Jörg. H. Trauboth - Three Brothers

Joerg H. Trauboth

Translated from the German by Leanne Cvetan

Cover image used with permission

© Smulsky - Fotolia.com#24723429

This book is protected under copyright. All rights reserved.

Originally published in Germany as Drei Brüder by ratiobooks

Copyright © 2015, 2016, 2018 by Jörg H. Trauboth.

English Translation Copyright © 2018 by Leanne Cvetan

Published in Germany by

ratiobooks • 53797 Lohmar • Danziger Str. 30

info@ratiobooks.de

Tel.: (0 22 46) 94 92 61

Fax: (0 22 46) 94 92 24

www.ratiobooks.de

eISBN: 978-3-96136-030-7 (engl.)

PoD: 978-3-96136-031-4 (engl.)

Print ISBN: 978-3-939829-64-5 (German)

eISBN: 978-3-939829-77-5 (German)

Audio: GESAFA-Verlag ISBN: 978-3-943273-05-2 (German)

published by

For Martina

I WILL!

This thriller is a work of fiction and takes place against the backdrop of the current terrorist activity and threat of danger in Europe and the rest of the world. All characters and references to any persons, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination as long as they do not refer to any actual persons, living or dead, real places, or actual events .

Any similarity of the characters to any real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental, as is any similarity regarding the plot to any actual events .

There is a register of characters at the end of this book as well as a glossary of important terms .

In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take .

Marcus Aurelius,

Roman Emperor and

Philosopher (161 – 181 A.D.)

THREE ELITE SOLDIERS Three Elite Soldiers

Afghanistan

Berlin

Hammelburg

Northern Iraq / Berlin

Berlin

THREE CONSULTANTS

Rhineland: Bonn / Hangelar Airfield

Berlin

Palma de Mallorca / Rhineland

JIHAD

Mosul / Eifel Region / Cologne

Rhineland-Palatinate, Büchel Air Base Tactical Air Force Wing 33

Cologne

Western Mediterranean / Berlin / Algeria

Berlin - Foreign Office

The Northern African Mainland

OPERATION RESCUE

Cologne

The Algerian Desert

Cologne

The Algerian Desert

Raqqa

Cologne

The Algerian Desert

Rhineland / Mediterranean

The Algerian Desert

Mallorca / Cologne

Cologne

Mallorca

The Algerian Desert

Berlin

The Algerian Desert

The Spanish Coast / Algeria, A Rocky Beach

Raqqa

Cologne

THE FLIGHT OF THE CRANES

Remagen

Calw

Rhineland / Berlin

Epilogue

REGISTER OF PERSONS

GLOSSARY

AUTHOR’S NOTE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

MAPS

Fig. 1 – Operation Eagle

Fig. 2 – Operation Rescue

For the last five hours, a group of six men have been trudging through the dark, barren landscape of the vast Hindu Kush Mountains. The distant howling of a lone wolf accompanies them as does the cold wind, but the men don’t seem to feel the sting.

One of them stops abruptly. Marc Anderson, captain of the German KSK Special Forces Commando, raises his hand to his neck and decisively whispers into his throat mic.

“George, I see her. The nose of the aircraft is at eleven o’clock, the tail at two.”

George, the short, wiry Navy Seal One squad leader from Ohio, folds down the night vision lens mounted on his helmet.

For whatever reason, the fighter jet did not explode, but the debris is still smoldering.

“Copy that, I’ll inform Bagram Air Base.”

“Charlie Force from Echo Force – over.”

“Echo Team – go ahead – over.”

“We found the jet – now searching for the crew – over.”

“Roger Echo Team – we’re waiting for your response – over.”

As unorthodox as it is, the Navy Seals insisted on having German elite soldier Marc Anderson with them on the mission. He is one of the few soldiers who knows the area, located deep in the hinterlands of Afghanistan, better than anyone else on account of a number of earlier missions in the region. At only 27 years old, the tall, slender soldier from the southern German town of Calw has already achieved legendary status among the American and British Special Forces. Together with the Navy Seals, he has succeeded in rescuing and retrieving American soldiers from behind enemy lines, securing himself a formidable reputation as both a leader and a team player.

But Anderson refused to do the job on his own: “Only if I can take my commando brothers with me,” he told the commanders at Bagram Air Base. “Only with Thomas and Tim.”

“OK, Marc, agreed.”

The Seals know full well what “ Band of Brothers” means. Elite soldiers throughout all the Special Armed Forces are not just comrades, they are brothers. On this mission – the search for a U.S. fighter jet gone missing along with its crew – the Seals have three German brothers. Nationalities play no role, however, only professionalism and unconditional trust. Marc also agreed to the mission since he and George have worked well together on previous missions.

Echo Force, made up of U.S. Seals One, Two, Three, and the German KSK soldiers Marc, Thomas, and Tim, had parachuted in during night. They chose a landing site six and a half miles from the F-15E Strike Eagle’s last known position in the hope of not being discovered by the Taliban. There were no exact coordinates of the crash site. What’s worse, they weren’t able to receive any location transmission from the crew. The pilot had only managed to transmit “No engine – Mayday – Mayday – Bailing out!” at the last minute as they lost altitude. A hasty final message, nothing more. Everything seems to have happened very quickly. The crew must have needed to abandon the aircraft immediately, there would have been no time for discussion.

After a successful landing, they spent the next five hours systematically scouring the possible search site of twelve square miles at almost ten thousand feet altitude.

Marc was a true pathfinder in this unwieldy and perilous terrain. The Americans trusted him whole-heartedly, and with good reason, as he proved once again. He immediately found the wreckage of the F-15 in the pitch-dark of night and undetected in this hostile territory. They operate meticulously together, as though they have done this a million times before: Marc out in front, checking the terrain, giving signals, the other five men following, step for step, crouched down, secure, silent. The stillness of the dark magnifies every word and any misstep on the gravel is a potential giveaway for the Taliban.