by Rorke Denver
To my team at Brillstein (D Mac), CAA (The Council), Ziffren Brittenham (MJ): You are my new dogs of war, and I like our chances. To Peter and the crew at Foundry: Thank you for your crucial insights in conceiving the project and patiently nurturing it to life. To Elisabeth and everyone at Hyperion: Thank you for your valuable support and advice. Your energy, focus, and resilience keep impressing me—rigid when I pushed back, bending when required: the modern literary equivalent of bamboo. A reader my entire life, I never appreciated the value of a visionary editorial team.
To Ellis: I could not have chosen a partner in the trenches better than you. You truly know how to craft and tell a story. You have the work ethic of any SEAL. You are a teammate and “swim buddy” for life.
To Gilmore, Hewitt, Wallace H., Bob K., Slugger, Desko, Neal, John, and Mary Jo: May I be half the mentor to others that you have been to me.
To Lipton, Chris G, Duane and Kathy, Bock, Brick, Shipley, Long, PK, Michelle, Pauline, Kathy H., Max, and Jacob: I have been blessed with such amazing friends.
To BAJ, Pressfield, Coes, P. McHugh, and Churchill: Across miles and years, you made me love and respect the awesome power of well-crafted words.
To those of you behind the many names that cannot even be hinted at, much less published here: You know who you are and what you’ve done—and I will never forget, either.
To my fellow SEALs, warriors, and patriots: This country is ours to shape. Together and forever, let us maintain that fight.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
In fourteen years as a SEAL officer, Rorke Denver tangled with drug lords in Latin America, stood up to violent mobs in Liberia, and battled terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan. Leading 200 commando missions, he earned the Bronze Star with V for valor. He has spent the past four years at the Navy Special Warfare Center in Coronado, California, directing all phases of the basic and advanced training that prepare men for war in SEAL teams. He recently starred in the film Act of Valor. He is married and has two daughters.
Ellis Henican is a columnist at Newsday and an on-air commentator at the Fox News Channel. He has written two recent New York Times bestsellers, Home Team with New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton and In the Blink of an Eye with NASCAR legend Michael Waltrip.
Author photo by Rob Greer
COPYRIGHT
Title page photograph is by Rob Greer.
All other photographs are courtesy of the author.
Copyright © 2013 Rorke Denver
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For information address Hyperion, 1500 Broadway, New York, New York 10036.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data for the original print edition has been applied for.
eBook Edition ISBN: 978-1-4013-0489-8
Cover design by Laura Klynstra
Cover photo Rob Greer
First eBook Edition
Original hardcover edition printed in the United States of America.
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