DETACHMENT DELTA OPERATION MM

by SASSER CHARLES W

• ISBN13: 9780380820603
• ISBN10: 0380820609
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2014-12-01
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

The axis of evil has many arms. The terrorist beast is alive a world away from its Middle Eastern twin. But a new breed of warrior has vowed to destroy the demon wherever it breeds: Detachment Delta. The nightmare of a terrorist strike is one the nation might never awaken from. So, for the first time, Delta Force is uniting with Navy SEALs to prevent that horrific yet all-too-possible assault. A shipment of Scud missiles designed to carry a devastating payload is steaming its way toward the Philippines, courtesy of a mad criminal regime based in North Korea, forcing America's most efficient counter-terrorist task force to ensure the weapons of mass destruction never reach their ultimate destination. Because the countdown has already begun on a terrifying plot which, if Delta Force fails, will transform some of America's biggest cities into lifeless, smoldering ruins.

Excerpts

Detachment Delta: Operation Deep Steel

Chapter One

Pyongyang, North Korea

Dusk and the latest power cuts by the Democratic PeoplesRepublic shrouded the North Korean capital in gloom. Thecircular bar on the forty-fourth floor of the Koryo Hotel inPyongyang buzzed as it filled with nationalities from all overthe Third Underworld. Furtive conversations were held ingroups gathered in capsule chairs pulled close to low-slungplastic-topped tables opposite the dimly lighted bar. Such wasthe ambience that any of the exotic characters from Star Warsmight have sauntered in and rated little more than a glance. Ifthe "Axis of Evil" -- as the President of the United States haddubbed Iraq, Iran, and North Korea -- had a watering hole forinternational dealers in arms, it was the Koryo Hotel Bar.

"Let us say that the North Koreans have been known to goaround with glossy brochures about their ballistic missiles,"commented MacArthur Thornbrew, director of the U.S. NationalHomeland Security Agency. "They are stocking a lotof the world right now."

Three muscled Koreans wearing Western sports shirts andtinted glasses paused at the door like a trio of HollywoodAsian gangsters in an old Bruce Lee movie. They gave thingsthe once-over, obviously looking for someone. Spotting him,they threaded through the crowd and stopped at a table dominatedby a man hard to overlook in any bar. He was a squat fellow built like a sumo wrestler, only more compact andharder. He looked Filipino or Indonesian, from somewhereout there on the Rim. His collar, though unbuttoned, was tootight. It seemed to cause his eyes to bulge beneath his shavedbrown head. A ropy scar started above his eyebrow andtugged his left eye down on his cheek, making his huge headappear lopsided.

Sitting at the table with him was his Korean interpreter, askinny man with a flat face and a rosy-yellow complexion.

The Koreans smiled and bowed slightly, observing the formalities.Scarface looked at them. He shook out a Russiancigarette and lit it. He did not offer the pack.

"Cimatu?" the Korean-in-charge asked.

"Like with this face I could be someone else?"

Each side had an interpreter. Both translated the exchange.In such negotiations there must be no misunderstandings.

"You may call me Li Shiek," the Korean said. He was aman in his mid-forties with an expensive haircut and a gold-and-diamond ring on his left pinkie finger. "My associatesare -- "

Cimatu cut him off. "I don't care who they are. Sit down."

The three sat. At least one of them was armed, the big man.Cimatu recognized the bulge of the weapon through his looseshirt. Fair enough. Cimatu was also armed.

Li Shiek blushed with a flash of anger, but hid it behind aslightly contemptuous smile. He ordered a Japanese beer andwaited until it came. He leaned back in his chair.

"Do you have the merchandise?" Cimatu demanded impatiently.

"It is prepared to be loaded as soon as funds are transferred."

"The arrangement was half in advance, the remainderupon delivery. If you will check your bank account in SouthKorea -- " No one trusted banks in the North -- "you will findeverything in order when the freighter sails."

The two interpreters sounded like an echo of each other.

"Why would your nation require only three when they aremost effective in larger batteries?" Li Shiek mused.

Cimatu's eye in the middle of his cheek narrowed. "Youare being paid. That's all you need to know."

"So we are." Li Shiek smiled, fighting to suppress his disdain."That you would use them against the United States isnot our concern. In fact, my government will applaud it, aswe applauded the strikes upon the capitalists' World TradeCenter and their Pentagon."

Cimatu said nothing.

"I might suggest," sneered the Korean, "that perhaps alonger-range missile would serve your needs ... more adequately."

It was Cimatu's turn to sneer. "Such as your Taedong 11?"

The Taedong had veered unpredictably off-course duringits last test and splashed down in the Sea of Japan, barelymissing Tokyo.

Li Shiek shrugged, refusing to let the Scarface get the betterof him. "Weapons such as these are very expensive," henoted. "The Pakistani president said the Americans killedOsama bin Laden. Are these all you can afford now that yourbenefactor has gone on to Allah to claim his virgins?"

Cimatu's connections, whatever they might be, were noneof the Korean's business. Cimatu glared. "Mullah bin Ladenis alive and well in Pakistan," he snapped.

"Perhaps he will become a new industry," Li Shiek saidslyly, entertaining himself. "The world's most feared andsought-after terrorist leader, wanted dead or alive, will providesightings around the world. He will be seen having dinnerin Manila at Casa de Marcos. Munching on a hot beef piein London. Praying at Al-Aksa in Jerusalem. Who knows, hemight even be spotted in Memphis in the United States havinga Big Mac with Elvis."

He chuckled drolly.

Cimatu was not amused. He leaned his bulk menacinglyacross the table. "Two things I need from you: Which shipand when will it sail?"

Li Shiek sobered. It was his experience that revolutionariesand terrorists of whatever nationality or bent possessedremarkably little levity. Yasser Arafat was the most humorlessman he had ever met.

Thirty more minutes and all arrangements were made. The"freight" would leave Nampo on Friday two weeks from todayaboard the Saudi freighter Ibn Haldoon and arrive in thePhilippines four days later. The ship would offload whereverCimatu designated before it proceeded to Manila to take on acargo of sugar bound for Europe.

Deal finished, the two groups parted coolly in the marble-walledlobby of the hotel. A taxi waited for Cimatu and hisinterpreter. Li Shiek and his escort climbed into a black limousinereserved for government use.

Detachment Delta: Operation Deep Steel. Copyright © by Charles Sasser. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

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Excerpted from Detachment Delta: Operation Deep Steel by Charles W. Sasser
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