Savage Son
Page 37
He approached with caution, walking around the car and looking underneath it for anywhere the dust was more recently disturbed. It had been backed in; Tom Reece combat-parked just like his son. Seeing nothing that set off any alarms, he went to the front left corner and pulled back the cover.
Reece couldn’t help but smile. There, looking none the worse for wear, was his father’s 1985 Grand Wagoneer. The tires were low, and the left rear was clearly flat, leaving the old Jeep much like a football player past his prime sitting on the bench waiting for that one last play.
He wiped the driver’s-side window with his sleeve and peered through with his light. Looking at the handle for anything that looked cleaner than the rest of the vehicle, he pressed the button and slowly cracked the door. Shining his light up and down the broken seal, he examined it for anything unusual, particularly wires; once again all clear. Pulling the door all the way open, Reece used his light to inspect the front and passenger rows.
Sliding into the driver’s seat, Reece put his hands on the wheel, remembering. He then leaned over and opened the glove box, rustling through some oil change receipts and a tattered owner’s manual. Craning his neck, he looked in the rear seats.
Nothing.
Maybe Dad just left me an old Wagoneer? No, there is something else.
Thomas Reece wouldn’t take such pains to ensure a storage unit in Baltimore would receive monthly payments fifteen years past his death so that someone could one day discover an old Jeep rotting away.
Reece exited the vehicle in which he had so many wonderful memories and walked to the back of the classic truck. The window was down, and Reece suppressed a chuckle. He’d learned more than a few swear words listening to his old man curse the notoriously inoperable motorized back sliding window that had to be down before opening the tailgate.
Reece depressed the button on the back of his tac-light and looked into the storage area. An aluminum rifle case gleamed back.
Even all these years later, Reece remembered exactly how to drop the gate. He reached inside and pulled up on the handle, assisting the drop into position.
“What did you leave behind, Dad?” Reece whispered.
Positioning the case across the gate, Reece inspected the clasps. A small travel lock secured the contents. Reece hesitated briefly to take a look at every point where the rectangular case might have been tampered with. Again, clear. Putting his light in his mouth, he pulled his Winkler/Dynamis Combat Flathead from his back pocket, a tool that looked like the most aggressive screwdriver in existence. He inserted it between the shackle and body of the lock, aggressively pulling back on the tool, and snapped open the padlock. He then flipped its closures and opened the box.
There, lying in the foam cut out to keep it secure, was a duckbill-modified Ithaca 37 shotgun with a pistol grip and canvas sling. Reece pulled his father’s weapon of choice as point man in the jungles of Vietnam from its resting place and examined it. With the extended tube, Reece knew it held eight rounds. Four boxes of number four shot were nestled into the foam.
That’s it?
As much as Reece admired the tried and true Model 37, he had expected something more.
A truck and 12-gauge?
Something didn’t fit. If his dad wanted to leave him a Jeep and shotgun, he would have just left them in his garage.
The top left corner of the box caught his trained eye, the foam just a bit out of place. Reece pinched it with his fingers and pulled the top layer out of the case and onto the rifle, a key and a letter falling out with it.
Intrigued, Reece went for the key. A safe-deposit box key. Reece rolled it in his fingers and inspected it in the light. Nothing to show where it came from.
The letter. Reece reached for it. Sealed, he turned it over in his hands. It was addressed to James Reece in his father’s hand.
A message from the grave?
Reece broke the seal, pulled out the letter, swallowed hard, and began to read.
He read it quickly at first. Then he went back to the beginning and read it again, hearing his dad’s voice breathe life into the words that leapt from the page.
When he was done, he slowly refolded it and placed it back into the envelope from which it came before putting it and the safe-deposit box key in his pocket.
Then, moving back to the front of the old truck, he took a seat behind the wheel. He watched the rain hitting his Tahoe and the ground around it, each drop an attempt from Mother Nature to cleanse and refresh the world below.
