Episode 6: The Viking

By Leigh Barker

Episode 6. The Viking: Season 3 - Ethan Gill Thrillers - The Orpheus Directive:

The trap is sprung and Ethan and his unit must fight as they have never fought before, or die on the barren mountains of Northern Pakistan.

Ethan had expected to encounter the Taliban - this is their country, or soon will be - but he didn't expect to meet the Viking, not here as far from Norway as a man could hope to get. But now he has a place to make a stand against overwhelming odds.

At last they see a chance of making it out of there alive. Maybe.
...Until Winter makes a gut-wrenching discovery.

As Smokey said, their folks will be laying flowers on their empty caskets.

Unless Ethan can pull off a miracle. But this time the odds may be just too stacked against them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Leigh Barker
• Release date: Jun 21, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463360293

Leigh Barker

Leigh was born in Dudley in the middle of England. He has been a merchant seaman, a (useless) electronics salesman, a programmer, and a business analyst. And now he is a full-time writer, but that doesn't make him a bad person.He is presently writing 4 series:Clan, following the adventures of Calum Maclean as he tries to avoid the Bonnie Prince but still protect his beloved Highlands.The Hellfire Legacy Series follows US Marine Master Sergeant Ethan Gill and his team as they take on the jobs too hot for other special forces. They go where they're sent; South America, Middle East, Korea, but their most dangerous missions are on US soil.Volume #1: A Whisper of ArmageddonVolume #2: The Hellfire LegacyVolume #3: The Orpheus DirectiveEden, a three-volume series -Trinity is at war with Lucid, the son of Lucifer, and he will do whatever it takes to win. The Archangel Gabriel has an army but he needs more. He needs heroes, but they are few and far between. Which is why he gets Dylan and co. Not too much luck in Heaven then.Volume #1: Eden's Last HeroVolume #2: WinterwoodVolume #3: Requiem for Eden.Soldiers is set in 1914 and follows John Regret and his 12-man squad on their suicidal mission to find and destroy the German howitzer nicknamed Big Bertha. Find it before it drops it's thousand-pound shells on the allied army retreating across France. A seemingly hopeless mission that just cannot fail.Other occasional series include:Anarchy, the 'completely true' stories of men doing what men do when there's nobody to keep them in check. Create mayhem and behave like monkeys on speed.Coffee Break Reads - each issue has 5 stories short enough to read while taking a break from life. A mix of adventure, love, disaster, and fun. All with one thing in common; for a moment they transport the reader to another world.Episode 1 of each Season is free and can be picked up with other free books at:https://leighwbarker.com/my-library/Just copy the link above and paste it into your browser and you're there...

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The Orpheus Directive

(Season 1)

(Episode 6)

The Viking

Copyright 2018 Leigh Barker

Published by Leigh Barker at Smashwords

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ISBN: 9780463360293

The Viking

Winter stopped on the trail leading up to the narrow outcrop where Loco and Smokey were setting up their sniper’s nest, and looked back at the blind bend in the trail where the unfriendlies would show. The sun was heading home for bed and cut harsh shadows on the ragged mountains. An hour tops and the trail would be in that shadow and so would the Taliban, and good as Loco was—and okay, Smokey too—two men were never going to stop them. He went back down the trail to the vertical rockface where the trail opened up onto the flat area leading to the sheer drop. He stood with the toes of his boots over the edge of the precipice and let his mind do its thing and work it out.

The insurgents would be there before dark; that wasn’t even up for discussion. Those guys would be moving faster than the unit could. As Gunny had said, it was their country. Not strictly true, since most of them were from Afghanistan and beyond, but near enough. Loco would drop them as fast as he could work the bolt on his M40, but it wouldn’t be fast enough to stop them scooting back around the cliff. And then…then they’d just sit and wait until it was dark enough to walk on up and slit their throats.

He moved back down the trail a few yards, dropped his pack on a rock, and pulled out the three spare magazines. With the mag in the rifle, that made a hundred and twenty rounds total. Maybe five hundred short of what would be needed to do the job without getting up close and personal. Funny thing about war these days. The movies show all the technology, and the Pentagon signs up for stuff that’ll kill a man in a crowd a thousand miles away, but it always seemed to come down to the soldier on the ground kicking the enemy in the nuts when the shit is truly flying. And tonight the shit would have wings, or his name wasn’t Jerry Winter. Which it wasn’t, but who knew that? And let’s face it, man, who gives a fuck anyway? Caring is overrated.

He pushed his pack into the rocks and noted a hatchet-shaped split to remind him where he’d stowed it. If he ever needed it again, and that was as likely as him winning the Derby on a nag named Dobbin. He smiled as the punchline from an old joke popped into his head. Take it easy, man, I’ve got to get up early tomorrow to deliver the milk.

He didn’t look back as he strolled down the trail and through the crack in the rocks, the choke point and the only thing that gave them any chance at all. Loco and Smokey would be watching him, wondering what the hell he was up to. Thinking is good for