Tel fingered the gold whistle hanging from the chain around his neck. He lifted it over his head and started to lay it in the shrine. But an inner voice that sounded like Kamigami told him, “No, not yet.” He raised it to his lips and gave a long whistle that echoed pure and sure down the beach and across the water, chasing the moonlight.
Slowly he rose to his feet and came to attention. He saluted. Then he turned and walked away, the whistle still in his hand.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank those who gave so willingly of their time and shared their insights and knowledge. Master Sergeant Paul Wishart excited my interest and gave me a quick education in military working dogs. But it fell to Major John Probst and his staff — Technical Sergeant Chris Jakubin and Rambo, and Staff Sergeant Uilani Bio and Boyca — at the 341st TRS, Lackland Air Force Base, to fill in the details. They impressed me beyond measure, especially when I donned a bite suit and met Boyca up close and personal.
The role of security police in air base defense was made abundantly clear by Captain Michael Ross, Master Sergeant Grady McGuire, and their staff at Detachment 1, 343rd TRS, Camp Bullis. Technical Sergeant Lisa Johnson was a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic teacher about search-and-clear procedures.
Lieutenant Colonel Herman “Hampster” Brunke gave me a quick refresher course on the A-10 Warthog, proving again that it is an amazing jet that continues to defy age and military planners.
In any story about armed conflict, the issue of morality is always there, often below the surface, but real and demanding. Malham M. Wakin, Brigadier General, United States Air Force (Retired), was kind enough to explain Just War Theory in terms I could understand, and his book, War, Morality, and the Military Profession, is a masterful anthology on the ethical dimensions of war.
I owe a special debt of thanks to my editor, Jennifer Sawyer Fisher. Over the course of working on four books with me, she has proven again and again that she is an editor par excellence.
About the Author
A former weapons system operator, RICHARD HERMAN was a member of the United States Air Force for twenty-one years, until he retired in 1983 with the rank of Major. He is the author of ten previous novels — including Warbirds, Force of Eagles, Firebreak, Call to Duty, Power Curve, Against All Enemies, Edge of Honor, and The Trojan Sea. Mr. Herman currently lives and works in Gold River, a suburb of Sacramento, California.