Reece stared out the window in a self-imposed trance, his car illuminated every few minutes by a crack of lightning, losing track of time as memories of his father, his mother, the old Wagoneer, BUD/S, his wife and daughter, Iraq, Afghanistan, Siberia, Freddy, Nizar, and Katie, the living and the dead, passed through his mind’s eye.
Pulling a burner phone from his pocket, Reece pressed in a memorized ten-digit number, hit send, and brought it to his ear. The director of Clandestine Services answered on the first ring, and Reece gave Vic his answer.
GLOSSARY
160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment:
The Army’s premier helicopter unit that provides aviation support to special forces. Known as the “Night Stalkers,” they are widely regarded as the best helicopter pilots and crews in the world.
.260:
.260 Remington; .264"/6.5mm rifle cartridge that is essentially a .308 Winchester necked down to accept a smaller-diameter bullet. The .260 provides superior external ballistics to the .308 with less felt recoil and can often be fired from the same magazines.
.300 Norma:
.300 Norma Magnum; a cartridge designed for long-range precision shooting that has been adopted by USSOCOM for sniper use.
.375 CheyTac:
Long-range cartridge, adapted from the .408 CheyTac, that can fire a 350-grain bullet at 2,970 feet per second. A favorite of extreme long-range match competitors who use it on targets beyond 3,000 yards.
.375 H&H Magnum:
An extremely common and versatile big-game rifle cartridge, found throughout Africa. The cartridge was developed by Holland & Holland in 1912 and traditionally fires a 300-grain bullet.
.404 Jeffery:
A rifle cartridge, designed for large game animals, developed by W. J. Jeffery & Company in 1905.
.408 CheyTac:
Long-range cartridge adapted from the .505 Gibbs capable of firing a 419-grain bullet at 2,850 feet per second.
.500 Nitro:
A .510-caliber cartridge designed for use against heavy dangerous game, often chambered in double rifles. The cartridge fires a 570-grain bullet at 2,150 feet per second.
75th Ranger Regiment:
A large-scale Army special operations unit that conducts direct-action missions including raids and airfield seizures. These elite troops often work in conjunction with other special operations units.
* * *
AC-130 Spectre:
A ground-support aircraft used by the U.S. military, based on the ubiquitous C-130 cargo plane. AC-130s are armed with a 105mm howitzer, 40mm cannons, and 7.62mm miniguns, and are considered the premier close-air-support weapon of the U.S. arsenal.
Accuracy International:
A British company producing high-quality precision rifles, often used for military sniper applications.
ACOG:
Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight. A magnified optical sight designed for use on rifles and carbines made by Trijicon. The ACOG is popular among U.S. forces as it provides both magnification and an illuminated reticle that provides aiming points for various target ranges.
AFIS:
Automated Fingerprint Identification System; electronic fingerprint database maintained by the FBI.
Aimpoint Micro:
Aimpoint Micro T-2; high-quality unmagnified red-dot combat optic produced in Sweden that can be used on a variety of weapons platforms. This durable sight weighs only three ounces and has a five-year battery life.
AISI:
The latest name for Italy’s domestic intelligence agency. Their motto, “scientia rerum reipublicae salus,” means “knowledge of issues is the salvation of the Republic.”
AK-9:
Russian 9x39mm assault rifle favored by Spetsnaz (special purpose) forces.
Al-Jaleel:
Iraqi-made 82mm mortar that is a clone of the Yugoslavian-made M69A. This indirect-fire weapon has a maximum range of 6,000 meters.
Alpha Group:
More accurately called Spetsgruppa “A,” Alpha Group is the FSB’s counterterrorist unit. You don’t want them to “rescue” you. See Moscow Theater Hostage Crisis and the Beslan School Massacre.
Amphib:
Shorthand for Amphibious Assault Ship. A gray ship holding helicopters, Harriers, and hovercraft. Usually home to a large number of pissed-off Marines.
