HOGS #6 Death Wish (Jim DeFelice’s HOGS First Gulf War series) (27 page)

A freak, unlucky thing.

There’d be a thick report circulated around the
Pentagon and Congress and even the White House.

“Preston deserves a medal,” said the general.

“Absolutely,” Knowlington agreed.

“We want that in high gear. We may go for the big
one. I think it’s worth it. Risked his life under fire. Honor for us all.”

“Okay,” said Knowlington.

The line went silent for a moment. “Preston wasn’t
a friend of yours, was he?”

“Hated my guts, I think.”

“Word is he wanted your job.”

“Wouldn’t want a DO who didn’t.”

“We’ll get you a replacement. Say Mike, did you
call to give me a backdoor on the mission? Or was something else up?”

To quit, to walk away— it would be like leaving a
job half done. It would be like letting down his guys, his kids, his boys.

Damn, he wanted a drink. He wanted it so bad his
tongue burned and he could feel anger rising inside. He wanted it so bad he
felt like yelling into the phone, screaming: “I just lost a goddamn pilot! And
why? Why? Because grabbing a plane out from Saddam’s nose was just too cool a
thing to pass up!. . . Because I felt sorry for myself and wanted to go out in
a blaze of glory. . . Because Hack wanted my job and figured he could get it by
pulling off the impossible.. . Because of some freak, uncontrollable accident.”

Because that’s the way war was.

He wanted a drink, and somehow that was enough to
make him stay.

“Yeah,” he told the general. “I knew you weren’t
in the loop.”

“I appreciate it, Mikey. Commendation in this for
you, too. Maybe a medal.”

If he’d had just a little more strength, or been a
little less tired, or needed a drink a little less badly, he might have told
the general what he could do with the medal. Instead he just hung up the phone.

THE END

While “suggested by an actual operating area
near the front line, Ar Kehy is an invention, as is the Iraqi base. As usual, I
played around with some of the architecture and furniture of the historical
places mentioned in the book.

RAF Tornados served with great distinction
in a variety of roles during the Gulf War. Sister Sadie and her crew, of
course, are fictitious, although the advanced near-real-time reconnaissance
systems described in the book are not.

At the time this book was written, British
SAS operations were covered by the Official Secrets Act, but there have
nonetheless been some interesting and detailed reports about British goings-on
in Iraq. Among the most entertaining is Andy McNab’s
Bravo Two Zero
,
which was published in America in 1994 by Island Books.

Some specific details relating to actual
combat operations or procedures that could conceivably aid an enemy during war
have been omitted or obscured. Some details covering special operations,
intelligence, and technical information-gathering processes have been slightly
altered. The changes haven’t materially affected the tale.

I’d like to say thank you to my wife and
editorial assistant, Debra Scacciaferro, who re-edited and updated all six of
these long-out-of-print books in the original Hogs series into e-book format so
that these stories would find a new audience in the 21rst century.

Check six, and whatever you do, don’t spill
the coffee.

— Jim DeFelice

www.jimdefelice.com

Catch me on Facebook or twitter

Number
One New York Times Bestselling author Jim DeFelice (
American Sniper
),
writing as James Ferro, originally published the six-book HOGS series in
paperback for Berkley in 1999. This Kindle series includes:

Hogs
#1:Going Deep

Hogs
#2: Hog Down

Hogs
#3: Fort Apache

Hogs
#4: Snake Eaters

Hogs
#5: Target Saddam

Hogs
#6: Death Wish

Hogs
ShortStory: Birthday in Iraq

Jim’s newest book
Code Name:
Johnny Walker
is due out in hardcover from HarperCollins in February of
2014. A unique Iraqi War memoir, it offers the harrowing story of an Iraqi civilian
who put his life on the line to work as an interpreter for the U.S. military
forces, including Navy SEAL Chris Kyle
.

Jim’s
other e-books on Kindle include:

Novels:

Leopards Kill

Brother’s Keeper

Havana Strike

Coming in spring 2014:
War Breaker- the e-book edition

Short Stories:

Wolf Flight (WWII)

Military History
:

Omar Bradley: General at War

Rangers At Dieppe (WWII)

Andy Fisher FBI techno thrillers:

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