ON TARGET
Book #3
of TERROR BLOODLINE Series
Genre: #Mystery #Terror #Suspense #Thriller
#Adventure #Crime
Book #3
TERROR BLOODLINE
Ex-CIA Jon Bradley 3-Series Thriller
Forthcoming Release
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TERROR BLOODLINE
Ex-CIA Jon Bradley 3-Series Thriller
TERROR BLOODLINE Series abounds with terror-cell plots, personal conflicts,
rape, vengeance, child-abuse, betrayals, murders and illegal arms & drug
trafficking, mingled with deceit and dangerous interplay by the FBI, CIA,
Mossad and MI6.
Culminating in a mad
race to hunt down and eliminate the fugitive Lebanese Hezbollah Terror
Mastermind from carrying out the deadliest suicide-bombing act in modern history.
Fields of Action:
Beirut, Lebanon - New York City – Iran - Somalia - London - Jerusalem.
Meantime, read the preview of the Prologue here: |
PROLGUE
Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance of justice.
Injuries are
revenged; crimes are avenged.
- Samuel Johnson
MOGADISHU
- SOMALIA
A period of hectic intelligence work of listening and intercepting communications had begun in response to the spurt of coded conversations and messages transmitting to and fro amongst suspected transnational terrorism groups and militant organizations.
Decoded fragmentary transcriptions at the listening posts pointed towards the probability of one or several eminent attacks on the American interests. The primary source was al-Shabaab, the militant outfit controlling the south of Somalia, later to affiliate with al-Qaeda.
The name most frequently heard mentioned in the clandestine Arabic transmissions was “Suqr”’ – the hunting Falcon.
Jonathan Bradley, a former active covert Middle-East CIA operative, who had been recently reinstated, after his previous aborted mission in Beirut, Lebanon, was now reassigned to hunt down and eliminate the elusive Hezbollah terrorist mastermind and illegal arms and drugs trafficker.
Going through the intercepted messages at the CIA’s local office in the New York City, Jonathan was alerted to the mention of the name, “Suqr”. That was one of the several aliases the Lebanese mastermind went by.
Was the terrorist now in Somalia, interacting with the al-Shabaab outfit? The CIA had a strong presence in Somalia, in addition to the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations Command, and was actively engaging with the groups of extremists and militants of that region.
A week later, Jonathan had landed at the Mogadishu airport. He was led to the CIA’s secret underground base there.
Intelligence received, including from local paid informants, indicated that a high level meeting of important radical leaders, one of them being the man with the alias of “Suqr”, was scheduled to take place in one of their safe bases in Somalia.
Before leaving for Somalia, Jonathan Bradley had undergone a 15-day crash course in rigorous desert-style commando training.
The terrorist base was pinpointed in the vicinity of the Somalia-Kenya border. A 12-men team of elite commandos from CIA’s Special Forces set out on the covert mission, first in a military truck and then on foot. A three-man reconnaissance squad surveying the area ahead.
Mike Gardner, a former marine and now a CIA operative in Somalia, was the second in command after Jonathan. He was familiar with the territory of the region.
“Mr. Bradley, let us spread out in a three-prong attack formation. The terrorists will certainly be scouting around and guards providing a security ring for their leaders.
“If any of our team is detected, the other closest team can provide the backup while the third can proceed less hindered directly onto the target area.”
“Affirmative. You lead the first group followed by the next, and I will proceed directly to the hideout taking out whatever resistance encountered on the way. We improvise as the situation unfolds.”
They traversed along the terrain which was mostly sand or gravel mixed with some shrub vegetation - tall grass, Juniper and Acacia trees, providing them cover, and the hours before the dawn were slightly cold and windy.
The day happened to be a Friday, generally a day of prayers and rest for most Muslims. It was also a day of increased sectarian violence when blood was spilt even inside the holy Mosques.
Before the first “Azaan” call at dawn, the elite commandos reached the tented secret base area of the insurgents and regrouped without any incident.
It’d appear the militants were rather convinced of their safe location, as they normally shifted from place to place to prevent detection and aerial bombardment.
Ahead of them, obscured by tall 3-meters high shrub vegetation and the scattered Acacia trees, the night-vision showed the shape of a small two -window ground structure of mud and dung with a thatched roof, standing in total blackout. Nearby were seen two dirt and twigs camouflaged tents, and the infrared vision lit up several human shapes asleep outside the tents.
One of the shapes seen before the others, probably the sentry, moved its position and resettled itself.
The door to the house was unseen, apparently facing the west. A decision was made, and Jon’s team proceeded towards the west flank whilst Mike and the other group continued towards the tents in the front and the east directions.
One of Mike’s commandos activated the special mobile phone blocker to jam all communication signals within the radius of the area.
For a time, everything appeared normal in its natural
environment. Then, the sudden flash and the sound of an explosion filled the night. One of the scouts had stepped on a hidden mine that somehow had gone undetected earlier.
The result was one killed and two wounded out on the field.
Meantime, Jonathan and his two men had raced around the house and found its door. He was on the verge of kicking in the door when the field-min explosion shattered the surroundings. Seconds later, he heard voices calling out both from inside and outside the house, soon to followed by the silenced and non-silenced machine gun chatter in the darkness.
Before anyone could appear from indoors, Jonathan was on his feet and inside the house followed by two commandos.
They saw three figures emerge from the next room in a momentarily dazed state of abrupt awakening. However, the trained militants quickly realized the situation and two of them turned and ran back for their AK-47.
Following them quickly and firing almost simultaneously, Bradley and the commando next to him took them out. He saw no one else in the second room, just the empty mattresses on the dirt-paved floor.
But Jon had placed his shot low hitting the militant in the thigh and ready to shoot again when the man cried out and stopped reaching for his weapon leaning against the wall. His companion was lying dead near him, shot by the commando.
The third militant who stood still in the first room, surrounded by three other commandos, was witness to the scene unfold before him.
He was a man of medium stature, thickset and robust, with a light complexion, aggressive brown eyes and heavily bearded. Definitely not a Somali. A Lebanese is my first guess, thought Jon.
To be continued...
I invite your comments and review. Thank you.
Paul Rodricks, Author.Email: paulrodericks@gmail.com
Blog: www.paulswritersdig7.blogspot.com