Steven is the bestselling author of ten novels and several novellas, including a commissioned trilogy of novellas based on the popular Wayward Pines series. His canon of work includes the popular Black Flagged Series, a gritty, no-holds barred covert operations and espionage saga; The Perseid Collapse series, a post-apocalyptic thriller epic chronicling the events surrounding an inconceivable attack on the United States; and The Fractured State series, a near-future, dystopian thriller trilogy set in the drought-ravaged Southwest.
He is an active member of the International Thriller Writers (ITW) and Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) organizations.
You can contact Steven directly by email (stevekonkoly@striblingmedia.com) or through his blog (www.stevenkonkoly.com).
Acknowledgments
To the usual suspects. You know who you are. A special shout-out goes to my editor, Felicia Sullivan, for saving me from myself on this one. She knows what I’m talking about. The same thank you goes out to Pauline Nolet and Stef McDaid, both of whom responded brilliantly to my rather short-fused notice.
Character List
Zane Abid — Deputy Director National Clandestine Service
Audra Bauer — Deputy Director, Counterproliferation Center
Karl Berg — Staff Operations Officer, National Clandestine Service
Erin Foley — NCS Liaison to Black Flag group.
Thomas Manning — Director, Counterproliferation Center
Richard Sanford (TA) — Director
Sandra Tillman — Director National Clandestine Service
Dana O’Reilly — Deputy Associate Executive Assistant Director
Ryan Sharpe — Associate Executive Assistant Director, National Security Branch
Dihya Castillo — Black Flag, Middle Eastern Group
Scott Daly — Former U.S. Navy, SEAL. Black Flag Americas Group
Richard Farrington “Yuri” — Black Flag, Russian Group Leader
Aleem Fayed — Black Flag, Middle Eastern Group Leader
Erin Foley — Former CIA agent. Black Flag, Contract Associate
Timothy Graves — Black Flag, Electronic Warfare Team, U.S.
Ashraf Haddad — Black Flag, Middle Eastern Group
Jared Hoffman “Gosha” — Black Flag, Russian Group Sniper
Nikolai Mazurov — Former Black Flag Operative.
Enrique Melendez “Rico” — Black Flag, Americas Group
Jeffrey Munoz — Black Flag, Americas Group
Daniel Petrovich — Black Flag, Contract Associate
Jessica Petrovich — Black Flag, Contract Associate
Brigadier General Terrence Sanderson — Black Flag, Leader
Abraham Sayar — Black Flag, Middle Eastern Group
General Frank Gordon — Commander, United States Special Operations Command
Alan Crane — President of the United States (True America Party)
Nora Crawford — Secretary of State
Erik Glass — Secretary of Defense
Bob Kearney (Major General, U.S. Army retired) — Homeland Security Advisor
Beverly Stark — White House Chief of Staff
Gerald Simmons — White House Counterterrorism Director
Frederick Shelby — Principle Deputy Director of National Intelligence
Gary Vincent — Director of National Intelligence
Arkady Baranov — Director, Center of Special Operations (CSN)
Maxim Greshnev — Chief Counterterrorism Director
Alexei Kaparov — Deputy Director, Bioweapons/Chemical Threat Assessment
Yuri Prerovsky — Federation Agent, Organized Crime Division
Dmitry Ardankin — Director of Operations, Directorate S
Vadim Dragunov — Zaslon operative, Directorate S
Mihail Osin — Spetsnaz operative, Directorate S
Stefan Pushnoy — Director
Ernesto Galenden — Wealthy Argentinian business tycoon supporting General Sanderson’s Black Flag program
Srecko Hadzic — Former leader of the “Panthers,” a Serbian ultra-nationalist paramilitary group associated with Slobodan Milosevic’s regime
Darryl Jackson — Brown River Security Corporation executive
Mirko Jovic — Leader of “White Eagles,” a rival paramilitary group
Dima Maksimov — Solntsevskaya Bratva, Pakhan (Leader)
Matvey Penkin — Solntsevskaya Bratva, Avtorityet (Brigadier)
Anatoly Reznikov — Former scientist at Vektor Institute
Grigor Sokolov — Former GRU Spetsnaz. Bratva Security.
ORIGINS
A BLACK FLAGGED SHORT STORY
© Steven Konkoly 2017 All rights reserved
Marko Resja stood a few meters away from the raised dirt road leading into the crude village, swatting flies away from his grimy, sweat-covered face. August drew stifling heat and oppressive humidity to the Balkan Peninsula, which couldn’t have been timed worse for the Yugoslav offensive. The heat seemed to incite the flies, which needed little encouragement in these hills. He wondered if these insects could sense their role in the impending tragedy. It would certainly explain their increased activity.
He raised his twenty-year-old M-76 sniper rifle and stared through the worn scope, scanning the road as far as possible. He was assigned to watch the most likely western approach for Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) vehicles, sharing the duty with another relatively new member of Srecko Hadzic’s Panthers. Satisfied that nothing threatened to approach from the outskirts of Divjaka, he lowered the rifle and shrugged at his partner, who then spoke a few hushed words into a cheap plastic handheld radio.
When Sava finished sending the report to their commander in the village, he rolled his eyes, before slapping the flies away from his head. Sava’s dark green camouflage uniform was filthy; crusted with light brown mud up to the knees. Large sweat stains formed odd circular shapes under his armpits and across his chest. The only thing clean about Sava was his rifle, which was slung over his left shoulder — to free him to perform the occasional radio check-in and chain smoke cigarettes. Sava’s face disappeared in a cloud of tobacco smoke and reappeared sporting a grin. His yellowed teeth stood out through the thin layer of unevenly applied green and black camouflage.