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The president slammed the phone down. “Humans shouldn’t be allowed to have this much fun,” he murmured. He turned to his advisers in the Oval Office. “Tell the KRG to stop all plans for independence?” He snapped his fingers. “Sure, we can do that. The only part of Iraq that has its shit together, and Hirsiz wants it shut down. Great.”

“But he opened the door to negotiations, sir,” chief of staff Walter Kordus said. “Always come in high and hope everyone meets somewhere in the middle.” The president gave him a sideways glance. “At least it’s a start at negotiations.”

“I guess you could call it that,” the president said. “Did you hear all that, Ken? Stacy?”

“Yes, Mr. President,” Ken Phoenix said from Allied Air Base Nahla. “The Turkish air force is pounding the Iraqi northeastern provinces, especially Irbil and Dohuk provinces. I doubt if either the KRG or Baghdad will negotiate while the Turks are attacking their towns and villages.”

“NATO is meeting later today to discuss a resolution ordering Turkey to cease fire,” Secretary of State Stacy Anne Barbeau said from Brussels, Belgium, the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. “But the resolution has already been watered down to a request to cease fire. The Turks have a fair amount of support in the council here—they’re sympathetic about the continuous PKK attacks despite Turkey’s attempts to give the Kurds in Turkey more aid, a stronger voice in government, and fewer cultural and religious restrictions. I don’t think Turkey is going to get much pressure from NATO or the European Union.”

“They’re not getting much from Congress either,” the president said. “Most don’t understand the whole Kurdistan question, but they do understand terrorism, and right now they see the PKK as the problem. Turkey will eventually overstay in Iraq and public opinion will turn, especially if they try to widen the conflict.”

“And the last thing they need is a reason to widen the conflict…which brings me back to McLanahan,” Barbeau said acidly. “What in hell is he doing out there, Mr. Vice President?”

“He is apparently going to help the Iraqis defend themselves against the Turks,” Phoenix replied. “This mission out to his crashed plane was a test to see what the Turkish army would do. They seemed to do nothing until they went out to the crash site. The Turks were getting ready to move or dismantle the plane, and they tried to chase them away.”

“And McLanahan attacked.”

“I watched the images coming from a UAV over the scene,” Phoenix said, “and I listened to the audio as it was happening. McLanahan’s forces didn’t attack until the Turks did, and they even gave them a second warning after a soldier shot at the Tin Man commando. After it was obvious the Turks were going to attack the workers, the Tin Man and the CID unit went to work.”

“And now what’s happening?”

“Some of the Turks surrounding Nahla Air Base here deployed near the crash site,” Phoenix said. “Dr. Masters and his workers are still at the crash site recovering black boxes and classified equipment. McLanahan’s UAVs have detected some Turkish ground units en route, but they’re afraid the Turkish air force will attack. The Turks have flown helicopters near the site and shot a few mortars at them, trying to scare them into retreating.”

“You know, I don’t have much sympathy for McLanahan right now,” Gardner said. “He decided to twist the tiger’s tail, and now he might get his ass chewed off. We’re trying to find ways to de-escalate the conflict, and he just goes and finds new ways to escalate it.”

“We’ll find out what will happen next as soon as Masters starts to head back here to Nahla,” Phoenix said. “There’s about a hundred soldiers and six armored vehicles waiting for him on the highway, and I’ll bet they’re pissed.”

“I want our guys to stay out of it,” the president ordered. “No Americans get involved. This is McLanahan’s fight. If he gets his guys hurt or killed, it’s his fault.”

“We should contact the Turkish prime minister and urge restraint, sir,” Phoenix said. “McLanahan’s guys are outnumbered. Even with the Tin Man and CID out there, there’s no way they can fight through the Turkish army. The Turks are going to want some payback.”

“I hope McLanahan is smart enough not to try to take on the Turks,” the president said. “Stacy, contact Akas’s office again, explain the situation, and ask her to communicate to the Ministry of Defense for the army to hold back.”

“Yes, Mr. President.”

“McLanahan stepped in it big-time,” the president said as he turned to other business. “Unfortunately, it’s his guys that are going to suffer for it.”

NEAR ALLIED AIR BASE NAHLA, IRAQA SHORT TIME LATER

Incoming!” Charlie Turlock shouted. “Whack…?”

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Strike Force
Strike Force

The Battle For Control Of Iran… Begins In Space "When a disgraced former Iranian military chief of staff engineers an insurgency that threatens to destroy the theocratic regime in Iran, a new era appears to be dawning in the Middle East. But one must be wary of old enemies…"On the run from the Pasdaran, the theocrat's terror army, and unable to count on support from his friends in the regular army, Iranian rebel leader General Hesarak al-Kan Buzhazi desperately turns to his old nemesis, U.S. Air Force Lieutenant-General Patrick McLanahan, for help. Unwilling to commit American forces in an Iranian civil war, and with time running out, the U.S. president authorizes McLanahan to utilize a new, top-secret fleet of globe-crossing spaceplanes, the XR-A9 Black Stallions, led by test pilot and astronaut Captain Hunter Noble. Within hours, McLanahan's Air Battle Force turns the tide, possibly changing the course of history in the Middle East for generations.The advent of almost instantaneous global reach, along with the reactivation of America's first military space station, Silver Tower, has rekindled fears of a space arms race, and the growing insurgency in Iran is threatening to erupt into a worldwide jihad. But McLanahan finds himself embroiled in even more bitter battles at the White House, between those who support his space-based military initiative and those who are working secretly to undermine it. When McLanahan is forced to concentrate on his political and personal battles back at home, it's left to Hunter Noble and his team of young American space engineers to keep the fires of freedom in the Middle East from exploding completely out of control.Filled with the latest cutting-edge weaponry, geopolitical intrigue, high-flying suspense, and a colorful cast of characters, "Strike Force" is "New York Times" bestselling master Dale Brown at his best.

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Rogue Forces
Rogue Forces

The clash of civilizations will be won ... by thte highest bidderWhat happens when America's most lethal military contractor becomes uncontrollably powerful?His election promised a new day for America ... but dangerous storm clouds are on the horizon. The newly inaugurated president, Joseph Gardner, pledged to start pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq on his first day in office--no questions asked. Meanwhile, former president Kevin Martindale and retired Air Force lieutenant-general Patrick McLanahan have left government behind for the lucrative world of military contracting. Their private firm, Scion Aviation International, has been hired by the Pentagon to take over aerial patrols in northern Iraq as the U.S. military begins to downsize its presence there.Yet Iraq quickly reemerges as a hot zone: Kurdish nationalist attacks have led the Republic of Turkey to invade northern Iraq. The new American presi dent needs to regain control of the situation--immediately--but he's reluctant to send U.S. forces back into harm's way, leaving Scion the only credible force in the region capable of blunting the Turks' advances.But when Patrick McLanahan makes the decision to take the fight to the Turks, can the president rein him in? And just where does McLanahan's loyalty ultimately lie: with his country, his commander in chief, his fellow warriors ... or with his company's shareholders?In Rogue Forces, Dale Brown, the New York Times bestselling master of thrilling action, explores the frightening possibility that the corporations we now rely on to fight our battles are becoming too powerful for America's good.

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Executive Intent
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A Time for Patriots
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