Allied operations, p.1
Allied Operations, page 1
Allied Operations
BY
Tracy Tappan
Copyright © 2016 Tracy Tappan
Kobo Edition
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Cover by Caroline Teagle
Book Two in the Wings of Gold Series
ALLIED OPERATIONS
Get in and get out—he treats his relationships just like his high-stakes missions.
Lieutenant Kyle “Mikey” Hammond operates on self-destruct: wild partying, one-night stands, and toxic relationships. Right on target, the night before he’s due to provide security for a journalist in Pakistan, he pulls a pre-emptive screwup with her. Never one to make a bad situation better, he continues to go heavy on the flirtation. When undeniable feelings for the spunky, unshakeable woman grow, it’s time to pull another one of his usual moves: bail out.
A master at dealing with violent terrorists, LA Times journalist Samantha Dougin is called in to negotiate the release of four American hostages. But something fishy is going on, and her days reel between insane, high-speed danger and tense downtime. Shamelessly curious, Samantha must – as a woman and a reporter – take advantage of the lulls to strip the charismatic Navy lieutenant of his potent charm. Their explosive battles ignite passion in the bedroom, but just as their feelings for each other deepen, time runs out.
A devastating deception catapults the mission into Defcon Holy Crap, and with the lives of four hostages on the line, Kyle and Samantha have no choice but to hurl themselves blindly into the worst.
The bestselling and award-winning Wings of Gold Series IS BACK with a brand-new thrilling standalone romance where two total opposites discover they’re made for each other.
Also by Tracy Tappan
The Choose A Hero Romance™ reading experience
JUSTICE
Keith Knight’s Story
Brayden Street’s Story
Pete Robbins’s Story
Wings of Gold Series
Military Romantic Suspense
BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY
ALLIED OPERATIONS
MAN DOWN
The Community Series
Paranormal Romance
PREY (free novella)
THE BLOODLINE WAR
THE PUREST OF THE BREED
BLOOD-BONDED BY FORCE
MOON-RIDERS
HALF-MOON RISING
Sometimes love comes in three…
Tracy Tappan’s
Choose A Hero Romance™
Where the reader controls the ending!
JUSTICE:
A Choose A Hero Romance™
Not sure what a Choose A Hero Romance™ novel is all about?
Click HERE to find out!
JUSTICE
A Choose A Hero Romance™ Novel
“I’ve completed reading all 4 stories, &, boy, what an adventure! I really had a good time reading all these endings, ultimately surprising myself on which one I liked the most.”
~ Cathy C.
“I just finished all three endings and I’m blown away… This was amazing. I actually cried a little when I finished. I wasn’t ready for it to be over!”
~ Kat A.
“I was Team Keith 100% of the way but now Brayden is laughingly taking the lead slightly. Damn you for that :-)”
~ Anna H.
“I laughed more with Brayden’s story, but I’m still Team Keith. I guess I like the protector type more than I thought. I’ve only got Pete’s story left to read…
Wow, totally changed teams. Now I’m Team Pete.”
~ Chelsea F.
“I just finished Justice and OMG you had me right from the beginning! I have chosen Keith to be her hero…
Just finished Keith and Justice’s story and, wowza, that was amazing. I have decided to read Brayden’s story next because I just can’t help myself and want to compare.”
~ Sandra B.
“I just finished Justice’s main story. I. Am. Blown. Away! It is incredible. My hands are shaking. Not a bad kind of shaking though. It’s the kind that happens when you’re so immersed into a good book your adrenalin gets pumping [and] your emotions are at a heightened state.”
~ Tricia R.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Captain Randy Borges, United States Navy, former commanding officer of the HSC-85 (Helicopter Sea Combat 85) Firehawks, for his invaluable guidance on SPECIAL OPERATIONS Warfare aviation.
My heartfelt gratitude goes out to Tricia and Mark Eoff for sharing their amazing story of both tragedy and triumph. (I never would’ve known about the dye marker stains without Tricia!). More on them at the end of the book…
All mistakes are my own.
* * *
Congratulations to Trish Jones for winning the birth date contest to honor her father, Army Sergeant Pat Tomaro.
Pasquale Frank Tomaro
Pat won the Purple Heart for an act of incredible bravery during the Korean War. He was on point one night during a blackout/radio silence, and his battalion suddenly came upon a cliff they couldn’t see in the dark. He flipped his jeep on purpose to stop the vehicles behind him from going over, and ended up sliding down the cliff and getting pinned under his jeep. He was paralyzed as a result, and doctors told him he would never walk again or have children. But Pat eventually proved them wrong. In his later years, his right leg was amputated due to vascular deficiency, but even that never held him back from living his life to the fullest.
