His Woman in Command & Operations: Forbidden. Lindsay McKenna

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СКАЧАТЬ had fallen in love with ATF agent Mike Murdoch. The Pentagon had then sent Dallas and her new husband to Afghanistan to oversee the latest Black Jaguar Squadron. Murdoch was now a captain in the U.S. Army and worked as a strategy and operations officer for the all-women Apache combat pilots that comprised BJS 60. And while the pilots were all female, some males in the ranks took care of the Apache helicopters. Nike was glad that Dallas was assigned here with her new husband. Taking off her baseball cap, Nike sat down and grinned. “Like old times, isn’t it?”

      Dallas laughed. “Better believe it.” She reached for a file folder and handed it to Nike. “Here are your orders. We have twenty women Apache pilots here and ten helicopters assigned to us. The last two helos are being flown in today to this base. My executive officer, XO, is going to be Captain Emma Trayhern-Cantrell.”

      Raising her brows, Nike said, “From the Trayhern family?”

      “The very same. Shortly after you left Peru, Emma was assigned to BJS in Peru and flew Apaches down there for six months before I was able to convince the Pentagon to have her assigned here. She’s a chip off the old Trayhern block—a real woman warrior.”

      “Whose child is she?” Nike wondered.

      “Clay and Alyssa Cantrell-Trayhern’s oldest child. Emma has three younger sisters, two of whom are in the U.S. Naval Academy right now. They’re due to graduate next year. They’re twins. Clay and Alyssa were Navy pilots and flew P3 antisubmarine aircraft for twenty years. Emma, whom you’ll meet sometime today, is a long, lean red-haired greyhound with blazing gray eyes. I’m glad to have her on board. She’s a natural XO.”

      Chuckling, Nike opened the folder. “Emma sounds perfect for this black ops.”

      “Oh, she is. Her grandfather is the original black-ops figure behind the scenes,” Dallas drawled, smiling. “Let’s get down to business. I’m seeing my pilots individually to give them their orders.”

      “Fire away,” Nike murmured, studying the papers.

      “First of all, BJS 60 remains an all-women U.S. Army force,” Dallas began, leaning back in her chair. “The women I chose for this new squadron have more than one flight skill. For example, you are licensed to fly fixed-wing, single-engine planes as you did on the U.S.-Mexico border with me. And you’re also certified to fly the CH-47, which is the workhorse helicopter used here in Afghanistan.” Dallas looked over at the lean, wiry pilot. “Every woman in BJS 60 has multiskills in aviation. There may be times when I want you to fly the CH-47 and not the Apache.”

      “Being multitalented has never been a problem for me,” Nike said, grinning.

      Dallas leaned back in her chair. “We are under General Chapman and we work indirectly with the national Afghanistan Army. BJS 60 is going to be a ‘sparrow-hawk’ team that will be called upon in emergencies when the regular Apache pilots from the other two squadrons are not available. In other words, we’re going to pick up the slack to ensure that Special Forces A teams get immediate help and support out in the field. Our jobs will vary depending upon what General Chapman’s operations officer decides for us. One day you could be flying a CH-47, another, you’ll be back in the seat of an Apache helicopter. Mike, my husband, is working as a liaison between Chapman’s people and us. We’re going to try and get as much air time as possible in the Apache, but we also know our pilots will be flying other helicopters, too.”

      Nike nodded. Instantly, she pictured Captain Gavin Jackson, who was a man’s man, supremely confident. Someone she was drawn to, but Nike wasn’t willing to admit that to herself now or ever. “I ran into one of the A teams over at the canteen a little while ago.”

      “Yes, they’re our front-line defense here on the border,” Dallas told her. “These men go out for thirty days at a time. They are hunting Taliban and stopping terrorist insurgence from getting into Afghanistan. This is one of the most dangerous places in the world for our troops—the mountains and the border around the Khyber Pass, which connects Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

      “And we thought Peru was dangerous,” Nike joked, turning the page in the file for her assignment.

      “Yeah,” Dallas said grimly. “This is worse. Let’s talk about your assignment tomorrow morning. Part of a new project that’s being initiated by the top generals now assigned to Afghanistan is winning the hearts and minds of the border villages in this country. Tomorrow BJS 60 pilots will be assigned to certain A teams to fly them into Taliban-controlled villages. The dudes in Washington, D.C., have finally figured out that if we don’t make these boundary villages pro-American, we’ve lost the battle to stop terrorists from coming into this country from Pakistan.”

      “Why are these villages pro-Taliban?” Nike wondered, perplexed.

      “They aren’t. First of all, Afghanistan is composed of fiercely independent tribal systems. Even the Russians, who threw ten times the troops into this country, couldn’t defeat the Mujahideen. Afghans don’t count on anyone to help them. They have survived thousands of years with their tribal clans. In this century, the Afghan government, which has tried to force these different tribes or clans to acknowledge them, has failed to solidify them. The central government has always ignored the mountain villages along the border, anyway. They never poured any money, medical help, education or food from the government into these villages. Basically, the Kabul government didn’t think ignoring these border villages was a problem until Osama bin Laden surfaced. Now, it’s our biggest problem thanks to the government’s blind eye.”

      Tightening her lips, Dallas added, “Kabul has Afghans who defy their own central government. They remain faithful only to their tribe and their chieftain or sheik. The Taliban uses force against the villagers, attacks their women and creates hostility among the tribal people. That is why these border villages don’t stop Taliban and terrorists from coming and going through their valleys. They hate them as much as we do, but they lack the resources to stop the Taliban from being the bullies on the block. And Kabul officials never sent out troops to protect these border villages from the raiding Taliban, so the villagers are understandably distrustful of the central government. And your demeanor toward these villagers will be as follows. If you, as a person, do something good for an Afghan, they will call you brother or sister until they die. They are completely loyal to those who treat them humanely and with respect. That is what I want you to cultivate as you interface with the villagers. This is the only way we are going to win their hearts and minds.”

      “Nice to see these outlying villages hate the Taliban as much as we do. I’ll be happy to ‘make nice’ with these village folks,” Nike said.

      “This new program the general has just initiated is beginning to bear fruit. Starting tomorrow, you’re going to fly an A team to Zor Barawul, a village that is located five miles away from the Pakistan border. This A team will stay thirty days to try and win the trust and respect of these villagers. This operation, which is along all of the border, is to get villagers to realize that Americans are here to help them. We’re not coming in like the Taliban with guns blazing and using brute force upon them. Furthermore, the medic in each of these A teams will be bringing in all kinds of medicine for villagers. We want to gain their trust with positive and consistent care. The only medical help these people have had in the last sixty years has been from Christian church missions and Sufi medical doctors who try their best to go from village to village helping the people.”

      “Sufis? I thought they were Muslim.”

      “Yes, they are. Sufis are the mystical branch of the Muslim religion. They are about peace, not war. Love and compassion instead of hatred and prejudice. We need more of that here and the Sufis are leading the way.”

      Nike СКАЧАТЬ