEERS & MANIACS
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
PART TWO VULTURE DEATH
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
PART THREE LAZARUS
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 46
CHAPTER 47
CHAPTER 48
CHAPTER 49
CHAPTER 50
CHAPTER 51
CHAPTER 52
CHAPTER 53
CHAPTER 54
CHAPTER 55
CHAPTER 56
CHAPTER 57
CHAPTER 58
CHAPTER 59
CHAPTER 60
CHAPTER 61
CHAPTER 62
CHAPTER 63
CHAPTER 64
CHAPTER 65
CHAPTER 66
CHAPTER 67
CHAPTER 68
EPILOGUE: WARMING THE SOUL
CHAPTER 69
CHAPTER 70
CHAPTER 71
A NOTE TO THE READER:
Other Books by Jim DeFelice