He passed away eighteen years ago, but not a day goes by that his daughter Trish doesn’t miss him. “He was my hero! He never let the PTSD he suffered from conquer him, and was the best daddy to me and my sister. I know he remains with me in spirit, watching over and protecting me, because that’s the kind of man he was.”
** To honor Sergeant Pat Tomaro, his birthday, November 27th, has been chosen as the birthday of a naval aviator in this book, Lieutenant JG Steve “Jobs” Whitmore.
* * *
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
About the Book
Also by Tracy Tappan
Choose A Hero Romance™ Novel
Acknowledgments
Note to Readers
Dedication
Prologue
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
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Bonus Material
About Flying Solo
About Man Down
Author’s Notes
Excerpt from Man Down
About the Author
Note to readers: Pilots use technical jargon and a dizzying array of acronyms and slang when they talk and think. For the sake of storytelling, I’ve toned down much of this lingo, but it would be impossible to portray naval aviators realistically without it. The terminology shouldn’t trip you up in the story, but a glossary has been provided for those who are interested in exact definitions.
Glossary
♠ Autorotation: This is a state of flight in which the engine is disengaged from the main rotor system of a helicopter so that the blades are driven solely by air moving up through the rotor (in other words, the engine is no longer supplying power to the main rotor). The most common use of autorotation in helicopters is to safely land the aircraft in the event of an engine failure or tail-rotor failure.
♠ BUD/S: stands for Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training. This is the 6-month SEAL training course which starts with five weeks of indoctrination and pre-conditioning, then goes on to three different phases of training. The first phase is the toughest and includes Hell Week, where three quarters of the class will quit.
♠ Captain’s Mast: This is name of the Navy and Marine procedure used for dealing with non-judicial punishment (NJP). The accused will stand before his or her commanding officer and be judged on the facts. He or she may have a lawyer present, but usually doesn’t, as this is a more informal hearing tha
♠ Chalk: A chalk is a group of troops that deploy from a single aircraft—“chalk” is often used to refer to a platoon-sized unit being deployed on air assault operations. The term was first coined in World War II for airborne troops, due to the fact that the aircraft number of the flight they were on was written on the troops’ backs with chalk.
♠ Daily and Turn: This is a series of special checks and inspections done on a helicopter in order to prep it for the next flight. Maintenance personnel usually perform these checks, except when away from home base, and then it is the duty of the AW.
♠ FLIR: stand for Forward-Looking Infrared. The sensors on a FLIR camera use detection of infrared radiation, typically emitted from a heat source, to create a picture on a video output.
♠ Geedunk: This is the slang term used to refer to the gift and snack store on board.
♠ HM3: stands for Hospital Corpsman, Third Class. This is a rate of E4.
♠ ISR: stands for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.
♠ LSE: stands for Landing Signal Enlisted.
♠ Mensurate: This is SPECOPS lingo referring to information supplied by intelligence personnel to the special operatives about all measurable aspects of a target. For the pilots, this information includes how large a landing zone is, if there are poles or telephone wires nearby, how tall buildings are, etcetera.
♠ RAST: stands for Recovery, Assist, Secure and Traverse. This is the system that helps the H-60 Seahawk helicopter land on the back of ships. Based on a “bear trap” system, steel “claws” clamp shut around a probe at the bottom of the aircraft in order to stabilize the helo once it’s on deck.
♠ Super JO: This is a senior lieutenant who has been pegged early on in his or her career as a front runner in the aviation community. He or she is groomed for the best positions and early promotion, and are often given jobs generally reserved for officers above his or her rank.
♠ UNREP: stands for Underway Replenishments, such as food, fuel, etc.
To use the glossary function inside your eReader: Click the number that appears at the end of the word being defined. You will be taken to the glossary at the end of the book. From there, click the “spade” icon at the end of the explanation, and then you will be taken right back to where you were in the story.
“They say if you stay in this business long enough, you will lose a friend. I guess that’s true. I’m no hero. Just an average guy doing a tough job. My friend and copilot is a hero. He gave everything he had for something he believed in. I will miss him.”
Mark “Clutch” Eoff, USN, Retired
Mark “Clutch” Eoff, crash survivor
To the men and women who’ve given their lives doing a job they believe in.
Prologue
September, seven months ago
San Francisco, California
Kyle rolled over on the mattress and slowly lifted his eyelids. Rumpled sheets, empty bed… Quieting his breathing, he homed in on sounds. Nothing. Only silence. No one was messing around in the bathroom. No one was anywhere in this hotel room.
