by Jack Murphy
The mage began to say something but stopped himself, forcing restraint upon his words.
“Thank you.”
The blade master nodded his head slightly. “And now?” he asked the mage.
“Now I must rearrange the pieces on the game board, reposition my assets and judge their credibility against your own.”
“The game is the game.”
The mage smiled. “Then we play another round.” The mage opened his mouth to speak, but the blade master dropped something on the floor. It exploded into a cloud of smoke that filled the chamber for an instant. By the time it cleared, the mage stood in his antechamber alone. “So be it.”
Casting a spell, fog rose from the stone floor, quickly engulfing the mage. Just as soon as the fog appeared, it dissipated, and the stone chamber in the dark castle at the top of the mountain sat empty and hollow.
There the castle remained quiet, waiting for another game.
Acknowledgements
Gray Matter Splatter probably involved more research than the past three Deckard novels combined. In the past I was able to rely on a lot of personal experience, do some brushing up on certain subjects, and make the plot work. In other cases, I was carrying out other investigations that fed into the plot. But for this book, I had to hit the books and ask a lot of friends for their help because of the simple fact that I have never been to the Arctic and have no experience in winter warfare.
I want to thank Dan and Matthew for their advice and guidance in tightening up the tactics and equipment featured in Gray Matter Splatter. I also want to thank my Ranger buddy, Isaiah Burkhart, who helped me select the right types of skis, ice axes, and other kit. Kevin Doherty’s advice was also immensely valuable on Arctic and maritime matters. The great Chuck Rogers had some terrific advice for me in regards to the plot and pacing of the novel—no easy task for a book set in the high Arctic. I also owe a special thanks to Jussi for sending me a handful of Finnish Arctic warfare manuals and helping me translate parts of them.
Once again, Marc Lee came through with a bang-up amazing job on the cover artwork and design. Marc’s talents go a long way to making each of these books something different and special, at least in my eyes. Thanks to Nate Granzow for his copy-editing skills, something I’m much in need of. This book would be a shell of what it is without his help.
Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank Benni for supporting my work as a writer, tolerating me chipping away at this book, even on weekends and so-called vacations.
Glossary
ACE: ammunition, casualties, equipment
ADM: Anti-personnel round for the 84mm Carl Gustav recoilless rifle. The round expels 1,100 flechettes via gas pressure when fired.
AGS30: Russian 30mm automatic grenade launcher
AIS: Automatic Identification System
AK: Kalashnikov
AK-103: An updated form of the AK-47 rifle that can be fitted with a variety of different optics
AK-47: Avtomat Kalashnikova-1947, following the standard Soviet weapons naming convention. Avtomat means the type of rifle: automatic. Kalashnikov comes from the last name of the inventor, Mikhail Kalashnikov, and the year, 1947, is when the rifle went into production. The AK-47 is the world’s most ubiquitous battle rifle, having been used in virtually every conflict since the Cold War.
An-125: Large Russian-made cargo airplane
AO: area of operations
AT: anti-tank
BMEWS: the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System
C17: the C130’s big brother, can carry more equipment and personnel
C27J: a smaller version of the C-130 transport aircraft
CANSOF: Canadian Special Operations Forces
CANSOFCOM: Canadian Special Operations Forces Command
CIA: Central Intelligence Agency
CIF: Commander’s In-Extremis Force
CNO: computer network operations
CONUS: continental United States
CP: control point
D&D: Dungeons and Dragons
Derna Bridge: MARSOC’s answer to Robin Sage, final cumulative exercise
DOD: Department of Defense
DOE: Department of Energy
DShK: Soviet-era 12.7mm machine gun
EENT: End of Evening Nautical Twilight
ETA: estimated time of arrival
FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation
FSB: Russian intelligence service
FSK: Norwegian special operations unit
GPS: Global Positioning System
GRU: Russian military intelligence
GSG-9: German police anti-terrorism unit
HE: high explosive
HF: high frequency
IED: improvised explosive device
IRGC: Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, elite unit of Iran
ISA: Intelligence Support Activity
ISIS: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
ISR: intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance
JDAM: Joint Direct Attack Munition
JSOC: Joint Special Operations Command
JTF2: Joint Task Force 2, Canadian special operations unit
JWICS: The Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System
KIA: killed in action
KSK: German Army special operations unit
LMV: Light Multi-role Vehicle
MARSOC: Marine Corps Special Operations Command
MBITR: Multiband Inter/Intra Team Radio
MIA: missing in action
Mk14: Six-shot 40mm grenade launcher
MMORPG: massive multiplayer online role-playing game
MRE: Meal Ready to Eat
MSS: Ministry of State Security, primary intelligence service of China
MTSC: Marine Technical Surveillance Course
NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NORTHCOM: Northern Command
NRO: National Reconnaissance Office
NSA: National Security Agency
NVG: night vision goggles
OD: olive drab
PKM: Russian light machine gun
PMC: private military company
PT: physical training
PvP: player versus player
PVS-14: night vision monocular
Quds Force: a covert action unit within Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps
RPG: rocket-propelled grenade
SCOPE: JSOC think tank
SEAL: SEa, Air, and Land. U.S. naval commandos.
SEAL Team Six: The U.S. Navy's elite counterterrorism unit
SITREP: situation report
SLLS: stop, look, listen, smell
SMVIED: suicide merchant vessel improvised explosive device.
SOG: Swedish Special Operations Task Group
SPG-9: 73mm recoilless rifle
SSE: sensitive site exploitation
Task Force 45: Italian special operations task force in Afghanistan
UAV: unmanned aerial vehicle
UNS: universal night sight
VTC: video teleconference
XO: executive officer
Jack Murphy is an eight-year Army special operations veteran who served as a sniper and team leader in 3rd Ranger Battalion, and as a senior weapons sergeant on a military free fall team in 5th Special Forces Group. Having left the military in 2010, he graduated from Columbia with a BA in political science. Murphy is the author of Reflexive Fire, Target Deck, Direct Action, and numerous non-fiction articles about weapons, tactics, special operations, terrorism, and counterterrorism. He has appeared in documentaries, national television, and syndicated radio.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 The Russian Arctic
Chapter 2Russian Arctic
Chapter 3
Chapter 4Russian Arctic
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8Tampa, Florida
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
&nbs
p; Chapter 12
Chapter 13American Arctic
Chapter 14American Arctic
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17Canadian Arctic
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21Tampa, Florida
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26Canadian Arctic
Chapter 27Canadian Arctic
Chapter 28
Chapter 29Canadian Arctic
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32Greenland
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35Greenland