AN/PAS-13G(v)L3/LWTS:
Weapon-mounted thermal optic that can be used to identify warm-blooded targets day or night. Can be mounted in front of and used in conjunction with a traditional “day” scope mounted on a sniper weapons system.
AN/PRC-163:
Falcon III communications system made by Harris Corporation that integrates voice, text, and video capabilities.
AQ:
al-Qaeda. Meaning “the Base” in Arabic. A radical Islamic terrorist organization once led by the late Osama bin Laden.
AQI:
al-Qaeda in Iraq. An al-Qaeda–affiliated Sunni insurgent group that was active against U.S. forces. Elements of AQI eventually evolved into ISIS.
AR-10:
7.62x51mm brainchild of Eugene Stoner that was later adapted to create the M16/M4/AR-15.
Asherman Chest Seal:
A specialized emergency medical device used to treat open chest wounds. If you’re wearing one, you are having a bad day.
AT-4:
Tube-launched 84mm anti-armor rocket produced in Sweden and used by U.S. forces since the 1980s. The AT-4 is a throwaway weapon: after it is fired, the tube is discarded.
ATF/BATFE:
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. A federal law enforcement agency formally part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which doesn’t seem overly concerned with alcohol or tobacco.
ATPIAL/PEQ-15:
Advanced Target Pointer/Illuminator Aiming Laser. A weapon-mounted device that emits both visible and infrared target designators for use with or without night observation devices. Essentially, an advanced military-grade version of the “laser sights” seen in popular culture.
Avtoritet:
The highest caste of the incarcerated criminal hierarchy. Today used in association with a new generation of crime bosses.
Azores:
Atlantic archipelago consisting of nine major islands that is an independent autonomous region of the European nation of Portugal.
Barrett 250 Lightweight:
A lightweight variant of the M240 7.62mm light machine gun, developed by Barrett Firearms.
Barrett M107:
.50 BMG caliber semiautomatic rifle designed by Ronnie Barrett in the early 1980s. This thirty-pound rifle can be carried by a single individual and can be used to engage human or vehicular targets at extreme ranges.
BATS:
Biometrics Automated Toolset System; a fingerprint database often used to identify insurgent forces.
Bay of Pigs:
Site of a failed invasion of Cuba by paramilitary exiles trained and equipped by the CIA.
BDU:
Battle-dress uniform; an oxymoron if there ever was one.
Beneteau Oceanis:
A forty-eight-foot cruising sailboat, designed and built in France. An ideal craft for eluding international manhunts.
Black Hills Ammunition:
High-quality ammunition made for military and civilian use by a family-owned and South Dakota–based company. Their MK 262 MOD 1 5.56mm load saw significant operational use in the GWOT.
Bratok:
Member of the bratva.
Bratva:
The Brotherhood. An umbrella term for Russian organized crime, more technically referring to members of the Russian mafia who have served time in prison.
Brigadir:
Lieutenant of a bratva gang boss.
Browning Hi-Power:
A single-action 9mm semiautomatic handgun that feeds from a thirteen-round box magazine. Also known as the P-35, this Belgian-designed handgun was the most widely issued military sidearm in the world for much of the twentieth century and was used by both Axis and Allied forces during World War II.
BUD/S:
Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training. The six-month selection and training course required for entry into the SEAL Teams, held in Coronado, California. Widely considered one of the most brutal military selection courses in the world, with an average 80 percent attrition rate.
C-17:
Large military cargo aircraft used to transport troops and supplies. Also used by the Secret Service to transport the president’s motorcade vehicles.
C-4:
Composition 4. A plastic-explosive compound known for its stability and malleability.
CAG:
Combat Applications Group. See redacted portion of glossary in the “D” section.
CAT:
Counter-Assault Team; heavily armed ground element of the Secret Service trained to respond to threats such as ambushes.