Except for him.
He closed his eyes again, but not before confirming there wasn’t a carefully folded note deposited sweetly on the pillow next to his. She left me without a single word… And he was an idiot. Not just any sort of idiot, but on a level with a lobotomized Mr. Magoo, or Mr. Bean after ten years of glue-sniffing. That was him, Kyle “Mikey” Hammond, Lieutenant, United States Navy—on the idiot scale of one to ten, he was the googolplexian. Because here he was again, lying in bed with a broken heart. Repeat: again.
Then a familiar sound drifted to his ears…
The Universe tsking at him.
Kyle shifted onto his back, locked his hands behind his head, and gave the ceiling a hard stare. If he could stand up and defend himself to the Universe—not that the Great and Powerful U would even listen to any more of his yadda, yadda, yadda—he would cite “extenuating circumstances” for this, yet another round of cyclical stupidity, and claim he’d never experienced his ex-girlfriend, Sienna, like he had late-morning yesterday.
In the little over six years he’d dated Sienna Kelleman—starting in his junior year of high school and ending shortly after he’d gone to flight training in the Navy following college—he’d always had to scramble like a dog on all fours for every meager bestowal of attention he received from the gorgeous, though mean as a hissing cat, blonde. But yesterday, when both of them were heading down the tiled corridor of San Francisco General Hospital, Sienna made the first move ever toward him. She slipped her hand in his and gripped it hard, as if she needed—no, was relying on—his strength and support. Him, the guy she’d always complained was a man she could never rely on.
“I’m really nervous,” she whispered.
He shot her a startled glance. “You’ve never met him?”
“No,” she’d returned in a choked whisper. “Not even the day he was born.”
The way she’d looked at him then… Her expression, her tone… He’d never known callous, demanding, impossible-to-please Sienna Kelleman could be vulnerable.
A lump pushed into Kyle’s throat, and he squeezed her hand back while they walked toward room 254 of the pediatric ward.
A couple, clearly a husband and wife, waited for them by the door, introducing themselves as Stanley and Marie Coleman.
The man was dark-haired with a prominent widow’s peak, and he wore glasses. He was of medium height and slender. The woman was short and a little plump, with a face that was probably jolly and apple-cheeked when she wasn’t so pale and scared-looking.
The lump in Kyle’s throat grew. He would guess his face didn’t have much blood left in it, either.
Mr. Coleman gave Kyle a long, intense inspection, and his complexion paled a whiter shade than his wife’s. Finally, he spoke. “Thank you both so much for coming. The doctors are waiting this way to take a sample of your bone marrow.” He gestured down the hall.
Kyle hesitated. “But…” Was this how it worked? “Aren’t we going to see the boy first?”
Mr. Coleman frowned. “Do you think that’s wise?”
The Universe spoke loudly and clearly directly into Kyle’s ear. It is probably the worst idea ever created by man. But Kyle chose to do what he always did when he didn’t like the answer. Not listen. He glanced at Sienna.
Her eyes were pooled with tears.
Screw it. Kyle drew himself up. “We want to see him.”
Mr. Coleman paused some more.
But what could the man say? He needed Kyle and Sienna’s help.
A bored-looking orderly lumbered by with a crash cart. Chogga-chogga-chogga…one of the wheels was lopsided.
“All right,” Mr. Coleman conceded. “But we haven’t told Brodie he’s adopted yet. Please,” he directed at Kyle, “say you’re a colleague of mine from work.” Mr. Coleman led them inside the room.
It took every particle of willpower Kyle could muster to walk normally—not to stop dead in his tracks at coming face to face with his own son—to keep a normal expression—not to stare in appalled horror at all of the tubes running out of the seven-year-old boy—and to keep his jaw levered in place—not to let it drop all the way to China, because Brodie Coleman, with his sandy-colored hair, blue eyes, and bone structure that could’ve been formed from a plaster cast right off Kyle’s own features, looked exactly like Kyle. Not just a little bit, not even much like Sienna, but exactly like Kyle.
It was a total earthquake moment.
Considering how much seismic activity had been turning his life ass-over-fuck lately, that was no small thing. Case in point one, half a dozen hours ago Sienna had confessed that the sex-capade she and Kyle enjoyed right before he left for flight school had gotten her pregnant. Two: her anger over the unwanted pregnancy was the reason she’d broken up with him. Three: she’d given up their son for adoption. Four: Kyle was never supposed to have known any of this. And whopper number five: he never would have known if Brodie Coleman hadn’t become gravely ill with cancer, and Kyle and Sienna, as the boy’s biological parents, needed to donate bone marrow for his treatment.
