Seal Team Seven #19: Field of Fire
Read Seal Team Seven #19: Field of Fire Online
Authors: Keith Douglass
Two Israeli jets flying CAP over Haifa at twenty thousand feet suddenly lost all radio contact with the ground and with each other. Both craft flamed out as all electronic components on them failed in a smoking mass. With little lift in their short stubby wings, the planes dropped toward the ground with a hard-won glide path that topped out at forty percent. The pilots tried to restart their engines, but nothing worked. Not even the altimeter functioned, and the pilots desperately made their last move. They hugged their arms to their sides and pulled the ejection handle. The shotgun-shell-like devices exploded, which set off the solid fuel rockets that blasted the ejection seats high away from the doomed F-14 Tomcat fighters. The parachutes opened and the pilots drifted down toward Israel having no idea why their planes failed.
Titles by Keith Douglass
THE SEAL TEAM SERIES
SEAL TEAM SEVEN
SPECTER
NUCFLASH
DIRECT ACTION
FIRESTORM
BATTLEGROUND
DEATHRACE
PACIFIC SIEGE
WAR CRY
FRONTAL ASSAULT
FLASHPOINT
TROPICAL TERROR
BLOODSTORM
DEATHBLOW
AMBUSH
COUNTERFIRE
PAYBACK
DEADLY FORCE
FIELD OF FIRE
THE CARRIER SERIES
CARRIER
VIPER STRIKE
ARMAGEDDON MODE
FLAME-OUT
MAELSTROM
COUNTDOWN
AFTERBURN
ALPHA STRIKE
ARCTIC FIRE
ARSENAL
NUKE ZONE
CHAIN OF COMMAND
BRINK OF WAR
TYPHOON SEASON
ENEMIES
JOINT OPERATIONS
THE ART OF WAR
ISLAND WARRIORS
FIRST STRIKE
HELLFIRE
TERROR AT DAWN
EAL
T
EAM
S
EVEN
FIELD OF FIRE
K
EITH
D
OUGLASS
BERKLEY BOOKS, NEW YORK
If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as“unsold and destroyed”to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this“stripped book.”
Special thanks to Chet Cunningham
for his contributions to this book.
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.
SEAL TEAM SEVEN: FIELD OF FIRE
A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with the author
PRINTING HISTORY
Berkley edition / June 2003
Copyright © 2003 by The Berkley Publishing Group SEAL TEAM SEVEN logo illustration by Michael Racz.
All rights reserved.
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EISBN: 9781101576076
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This work of fiction is sincerely dedicated to all those who perished in the September 11 murderous atrocity, in the Pentagon attack, the World Trade Center disaster, and the fourth plane crashed by suicidal terrorists. No society or rational people should have to experience such demented actions by worldwide criminal elements.
S
EAL
T
EAM
S
EVEN
T
HIRD
P
LATOON
*
C
ORONADO,
C
ALIFORNIA
Rear Admiral (L) Richard Kenner.
Commander of all SEALs. Little Creek, Virginia.
Captain Harry L. Arjarack.
Commanding Officer of NAVSPECWARGRUP-ONE, in Coronado, California. 51.
Commander Dean Masciareli.
Commanding officer of Navy Special Warfare Group One’s SEAL Team Seven in Coronado, California. 47, 5’ 11”, 220 pounds. Annapolis graduate.
Master Chief Petty Officer Gordon MacKenzie.
Administrator and head enlisted man of all of SEAL Team Seven. 47, 5’ 10”, 180 pounds.
Lieutenant Commander Blake Murdock.
Platoon Leader, Third Platoon. 32, 6’ 2”, 210 pounds. Annapolis graduate. Six years in SEALs. Father an important congressman from Virginia. Murdock has an apartment in Coronado. Owns a car and a motorcycle. Loves to fish. Weapon: Alliant Bull Pup duo 5.56mm 20mm explosive round. Speaks Arabic.
A
LPHA
S
QUAD
Timothy F. Sadler.
Senior Chief Petty Officer. Top EM in Third Platoon. Third in command. 32, 6’ 2”, 220 pounds. Married to Sylvia, no children. Been in the Navy for fifteen years, a SEAL for last eight. Expert fisherman. Plays trumpet in any Dixieland combo he can find. Weapon: Alliant Bull Pup duo 5.56mm 20mm explosive round. Good with the men. Speaks German and some Farsi.
David“Jaybird”; Sterling.
Machinist Mate First Class. Lead petty officer. 24, 5’ 10”, 170 pounds. Quick mind, fine tactician. Single. Drinks too much sometimes. Crack shot with all arms. Grew up in Oregon. Helps plan attack operations. Weapon: H K MP-5SD submachine gun.
Luke “Mountain” Howard.
Gunner’s Mate Second Class. 28, 6’ 4”, 250 pounds. Black man. Football at Oregon State. Tryout with Oakland Raiders six years ago. In Navy six years, SEAL for four. Single. Rides a motorcycle. A skiing and wind surfing nut. Squad sniper. Weapon: H K PSG1 7.62 NATO sniper rifle.
Bill Bradford.
Quartermaster First Class. 24, 6’ 2”, 215 pounds. An artist in spare time. Paints oils. He sells his marine paintings. Single. Quiet. Reads a lot. Has two years of college. Platoon radio operator. Carries a SATCOM on most missions. Weapon: Alliant Bull Pup duo 5.56mm 20mm explosive round. Speaks Italian and some Arabic.
