The Light Part 2: Operation Dragonfly

By James W. Cook

The book will propel the reader into a land of fantasy where there are super weapons and four major armies battling for control of the Middle East. The book take the reader at least three hundred years into the future after World War 3 when a flash of light once again sends Sgt. Crawford into a world of destiny. Will Sgt Crawford make it out alive and back home to the 21st Century?

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Apr 22, 2021
• ISBN: 9781663216540

James W. Cook

The author was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania on March 1, 1951. I attended Freedom High School in Bethlehem Pennsylvania as well as LCCC. I am also a U.S. Army veteran having served from August 1968 through August 1971 as well as being a Vietnam Veteran. I am the proud son of the late William and Thelma Cook.

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Copyright © 2021 James W. Cook.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6632-1653-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-1654-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021908261

iUniverse rev. date: 04/21/2021

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

This book is dedicated to

my very best friend, Leslie M. Miller, who unfortunately passed away before this novel was completed. Having read the first installment of The Light, Leslie M. Miller was looking forward to reading this second installment. I am sure that God in his Graciousness, will allow Leslie the opportunity to hear my mind as I write this novel. So long, my friend. I hope you have followed, The Light.

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CHAPTER 1

As I began to gather my senses, I could hear Jackson yell out, Sarge, Sergeant Crawford. Slowly opening my eyes I saw Jackson standing over me, shoving my shoulders, trying to get a response from me. Slowly rising to my feet, I saw Bennington and Lassiter were still unconscious at the rear of the cave. I asked Jackson, What the hell happened? All I could remember was that we had walked up the hill toward the cave with the captured Russian General, then suddenly there was a terrible banging noise, a bright flash of light, and we were thrust into the cave and into unconsciousness. It was like a bomb had exploded causing the bright flash of light. The next thing I knew was Jackson standing over me calling out my name.

I walked over to Bennington and Lassiter, woke them up, then checked on the Russian General. As I tried to get the Russian to respond, I realized he was dead with one hell of a gash on his head. Blood was running down his face and it appeared he was killed instantly. Well at least we didn’t have to worry about him anymore, I thought. He won’t be trying to escape, although he could have come in handy should we encounter any Russian patrols. As we shook the dust from our clothing, Jackson walked towards the entrance to the cave.

As I began leaving the confines of the cave, I saw Jackson lying on the ground peering over the small amount of dirt surrounding the cave and without batting an eyelash, Jackson softly whispered, What the hell is that? I was almost afraid to look. Crawling next to Jackson, I got a firsthand look at what Jackson had seen.

There, way below the hill was a spherical, silver object floating in mid-air. It was about three or four feet in diameter, glowing red, green, and blue lights flashing around it. I never saw anything like that in my entire life, but what was it. I’d soon have my answer.

Jackson said, Let me go down and investigate to see just what the hell that thing is. I wasn’t very sure that was the right thing to do, especially since we didn’t know what it was. I told Jackson, Alright, but be very careful and don’t spend too much time looking at the thing.

It took Jackson a good five minutes to walk down the hill toward the object. As Jackson got within twenty feet away, a small part of the sphere opened up and a beam of light emanated from it, striking Jackson in the chest, vaporizing him into nothing more than a pile of clothing lying on the ground where seconds ago Jackson stood. He was instantly killed by that object whatever it is. I now had my answer. It was a weapon of some sort and a futuristic one at that. I’m sure its nothing we have or the Russians, but who does? I was almost afraid to ask who could possess such a device but I was sure I would have the answer to that question in due time and I wouldn’t like the answer.

After staying afloat for another three minutes, the object closed what appeared to be a lens and suddenly disappeared into the distance.

Now what, I thought.

Here we were in an unknown place in an unknown environment with an unknown enemy weapon I’m totally unfamiliar with.

The one thing I knew was that I had to stick with our original mission. Head east to our base just forty miles away, but we needed transportation.

Taking my binoculars, I scanned eastward and saw nothing but wasteland. Surely, there has to be something out there.

