Scorched Earth

by George Galdorisi

  The domestic situation was more complex. Once again, in spite of the personnel and material resources they could muster if needed, the FBI’s CIRG HRT had tried to intercept Admiral Bruner using far too few assets, and only serendipity kept him from being spirited out of the country on a FedEx flight. They both knew they needed to tread carefully and not bash another federal agency, and Williams had his work cut out for him. He would try to use “peer suasion” to reach an amicable solution with the attorney general and the incoming FBI director. If he couldn’t, he’d have to approach the president and get Op-Center involved on the domestic front sooner.

  * * *

  Several days later, Dale Bruner was back at the Naval Special Warfare Command. He had reported back to his commanding officer, Captain Pete Cummings, immediately. Cummings had dealt with a full spectrum of emotions over the past week: concern when he couldn’t locate an officer in his command, terror over what might happen to him if he fell into ISIL’s hands, anger that the man had done such a damn-fooled thing, and then resignation that, as Bruner’s commanding officer, he would have to impose discipline. He told him that they both would have to appear before Rear Admiral James Green, the Naval Special Warfare Command commander, for admiral’s mast.

  The next day, Bruner and Cummings, both in their starched white uniforms, stood at attention in front of Admiral Green as he read the lieutenant’s letter of resignation. Green’s face was emotionless as he held the letter in both hands. Finally, he spoke.

  “Captain Cummings, you’ve read Lieutenant Bruner’s resignation letter. What do you think?”

  “I hate to lose a good man, Admiral, but under the circumstances, I think he’s doing the right thing.”

  Green sat in silence for an extended time before he spoke. Now his face was contorted in anger as he rose. As he did, he tore the letter to shreds. “Well I’m not letting you off that easy, Lieutenant. You cost a good man his life and you need to pay for what you’ve done—you can’t just walk away!”

  Both men standing in front of him stood up a little straighter but couldn’t hide their shock.

  “Lieutenant Bruner, you will stand before me at 1000 hours tomorrow morning for admiral’s mast. At that time, I will impose summary discipline. There are people who want you taken to court-martial, but all that would do is give this command and your fellow SEALs a public black eye. Your record downrange buys you another chance and you’ll continue to serve at this command, but you will be under probation.”

  “Yes … yes, sir, Admiral,” Bruner stammered.

  “Now both of you get out of my office.”

  * * *

  The assault on their compound had shaken Mabad al-Dosari. The ISIL leader had thought himself invincible and out of reach of the Iraqi Army, the American coalition, or anyone else who might try to stand in the way of his dream of establishing a caliphate throughout the Middle East.

  While his fighters still controlled most of Mosul, al-Dosari no longer felt safe having a large compound that was an easy target for coalition airstrikes. He dispersed his fighters throughout the city, and he moved his family to the western outskirts of Mosul. He had been humbled, but he remained committed to his cause and found new resolve. I will be back, and I will never rest until we prevail.

  * * *

  Trevor Harward entered the Oval knowing the president was once again intently focused on the Middle East—and that was good as far as it went. But he also knew stopping ISIL had become the cause de jour, and it was going to be difficult to get the president—or anyone else for that matter—to look beyond the borders of the areas ISIL controlled or threatened.

  The national security advisor had prepared as thoroughly for this meeting as for any meeting he had ever had with President Midkiff. As the two men who had weathered so many crises together sat in the Oval’s conversational area, Harward powered up his secure iPad, brought up a map of Europe and began, “Mr. President, this is what is worrying our national security staff.” As he spoke, the national security advisor scrolled eastward from the heart of Europe.

  AFTERWORD

  As this book was being written, edited, copyedited, printed, and distributed, it was difficult not to be inundated by news about the Islamic State. Therefore, it would be easy to think of this book in the same way many think of television police procedurals that are “ripped from the headlines,” and give it the same degree of interest—passing at best. That would be a mistake.

  Scorched Earth is much more about the future than it is about the present. ISIL is a steadily metastasizing cancer that can draw on almost unlimited resources. It recruits fighters from around the globe—all eager to join the fight. As a panel of national security and military experts noted in testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee recently, “This is going to be a long fight and likely will continue for another decade.”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  There are many people who helped make the new Op-Center series, and this book, Scorched Earth, live up to the expectations of readers of the previous Op-Center books—as well as those of our new Op-Center readers. Many thanks to the following who contributed their time and talent to this effort: Mel Berger, Bill Bleich, Larry Carello, Wanda Clancy, Ken Curtis, Melinda Day, Geoff Dick, Jeff Edwards, Hannah Fergesen, Herb Gilliland, Robert Gottlieb, Kate Green, Kevin Green, Denny Irelan, Brad Kaplan, Pete Kissel, Krystee Kott, Carl LaGreca, Robert Masello, Laurie McCord, Scott McCord, Kevin McDonald, Madeleine Morrel, Rick “Ozzie” Nelson, Bob O’Donnell, Jerry O’Donnell, April Osborn, Norman Polmar, Sheila Sachs, Curtis Shaub, John Silbersack, Charles Spicer, Matthew Shear, Scott Truver, Matt Vernon, Sandy Wetzel-Smith, Ed Whitman, and Anne Wilson. I am in your debt, and Op-Center’s readers will silently thank you as these books take them into the world of the future.

  ALSO BY GEORGE GALDORISI

  TOM CLANCY’S OP-CENTER NOVELS

  Op-Center

  Mirror Image

  Games of State

  Acts of War

  Balance of Power

  State of Siege

  Divide and Conquer

  Line of Control

  Mission of Honor

  Sea of Fire

  Call to Treason

  War of Eagles

  Out of the Ashes (by Dick Couch and George Galdorisi)

  Into the Fire (by Dick Couch and George Galdorisi)

  Scorched Earth (by George Galdorisi)

  NONFICTION

  The United States and the 1982

  Law of the Sea Convention:

  THE CASES PRO AND CON

  Beyond the Law of the Sea:

  NEW DIRECTIONS FOR UNITED

  STATES OCEANS POLICY

  Leave No Man Behind:

  THE SAGA OF COMBAT

  SEARCH AND RESCUE

  The Kissing Sailor

  Networking the Global

  Maritime Partnership

  FICTION

  Coronado Conspiracy

  For Duty and Honor

  Act of Valor (with Dick Couch)

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  George Galdorisi is a career naval aviator. His Navy career was capped by four tours as commanding officer and five years as a carrier strike group chief of staff, including two combat tours to the Arabian Gulf. He began his writing career in 1978 and has written eleven books, including the New York Times bestseller Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor and The Kissing Sailor, which proved the identity of the two principals in Alfred Eisenstaedt’s famous photograph. The Tom Clancy Op-Center series is his latest effort, with the first two books of the series (Out of the Ashes and Into the Fire) achieving bestseller status. He is the Director of the Corporate Strategy Group at the Navy’s Command and Control Center of Excellence in San Diego, California. He and his wife, Becky, live in Coronado, California. Contact him via his Web site: www.georgegaldorisi.com. Or sign up for email updates here.

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  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Author’s Introduction

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  Acknowledgments

  Also by George Galdorisi

  About the Author

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously

  TOM CLANCY’S OP-CENTER: SCORCHED EARTH. Copyright © 2016 by Jack Ryan Limited Partnership and S&R Literary, Inc. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  www.stmartins.com

  Cover design by Ervin Serrano

  Cover photographs: fighter jet by File404 / Turbosquid; clouds by Vicuschka/iStock

  The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

  ISBN 978-1-250-02687-3 (trade paperback)

  ISBN 978-1-250-02686-6 (e-book)

  e-ISBN 9781250026866

  Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.

  First Edition: August 2016