Hogs #3 Fort Apache (27 page)

__EPILOGUE___

I

GOING
HOME

KING
FAHD

26
JANUARY 1991

1200

T
he
general gave
him the news about Dixon
personally. Colonel Knowlington listened quietly, nodding ever so slightly as
the Special Ops commander finished.

“Officially, he’s MIA,” said the general. “But someone
saw the body.”

“Okay.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s war.” Knowlington shrugged. “I’m sorry to cut
you short, but there’s something I have to do right away.”

“Sure.”

###

Colonel Knowlington left his office and walked
directly to Tent City. He found Mongoose in his tent.

“Hey Colonel,” said Mongoose. “I’ve just been going
over the frag.”

“Don’t bother. Get your bags packed. You’re out of
here.”

Mongoose nearly dropped the sheets of computer paper
containing the squadron’s daily assignments. “What?”

“There’s a C-5A going to Newburgh, N.Y. at 3 p.m.
You’re on it or you’re court martialed for desertion.”

“You bastard.” Mongoose jumped to his feet, as angry
as if Knowlington had told him he was sleeping with his wife. “You promised me
you’d take care of keeping me here.”

Skull said nothing, turning and leaving the tent.

“I won’t forget this!” shouted Mongoose, running after
him. “I’ll get you back, you drunk bastard.”

Tightening the fingers in his right fist, Colonel
Knowlington walked away.

SUGAR
MOUNTAIN

26 JANUARY
1991

1200

H
is mouth
was
full. Warm lamb, scented with
mint and a little bit of thyme, his all-time favorite dish.

It was a celebration, in honor of his finally becoming
a real, bonafide officer. Mom blew out all the stops.

His cousins and aunt were there. His mother sitting at
the end of the table, smiling.

When he saw her, he knew it was a dream. For a moment,
he didn’t want it to end. Then he decided it had to. He pushed his arm under
his chest, raised his head for a moment, collapsed back.

It was dirt in his mouth, not lamb.

He pushed up and heard the voices nearby, Iraqi
voices.

His gun was lying a few feet away.

Useless. It had jammed.

A Kalashnikov was a few yards beyond it.

So was its owner. Dead. He’d shot him.

The pistol was on the ground. He bent and scooped it
up.

The AK-47 was empty, he remembered, but he picked it
up anyway. He grabbed the H&K as well.

The voices were louder now, no more than ten yards
away, around the corner of the crevice.

Air Force Lieutenant William James “BJ” Dixon put down
the rifles and knelt on one knee, bracing himself in firing position, both
hands wrapped firmly around the pistol.

No way was anyone taking him alive.

_The End_

While inspired by actual A-10A missions conducted
during the Gulf War, this book is fiction. All characters, commands and
locations are to be interpreted as such, and in no case are meant to reflect on
anyone living or dead, actual military procedures, practices or whims.

Readers familiar with the A-10A facilities at King
Fahd and Al Jouf will realize I’ve moved a few things around in the interest of
the yarn. We haven’t gotten the Jacuzzi yet, but Chief Clyston is working on
it.

While Special Ops
—
Delta Force in particular
—
infiltrated a
number of teams into various parts of Iraq prior to the ground portion of the
campaign, Fort Apache and its command structure is entirely a figment of my
imagination. No documents released after the war include any reference to a
permanent base of its size in Iraq. While the A-10As did at times operate in
support of the Special Ops teams, no official documents support the theory that
they operated from inside Iraq. A discrepancy in declassified records has tended
to reinforce certain rumors about classified A-10A Forward Operating Areas or
bases, but none of the official documents I’ve seen to date specifically prove
that Hogs operated from enemy territory. In any event, all activities north of
the border in this book are fictitious.

As for the Special Ops missions, we will probably have
to wait years for the full story to be declassified
—
and for the
guys who were there to say what
really
happened. But readers can find
some details of the Special Ops missions in Iraq in several books.

Among my favorites, because they cast the operations
in their historical framework, are
Commandos
by Douglas C. Waller, and
From
a Dark Sky
by Orr Kelly. Kelly’s book focuses on the Air Force’s
contribution to Special Ops, a perspective often missed.

Terry Griswold and D.M. Giangreco also include some stories
in their book,
Delta, America’s Elite Counterterrorist Force
; if you’ve
never seen how small an AH-6G is, you can get an idea from the photos included
in their book.

Some of the behind-the-scenes political maneuvering is
hinted at in Rick Atkinson’s larger history to the war,
Crusade
, a much
different book than the others. And a personal look at the British SAS
contribution to special operations in Iraq is told by Andy McNab in his
first-person memoir
Bravo Two Zero
. McNab managed to survive capture;
his true story is more harrowing than fiction.

A final note: Don’t try Doberman’s approach to
short-field landings on your local shopping mall parking lot. It beats the hell
out of the landing gear and results in a lot of broken glass.

-Jim
DeFelice

This is
the second in the original Hogs six-book series including

HOG
#1:GOING DEEP

HOG
#2: HOG DOWN

More in the series coming out soon including:

HOG #3:
Fort Apache

If you like this
book, visit Jim’s website to find out how to download a free copy of Jim’s
short story called
In the Hunter’s Shadow,
at
www.jimdefelice.com
.  It’s yours as a thank you for
buying this series.

#1 New
York Times Bestselling author Jim DeFelice (
American Sniper
), writing as
James Ferro, originally published this book in paperback for Berkley in 2000.
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)

American Sniper (Navy Seal Chris Kyle)

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