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Tom Clancy, David Michaels

EndWar

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author would like to thank the following individuals whose assistance and support made this book possible:

Mr. Tom Colgan

Mr. Chris George

Ms. Sandra Harding

Chief Warrant Officer James Ide, USN (Ret.)

Major Mark Aitken, U.S. Army

Master Sergeant Randy McElwee, U.S. Army (Ret.)

Major William R. Reeves, U.S. Army

Major Craig Walker, USAF

FROM UBISOFT:

Joshua Meyer

Richard Dansky

Alexis Nolent

Olivier Henriot

Cedrick Delmas

The Ubisoft legal department

John Gonzalez

Audrey Leprince

Nathalie Paccard

Michael De Plater

FROM BLACKHAWK PRODUCTS GROUP:

Mr. Mike Noel, U.S. Navy SEAL (Ret.)

Mr. Tom O’Sullivan, U.S. Army (Ret.)

Mr. Michael Janich, U.S. Army (Ret.)

Mr. Steve Matulewicz, Command Master Chief (SEAL) (Ret.)

Mr. Brent Beshara, Canadian Special Forces (Ret.)

Mr. Michael Rigg, Paladin Press

Mr. Darrel Ralph, custom knife maker (www.darrelralph.com)

Dr. Rudy McDaniel, University of Central Florida

Mrs. Carole McDaniel (carole.mcdanieldesign.com)

Nancy, Lauren, and Kendall Telep

EPIGRAPH

And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

— REVELATION 6:4

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.

— ALBERT EINSTEIN

CAST OF CHARACTERS

JOINT STRIKE FORCE (JSF) LEADERSHIP — U.S.

David Becerra, President (“American Eagle”)

Roberta Santiago, National Security Advisor

Mark Hellenberg, White House Chief of Staff

General Laura Kennedy, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS)

General Rudolph McDaniel, Vice Chairman of the JCS

Major Alice Dennison, USMC, JSF Tactical Operations Specialist (“Hammer”)

Charles Shakura (lead interrogator for JSF)

JOINT STRIKE FORCE, ODA SPECIAL FORCES

Team Sergeant Nathan Vatz (“Vortex”; “Bali”)

Captain Tom Gerard, Detachment Commander

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Douglas Barnes, Assistant Detachment Commander

Sergeant Zack Murrow, Weapons Sergeant (“Volcano”)

Captain Mike Godfrey, Detachment Commander (ODA 888, “Berserker Six”)

Captain Manny Rodriguez, Detachment Commander (ODA 897, “Zodiac Six”)

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Samson, Assistant Detachment Commander (ODA 888, “Black Bear”)

Sergeant Jac Sasaki, Senior Medic (ODA 888, “Band-Aid”)

Staff Sergeant Paul Dresden, Assistant Medic (ODA 888, “Beethoven”)

JOINT STRIKE FORCE, MARINE EXPEDITIONARY FORCES

Colonel Stack, Company Commander

Staff Sergeant Raymond McAllen, Force Recon Team Leader (“Outlaw One”)

Sergeant Terry Jones, Assistant Team Leader (“Outlaw Two”)

Corporal Palladino, team scout/sniper (“Outlaw Three”)

Corporal Szymanski, team scout (“Outlaw Four”)

Lance Corporal Friskis, radio operator (“Outlaw Five”)

Navy Corpsman Gutierrez, medic (“Outlaw Six”)

Sergeant Scott Rule, New Assistant Team Leader (“Outlaw Two”)

F-35 DETACHMENT, NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

Major Stephanie Halverson, USAF (“Siren”)

Captain Jake Boyd, USAF (“Ghost Hawk”)

Captain Lisa Johansson, USAF (“Sapphire”)

STRYKER BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM

Captain Chuck Welch, Company Commander

Staff Sergeant Marc Rakken (“Sparta Six”)

Sergeant Timothy Appleman, Vehicle Commander

Private First Class Penny Hassa, Vehicle Driver

USS FLORIDA SSN-805

Commander Jonathan Andreas

“Jack” (Operations Officer)

Senior Chief Radioman Sheldon

Chief Electronic Technician Burgess

“Dan” (Communications Officer)

JSF NAVY HIGH COMMAND, HONOLULU

Admiral Donald Stanton, Commander, Pacific Fleet (COMPACFLT)

Admiral Charles Harrison, Commander, Submarines, Pacific

“Smitty” USS Florida’s Submarine Squadron Commander

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Vsevolod Vsevolodovich Kapalkin, President

General Sergei Izotov, Director of the Glavnoje

Razvedyvatel ’noje Upravlenije (GRU)

Colonel Pavel Doletskaya (GRU)

Major Alexei Noskov, Tactical Operations Officer (“Werewolf”)

Colonel Viktoria Antsyforov (GRU)

Commander Ivan Golova, commander of the Ulyanovsk

Captain Pravota, Ka-29 chopper pilot

Captain Second Rank Mikhail Anatolyevich Kolosov, commander of the Romanov

Alexi Vasiliev, aka William Bullard, Russian mole

EUROPEAN FEDERATION

President Nathalie Perreau

General Amadou Bankolé, EF Enforcers Corps

Capitaine Ilaria Cimino, EFEC Executive Officer

CANADA

Robert Emerson, Prime Minister

“Khaki,” chopper pilot and ex-Canadian Special Forces

TERRORIST

Green Vox (symbolic head of the Green Brigade Transnational)

MAPS

Map concept by James Ide Graphic design by Carole McDaniel
Map by Carole McDaniel
Map by Carole McDaniel

ONE

“He’s coming around! Everybody get—”

Team Sergeant Nathan Vatz never finished his sentence. The Russian T-100 main battle tank on the opposite end of the intersection finished it for him.

Vatz slammed onto his gut, sliding across the rain-slick pavement as the office building fifty meters ahead exploded with a thunderous boom.

Shards of concrete, glass, and mangled metal arced into the cold night and fell in a hailstorm on the blackened remains of the HMMWVs and a pair of eight-wheeled Stryker infantry combat vehicles, behind which Vatz’s special forces team had taken cover. A black rose of smoke backlit by fire bloomed across the intersection, driven by a wind thick with the stench of cordite.

With a sudden lurch, the fifty-ton tank rumbled closer, its 152mm smoothbore main gun swiveling menacingly, tracks grinding over the bodies of the rifle squad — the tank’s first victims — who’d been hit as they’d dismounted from one of the Strykers.

Vatz wiped sweat from his eyes, cleared his throat, and spoke into the tiny voice-activated boom mike at his lips: “Victor Six, this is Vortex, over?”