[Redacted]
[Redacted X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X]
Cessna 208 Caravan:
Single-engine turboprop aircraft that can ferry passengers and cargo, often to remote locations. These workhorses are staples in remote wilderness areas throughout the world.
CIA:
Central Intelligence Agency
CIF/CRF:
Commanders In-Extremis Force/Crisis Response Force; a United States Army Special Forces team specifically tasked with conducting direct-action missions. These are the guys who should have been sent to Benghazi.
CJSOTF:
Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force. A regional command that controls special operations forces from various services and friendly nations.
CMC:
Command Master Chief, a senior enlisted rating in the United States Navy.
CQC:
Close-quarter combat
CrossFit:
A fitness-centric worldwide cult that provides a steady stream of cases to orthopedic surgery clinics. No need to identify their members; they will tell you who they are.
CRRC:
Combat Rubber Raiding Craft. Inflatable Zodiac-style boats used by SEALs and other maritime troops.
CTC:
The CIA’s Counterterrorism Center. Established out of the rise of international terrorism in the 1980s, it became the nucleus of the U.S. counterterrorism mission.
CZ-75:
9mm handgun designed in 1975 and produced in the Czech Republic.
DA:
District attorney; local prosecutor in many jurisdictions.
Dam Neck:
An annex to Naval Air Station Oceana near Virginia Beach, Virginia, where nothing interesting whatsoever happens.
DCIS:
Defense Criminal Investigation Service
DEA:
Drug Enforcement Administration
[Redacted X X X X]:
A classic 1986 film starring Chuck Norris, title of the 1983 autobiography by the unit’s first commanding officer and popular name for the Army’s Special [Redacted X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X].
Democratic Federation of Northern Syria:
Aka Rojava, an autonomous, polyethnic, and secular region of northern Syria.
Det Cord:
Flexible detonation cord used to initiate charges of high explosive. The cord’s interior is filled with PETN explosive; you don’t want it wrapped around your neck.
Directorate I:
The division of th
e SVR responsible for electronic information and disinformation.
Directorate S:
The division of the SVR responsible for their illegals program. When you read about a Russian dissident or former spy poisoned by Novichok nerve agent or a political rival of the Russian president murdered in a random act of violence, Directorate S is probably responsible.
DO:
The CIA’s Directorate of Operations, formerly known by the much more appropriate name: the Clandestine Service.
DOD:
Department of Defense
DOJ:
Department of Justice
DShkM:
Russian-made 12.7x108mm heavy machine gun that has been used in virtually every armed conflict since and including World War II.
DST:
General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance. Morocco’s domestic intelligence and security agency. Probably not afraid to use “enhanced interrogation techniques.” DST was originally redacted by government censors for the hardcover edition of True Believer. After a five-month appeal process, that decision was withdrawn.
EFP:
Explosively Formed Penetrator/Projectile. A shaped explosive charge that forms a molten projectile used to penetrate armor. Such munitions were widely used by insurgents against coalition forces in Iraq.
EKIA:
Enemy Killed In Aciton.
Eland:
Africa’s largest antelope. A mature male can weigh more than a ton.
EMS:
Emergency medical services. Fire, paramedic, and other emergency personnel.
ENDEX:
End Exercise. Those outside “the know” will say “INDEX” and have no idea what it means.
EOD:
Explosive Ordnance Disposal. The military’s explosives experts who are trained to, among other things, disarm or destroy improvised explosive devices or other munitions.
EOTECH:
An unmagnified holographic gunsight for use on rifles and carbines, including the M4. The sight is designed for rapid target acquisition, which makes it an excellent choice for close-quarters battle. Can be fitted with a detachable 3x magnifier for use at extended ranges.
FAL:
Fusil Automatique Léger: gas-operated, select-fire 7.62 x51mm battle rifle developed by FN in the late 1940s and used by the militaries of more than ninety nations. Sometimes referred to as “the right arm of the free world” due to its use against communist forces in various Cold War–era insurgencies.