Keith Douglass
Flashpoint
SEAL TEAM SEVEN
Lieutenant Commander Blake Murdock. Platoon Leader. 32, 6'2", 210 pounds. Annapolis graduate. Six years in SEALs. Father important Congressman from Virginia. Murdock recently promoted. Apartment in Coronado. Has a car and a motorcycle, loves to fish.
WEAPON: H&K MP-5SD submachine gun.
Willard “Will” Dobler. Boatswain’s Mate First Class Senior Chief Petty Officer. Platoon Chief. Third in command. 37, 6'1", 180 pounds. Married. Two kids. Sports nut. Knows dozens of major league records. Competition pistol marksman. Good with the men.
WEAPON: H&K MP-5 submachine gun.
David “Jaybird” Sterling. Machinist Mate Second Class, Lead Petty Officer. 24, 5'10", 170 pounds. Quick mind, fine tactician. Single. Drinks too much sometimes. Crack shot with all arms. Helps plan attack operations.
WEAPON: H&K MP-5SD submachine gun.
Ron Holt. Radioman First Class. 22, 6'1", 170 pounds. Plays guitar, had a small band. Likes redheaded girls. Rabid baseball fan. Loves deep-sea fishing; is good at it. Platoon radio operator.
WEAPON: H&K MP-5SD submachine gun.
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. Squad sniper.
WEAPON: H&K PSG1 7.62 NATO sniper rifle or McMillan M-87R .50-caliber sniper rifle.
Joe “Ricochet” Lampedusa. Operations Specialist Third 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.
Kenneth Ching. Quartermaster’s Mate First Class. Full-blooded Chinese. 25, 6'0", 180 pounds. 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: Colt M-4A1 rifle with grenade launcher.
Harry “Horse” Ronson. Electrician’s Mate Second Class. 24, 6'4", 240 pounds. Played football two years at college. Wants a ranch where he can raise horses. Good man in a brawl. Has broken his nose twice. Squad machine gunner.
WEAPON: H&K 21-E 7.62 NATO round machine gun.
Lieutenant (j.g.) Ed DeWitt. Leader Bravo Squad. Second in Command of the platoon. From Seattle. 30, 6'1", 175 pounds. Wiry. Has serious live-in woman. Annapolis grad. A career man. Plays a good game of chess on traveling board.
WEAPON: The new 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 explosive work.
WEAPON: The new Alliant “Bull Pup” 20mm 5.56 attack rifle.
Miguel Fernandez. Gunner’s Mate First Class. 26, 6'1", 180 pounds. Has wife and child in Coronado. Spends his off time with them. Highly family-oriented. He has family in San Diego. Speaks Spanish, Portuguese. Squad sniper.
WEAPON: H&K PSG1 7.62 NATO sniper rifle.
Colt “Guns” Franklin. Yeoman Second Class. 24, 5'10", 175 pounds. A former gymnast. Powerful arms and shoulders. Expert mountain climber. Has a motorcycle, and does hang gliding. Speaks Farsi and Arabic.
WEAPON: Colt M-4A1 with grenade launcher.
Les Quinley. Torpedoman Third Class. 22, 5'9", 160 pounds. A computer and Internet fan. Has his own Web page. Always reading computer magazines. Explosives specialist with extra training.
WEAPON: H&K G-11 with caseless rounds, 4.7mm submachine gun with 50-round magazine.
Jack Mahanani. Hospital Corpsman First Class. 25, 6'4", 240 pounds. Platoon Medic. Tahitian/Hawaiian. Expert swimmer. Bench-presses 400 pounds. Once married, divorced. Top surfer. Wants the .50 sniper rifle.
WEAPON: Colt M-4A1 with grenade launcher.
Anthony “Tony” Ostercamp. Machinist Mate First Class. Second radio operator. Races stock cars in nearby El Cajon weekends. Top auto mechanic. Platoon driver.
WEAPON: H&K 21-E 7.62 NATO round machine gun.
Paul “Jeff” Jefferson. Engineman Second Class. Black man. 23, 6'1", 200 pounds. Expert in small arms. Can tear apart most weapons and reassemble them, repair, and innovate. A chess player to match Ed DeWitt.
WEAPON: Colt M-4A1 with grenade launcher.
DEDICATION
This book is sincerely dedicated to Kathleen Tucker who stays the helm, who keeps the household afloat and who dedicates her time and effort to the care, comfort and well-being of Rose Marie.
May she always be on board.
NOTE TO THE READER
Welcome to the land of the U.S. Navy SEALs and their remarkable exploits on land and sea and in the air. We hope you’re excited about the SEALs and their exploits. I’d like to hear from you to get some input about how you feel about the series, the characters, and the types of actions they have been involved in.
Take a minute out of your busy day to drop me a line or a whole letter. Send it to:
Keith Douglass
SEAL TEAM SEVEN
8431 Beaver Lake Drive
San Diego, CA 92119.
You bet, I’ll make sure to read and respond to every letter. Why not stop reading right now and send me a letter? I’ll appreciate it.
— Keith Douglass
San Diego
1
The fifteen members of SEAL Team Seven sprawled in the comparative spaciousness of the Pegasus Class Mk V (SOC/PBF). It was a Navy patrol boat specifically designed to insert and withdraw SEALs and other Special Forces on covert operations.
Lieutenant Commander Blake Murdock checked his men. This was a surprise flashpoint kind of a mission. They had no notice, just orders to get moving. No time to rehearse or plan out in detail what they would do.
Senior Chief Will Dobler grinned at his commander. “No sweat, Cap. We’ve done little ones like this a dozen times.”
Murdock lifted his brows. “Yeah, but some more planning would have been good. Now we just go in and do it, the first time.”
The Pegasus was eighty-two feet long and had an extremely low profile that was loaded with radar-absorbing material on its forward and rear cabin areas. Even the low-slung bow had the radar-absorbing material.
Now it slammed through the calm waters of the Gulf of Oman off southern Iran at its top speed of forty-five knots.
Commander Murdock had to shout to be heard over the rumble of the two MTU twelve-volt diesel engines that turned out 4,506 horsepower to work the two Kamewa water jets that jolted the slender craft through the water.
“You know most of it,” Murdock said. “We go in at first dark, have all night to recon the place, plant our charges, and get ready for the big show about 0800 tomorrow when the curtain goes up. At least that’s the way it’s set up. We know nothing of current guards around this complex. Not one damn thing.”
1
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.