Joe “Ricochet” Lampedusa.
Operations Specialist First Class. 21, 5’ 11”, 175 pounds. Good tracker, quick thinker. Had a year of college. Loves motorcycles. Wants a Hog. Pot smoker on the sly. Picks up plain girls. Platoon scout. Weapon: Colt M-4A1 with grenade launcher, alternate Bull Pup duo 5.56mm 20mm explosive round.
Kenneth Ching.
Quartermaster First Class. 25, 6’ even, 180 pounds. Full-blooded Chinese. Platoon translator. Speaks Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish. Bicycling nut. Paid $1,200 for off-road bike. Is trying for Officer Candidate School. Weapon: H K MP-5SD submachine gun.
Vincent “Vinnie” Van Dyke.
Electrician’s Mate Second Class. 24, 6’ 2”, 220 pounds. Enlisted out of high school. Played varsity basketball. Wants to be a commercial fisherman after his current hitch. Good with his hands. Squad machine gunner. Weapon: H K 21-E 7.62 NATO round machine gun. Speaks Dutch, German, and some Arabic.
B
RAVO
S
QUAD
Lieutenant (j.g.) Christopher “Chris” Gardner.
Squad Leader Bravo Squad. Second in Command of the platoon. 28, 6’ 4”, 240 pounds. From Seattle. Four years in SEALs. Hang-glider nut. Married to Wanda, a clothing designer. No kids. Annapolis graduate. Father is a Navy rear admiral. Grew up in ten different states. Weapon: Alliant Bull Pup duo 5.56mm 20mm explosive round. Alternate: H K G-11 submachine gun.
George“Petard”Canzoneri.
Torpedoman’s Mate First Class. 27, 5’ 11”, 190 pounds. Married to Navy wife Phyllis. No kids. Nine years in Navy. Expert on explosives. Nicknamed“Petard”for almost hoisting himself one time. Top pick in platoon for explosives work. Weapon: Alliant Bull Pup duo 5.56mm 20mm explosive round.
Miguel Fernandez.
Gunner’s Mate First Class. 26, 6’ 1”, 180 pounds. Wife, Maria; daughter, Linda, 7, in Coronado. Spends his off time with them. Highly family oriented. He has family in San Diego. Speaks Spanish and Portuguese. Squad sniper. Weapon: H K PSG1 7.62 NATO sniper rifle.
Omar“Ollie”Rafii.
Yeoman Second Class. 24, 6’ even, 180 pounds. From Saudi Arabia. In U.S. since he was four. Loves horses, has two. Married, two children. Speaks perfect Farsi and Arabic. Expert with all knives. Throws killing knives with deadly accuracy. Weapon: H K MP-5SD submachine gun.
Tracy Donegan.
Signalman Second Class. 24, 6’ even, 185 pounds. Former Navy boxer. Tough. Single. Expert tracker and expert on camouflage and ground warfare. Top marksman. Platoon driver, mechanic. Speaks Swahili and Italian. Weapon: H K G-11 with caseless rounds.
Jack Mahanani.
Hospital Corpsman First Class. 25, 6’ 4”, 240 pounds. Platoon medic. Tahitian/Hawaiian. Expert swimmer. Bench-presses four hundred pounds. Divorced. Top surfer. Wants the. 50 sniper rifle. Weapon: Alliant Bull Pup duo 5.56mm
20mm explosive round. Alternate: Colt M-4A1 with grenade launcher.
Wade Claymore.
Radioman Second Class. 24, 6’ 3”, 230 pounds. Unmarried. Played two years of Junior College football. A computer whiz. Can program, repair, and build computers. Shoots pistol competitively. Lives in Coronado. Weapon: Alliant Bull Pup duo with 5.56 20mm explosive round.
Paul“Jeff”Jefferson.
Engineman Second Class. 23, 6’ 1”, 200 pounds. Black man. Expert in small arms. Can tear apart most weapons and reassemble, repair, and innovate them. A chess player to match Ed DeWitt. Weapon: Alliant Bull Pup duo 5.56mm 20mm explosive round.
*
Third Platoon assigned exclusively to the Central Intelligence Agency to perform any needed tasks on a covert basis anywhere in the world. All are top-secret assignments. Goes around Navy chain of command. Direct orders from the CIA and the CNO.
1
Lebanon
Eight miles into the buffer zone
Something moved out there in the darkest night that Corporal David Aharon had ever seen. They were black-on-black ghost shadows fading away, drifting back, filtering through his sharp night vision like holographs on the inside of an eternally sealed tomb. Aharon tacked one of the fuzzy mirages with his Uzi automatic rifle, then squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. When he looked back, the dark apparition had edged closer. He kicked his best friend in the whole Israeli army, Jacob Zared. The slender soldier, not long from Chicago, came awake instantly and pushed his Uzi over the lip of the bunker.
“Something’s out there,” Corporal Aharon whispered. “Near that rock, twenty feet on the left. That’s on the only access to this position.”
“I don’t see nothing, Aharon,” Zared grumbled. “You’re just trying to get me up early to relieve you on guard. I got me an hour to sleep yet.”