After what seemed to last forever, we came across a village called, Thoracea. The first person we met was a young woman named, Farah. She was as beautiful as no woman could be and very friendly. She took us to her house but warned us that if Zatar’s men found us we would undoubtedly be tortured and killed as spies from the Land of Po. I introduced myself as Sgt. Crawford and then my men and told her we were no spies and that I was unfamiliar with this man named Zatar or the Land of Po and that we were from a land far away called the United States. She said she never heard of the land called the United States and said we were in the Neo-Persian Empire and it was ruled by an evil man named Zatar, a wicked man who loved to torture and kill anyone deemed an enemy of the empire. We certainly fit that description according to Farah and somehow I trusted her.

That’s when her sister, Mitra, walked in the room. Mitra gave us strange mistrustful looks and she immediately thought we were Zatar’s agents, but I assured her we were soldiers from a far away land.

Mitra was out of breath and in a panic. Zatar’s men were on their way and only about two miles out of town. They would surely take us prisoner and God knows what they would do to Farah and Mitra so Farah had a plan. She has a hole in the floor where she kept her garbage until she could take it outside. Just as she started explaining that, Zatar’s men came rolling into town. She took out the wooden baseboard and we crawled below, cramped as we were, but safe.

As she closed the lid and covered it over with the rug and placed the baseboard back, we laid in the darkness as we heard a vicious knock at the door.

It was Zatar’s men.

They were apparently looking for us. Someone must have tipped them off as to us being in Farah’s house, but Farah denied we were there. She told the officer that we told her we were travelers headed for the Land of Po and needed provisions. All she had was a little food and nothing else to give and then she gave us some food and sent us on our way.

At first the officer didn’t believe her and I heard furniture being thrown around and apparently some cursing going back and forth. Then my heart began to pump hard when I heard the trap door shuffle like someone wanted to open the trap door but whomever wanted to open the trap door left it be and walked away, thank goodness.

After several more minutes of arguing back and forth, Zatar’s men left but not before beating up Farah and Mitra for giving aid and comfort to the enemy. When Farah opened the trap door to the pit, I saw firsthand what the officer had done to her. Now I knew what they were capable of. She was black and blue and bloody. I offered to go after them and kill them for what they had done but she insisted that would only bring more of Zatar’s men and she might be killed for what happened to them.

I told Farah that we had to head east and she said that would take us to the Land of Po. She said we might be safer there but they might also consider us to be spies sent by Zatar. Either way we were in trouble but I had to take th e chance.

I then asked, By the way, what year is this? I was shocked when she said it was the year 3466. What happened to the last few centuries of our lives? Everyone we knew was dead and our civilization has been wiped out in the great war of 2255. I learned the Neo-Persian Empire stretched all the way to Europe, parts of Africa, and western Asia. The Land of Po comprised of Central Asia, Southern Asia, and the Pacific Rim. Zatar wanted to conquer the Land of Po so he would in actuality rule the world.

His flag flew almost everywhere already and people everywhere else wanted to be sure he went no further.

There were battles and skirmishes daily and thousands were killed in the process, both military and civilian.

The land of Po was a days drive and Farah’s uncle had an extra vehicle. It wasn’t in the best of condition, but she was sure he would let us have it.

My next question was, Oh yes, what in God’s name are those silver spherical things we encountered at the hill?

Farah told me those were Zatar’s secret weapon. N o other nation had those and he was winning his wars with them. They could pick up any movement with them anywhere and the camera would zoom in and the laser would vaporize their targets. They were meant to keep his subjects loyal so to speak. They could never escape his clutches, so be careful on the way when you encounter those, she said.

The main thing to remember is to aim your weapon directly at the laser portal and fire, that will destroy the sphere.

While Mitra went to get the truck, Farah went to gather enough provisions for a two week journey. Hopefully it wouldn’t take longer than that to get to the Land of Po. Farah said we should go to their capital city, Xerxes. She said there we should try to make contact with a man named Commander Zarah. He is an honorable man who leads the army for the leader of the Land of Po, King Tarafah.

Within hours we were on our way and wondering what waited for us not only on the road ahead but also in the Land of Po. Would Commander Zarah take kindly to us as Farah had said?

As we drove, behind us a car sped towards us and when it got close enough I could see it was Mitra behind the wheel.

When we stopped, Mitra approached us and with barely any breath in her body said that Zatar’s men returned to