Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Terron Sims, II graduated from West Point in 2000. An Iraq veteran, Terron was key in establishing Baghdad's local governments and was Wasit Province's military liaison officer. Terron sits on the Board of Principals for the Truman National Security Project and is active in Democratic politics.

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With Honor in Hand

iUniverse, Inc.

Chapter One

"How many friendlies?"

"Fifteen."

"Enemy?"

"Thirty-six."

"Good. This shouldn't take us any longer than half an hour."

"Good deal. I'll need a cold beer after this. I'm already starting to sweat."

"I'm with you on that, brother."

"Watch for the friendlies. We're not here to kill human shields."

"Roger."

"All right. Let's move."

The two camouflaged men creep stealthily across the harsh, rocky terrain. Their mission is to destroy a secret gold mining outpost that is home to a Sudanese paramilitary group that also serves as a major financial source for Al Qaeda.

It takes seven minutes for Mac to scale the cliff, while Killer slides down, and to the left, of a hill, in three minutes. Taking the rear of the outpost, Killer moves upon a guard like a shadow. From behind, he slits his throat like butter, then gives Mac the "all clear" sign. Seeing Killer's sign, Mac moves into the mining outpost and sets up the C-4 explosives on its three main buildings.

Killer moves one hundred fifty meters to the right of the motorpool, which is to the far, west side of the outpost, and picks off five men with his automatic rifle. The men hit the ground dead without the slightest chance of being able to react. Mac continues his route with barely having to pause. He springs over to a supply shed for cover, then chucks two grenades into the mine.

Unexpected to the paramilitary fighters, the gold mine erupts with a huge explosion. Scattered and running around like chikens, twenty men rush towards the gold mine to investigate the brazenly overt attack on their outpost. Before they can even get to the mine, the fighters discover several of their compatriots lying dead on the ground. Though the fighters are shocked and disturbed by the unwanted surprise of their compatriots' deaths, their main concern is the status of the gold mine: their main revenue source. The chaotic situation causes the fighters to begin yelling and arguing amongst themselves. There is a lot of finger pointing occurring amongst the group.

Seeing the paramilitary fighters amongst themselves causes a small smile to grow across Killer's face. Still in his earlier position, Killer, still smiling, picks off nine of the paramilitary fighters. Mac finishes off the rest, then rolls left and shoots the front passenger-side tire of an old Chevy Tahoe that is parked in the motorpool. Spotting the Tahoe fall over onto its side signals Killer to setup the clamor mine and fire it into the motor pool. After firing the clamor, Mac ignites the C-4. The size and force of the explosion is so intense that is obliterates the outpost.

From the corner of his eye, Mac spies four scraggily men scurry towards the cliffs; he shouts at them, "Hey! Stop!" while firing over their heads.

Mac does not shoot the scraggily looking men because they do not have the same appearance or demeanor as that of the paramilitary fighters. As Mac believes, it is always better to ask questions first, then shoot later.

The four men immediately freeze in their tracks. They are frightened beyond belief. The attack on the mining outpost has their minds racing at a million miles per hour. When the world seemed to be exploding around them and the ominous booming sound crashed the sky, only one thought came to these men: run, and run they did. Now, they find themselves in yet another unwelcomed predicament- a large man with an assault rifle who obviously knows how to use it.

Mac strides towards where the scraggly looking men stand frozen in place, while at the same time, motioning them to slowly move towards him and lay flat on their faces. The men obediently concur and lay with their faces in the dirt in front of Mac. After quickly, yet thoroughly searching the men, Mac comes to an unexpected, though not suprising discovery; The four men are merely slaves attempting to monopolize on he and Killer's attack on the outpost and attempted to use it as a diversion for their escape.

"All right. You men can get up now," Mac says to the four men, in his best Arabic.

As the scraggly looking men pick themselves up from off of the ground, Mac asks them, "How long have you men been here?"

"Nearly five years, sir," one of the enslaved men quickly and politely answers.

Mac continues, saying to the man, "Well, since you spoke up first, I'm placing you in charge of this gaggle. I want you and your friends to round up whoever is left. I then want you to find the keys to that truck over there." Mac points in the direction of the motorcade, where there is a sole truck surrounded by carnage. "Next, get all of the supplies that you may need and whatever gold you want, and leave this place. Do not, I repeat, do not tell anyone what has happened here. You tell whoever asks that the Sudanese army destroyed this outpost and that you narrowly escaped with your lives. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," responds the appointed leader.

"Good, now repeat my orders," Mac commands.

The selected leader repeats Mac's orders, verbatim. Mac is somewhat impressed.

Once the appointed leader finishes repeating the order, Mac commands, "All right then. Go out and make it happen."

The four newly freed men race back to the outpost to follow through with Mac's orders, which they follow to the letter. Once the men are out of view, Killer walks over to Mac's position.

"Mac," Killer states, "I've got everything we need, plus a couple of personal souvenirs."

Killer opens a small sack full of gold nuggets and shows them to Mac.

"Good," Mac coolly responds. "Let's get out of here before someone comes checking this place out."

Mac and Killer silently exit the scene as unnoticed as they had arrived, while leaving behind no trace that they were ever in the area.

0700 hrs: Eleven miles from the Serbian-Croatian border

"Sir, I have just received the mission statement from higher," COL Drasneb's executive officer informs.

"Hand it here." COL Drasneb glances over the document. Increasingly, his smile grows as he continues reading the mission statement. "Good, good. I have been waiting for such an order since this war started!" COL Drasneb shouts as he leaps from his chair and slams the mission statement on the table. "Tell the battalion commanders that I will brief them here in one hour."

"Yes, sir," the executive officer responds, who then quickly exits COL Drasneb's tent to execute his commander's orders.

While waiting for his battalion commanders and his executive officer to report, COL Drasneb writes his OPORD (Operations Order). Writing out the battle plan, COL Drasneb delights in the opportunity that has just presented itself. He has waited for so many years for the green light to spearhead the second assault into Croatia and restart the unification of a divided Yugoslavia. Serbia and Croatia have been at war for just over three years. The Serbs have been unsuccessful in penetrating the Croatian front lines, due most in part, to the aide of NATO, and most notably, the United States.

COL Drasneb is the commander of the Serbian 35th mechanized infantry brigade. His orders state that his brigade, along with a combat engineer platoon attachment, is to breach the Croatian border, a width of 600 to 800 meters.

While pondering upon the mission, COL Drasneb rises from his chair and paces the...