The Operator Cometh: Engage and Destroy

By A. Christian Wright

Then, as the overwhelming favorite to become the next President of the United States, Victoria Grace gave her most powerful speech on the Poland – Russia border, carried by every major network in the world. Less than 130 miles away, a team of Delta Force Operators, led by Army Master Sergeant Max Kaiden, was eliminating Russia's most lethal assassination team that had planned to capture, torture, and murder the presidential candidate within hours of her speech for all the world to see.

 

Candidate Grace had pledged to "triple" the funding for Ukraine in its war with Russia, and had not ruled out direct military action.  Now, President Grace, the first woman and Independent Party elected president, is not only a target of the Kremlin, but also in the crosshairs of both the Democratic and Republican parties, that view her as a threat to their once dominant power. 

 

Over the past several years Russian terror cells have been positioning themselves, like so many chess pieces, throughout the country, and aligning themselves with American politicians, billionaires, and a host of extremists bent on destroying President Grace and the United States of America.

Delta Force Operator Max Kaiden, who pledged, as a soldier, to defend the country against "all enemies, both foreign and domestic", would be tasked by President Grace to be the "tip of the spear" to "engage and destroy" anyone involved in the plot to terminate America's democracy…and the clock was ticking.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A. Christian Wright
• Release date: Jan 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215194652

A. Christian Wright

Dr. Wright is a retired U.S. Army First Sergeant. He was school trained by the Department of Defense in Military Intelligence, Anti-Terrorism, Emergency Planning and Management, among many other training courses. Dr. Wright also held a Top Secret security clearance as a Cryptographic Operator. He also holds a Ph.D. in Business, with a Leadership specialization.  He also holds a Master’s Degree in Business, with an International Business specialization, along with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Dr. Wright spends the majority of his time supporting the development of clean technologies, international consulting, and has been the President of the Board for a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to feeding, clothing, and housing people. He has several military and civilian awards, which includes three Meritorious Service Medals, along with several domestic and international awards for social good and humanitarian efforts. He is married to his lovely wife Deana, and has been blessed with four amazing boys, that are now productive young men. Dr. Wright is a retired U.S. Army First Sergeant. He was school trained by the Department of Defense in Military Intelligence, Anti-Terrorism, Emergency Planning and Management, among many other training courses. Dr. Wright also held a Top Secret security clearance as a Cryptographic Operator. He also holds a Ph.D. in Business, with a Leadership specialization.  He also holds a Master’s Degree in Business, with an International Business specialization, along with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Dr. Wright spends the majority of his time supporting the development of clean technologies, international consulting, and has been the President of the Board for a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to feeding, clothing, and housing people. He has several military and civilian awards, which includes three Meritorious Service Medals, along with several domestic and international awards for social good and humanitarian efforts. He is married to his lovely wife Deana, and has been blessed with four amazing boys, that are now productive young men.

Book preview

1. Against the World

It was destruction like Master Sergeant Maxwell Kaiden had never seen before in his nearly thirteen years in the United States Army. Sure, he had seen a lot of carnage in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and during a series of covert operations in locations that only a handful of soldiers and politicians knew about...but Ukraine had a different feel to it.

Starting in early 2022, the Russian Army began the full scale invasion of Ukraine, and proceeded to indiscriminately bombed hospitals, daycare centers, train stations, malls, neighborhoods, and anything else that would wreak havoc upon Ukraine and the innocent civilians caught in the middle.

With the exception of its allies, the rest of the world was appalled at the utter brutality Russia was dishing out on a daily basis.  He, along with his Delta Force Operators, the Central Intelligence Agency, private contractors, and a host of other organizations that were connected one way or another to the Special Operations Command, had no intention of leaving Ukraine until the Russians were G-O-N-E.  Besides, he didn’t have a great fondness for Russia anyway.

Kaiden was in Afghanistan when a Top Secret Pentagon report revealed, to a small group of politicians, that it was highly likely that Russia had paid a bounty to the Taliban to kill American troops.  Publically however, Pentagon officials would say that it had moderate confidence in its accuracy.

Nevertheless, his team was put on high alert. The report especially concerned Kaiden because he knew for a fact that he was likely on a Russian hit list due to his background as a sniper. 

During his formal sniper training at Fort Benning, the instructors stressed that getting captured by the enemy was the absolute worst thing that could happen to them. Snipers were not treated like normal prisoners of war because they could single-handedly demoralize entire armies, and had the power to literally change the course of a war.

Over the years, specialized teams were developed for one purpose, and that was to track down snipers and take them out. Both feared and hated, once caught, snipers were tortured and killed.

One instructor relayed a story about an Iraqi military officer that wanted to show his soldiers that he wasn’t scared of any so-called snipers.  As he stood up to show his defiance, his head was completely blown off his shoulders, splattering brain matter and blood on the stunned soldiers around him.

One well-placed bullet intimidated Iraqi soldiers so thoroughly, that they rarely stuck their heads out of their bunkers, even to see where the enemy was located.  It was as if they were shooting with their eyes closed. That was better than getting their heads blown off, they thought.

Kaiden, after witnessing how brutal the Russians had been in Ukraine, was pretty sure that the fuckers wouldn’t hesitate to pay to see guys like him dead, and wouldn’t care if they had to blow up a hospital to get to him.  He had no illusions of surviving as a prisoner of war if captured by the Russians.

If he were killed, the Army would simply call it some kind of training accident, since the Army was out of Afghanistan and Iraq, they could no longer use it as a cover story for Operators killed during a covert operation.  Telling an Operators family that his son was killed in Afghanistan or Iraq was expected, but now that option was gone...and there was no way in hell that the powers that be would tell their loved ones that they were killed in some location that would compromise an operation, or was politically sensitive.

There was a reason why Max Kaiden and his colleagues never wore clothing that could pass for a military uniform. They also wore their hair longer, and had fake names and identification cards that indicated they were from a European country.  When they flew in for a rescue, capture, or kill mission, the helicopters were completely painted black with no markings identifying it as being affiliated with the United States.

Of course, this wasn’t the first White House administration that lied to the public about American soldiers operating, illegally, in some lawmakers minds, inside of a foreign country. Kaiden really didn’t care if people understood why they were in this country or that country. He knew of the true evil that existed in the world. It seemed to him as if people, at times, were killing for sport, and he felt an obligation to help whenever, and wherever, he could.

He had personally witnessed, and had heard many stories over the years that reinforced the level of brutality human beings could bestow on each other.  A liaison from South Sudan once told him that two men killed his father because he wouldn’t denounce his Christianity.  They murdered his father on that very spot...not giving him a chance to explain his religious beliefs.

More disheartening, was that the United States had strategic alliances with countries that were rife with corruption, and condoned systematic rapes and murders...but he knew that dwelling on situations that he had no control over was counterproductive for an Operator.

Kaiden was under no illusion that he could stop even a fraction of the bad shit going on, but, he rationalized, that he could at least save some people, and ease some suffering...one mission at a time. 

A Lethal Weapon Mindset

Some of Kaidens friends would tease him, now and then, that he had a Batman complex...which he in fact did. He liked that Batman was just an ordinary guy, with no super powers, but was smart, resourceful, and was as lethal of a weapon that one man could possibly be.

There was one particular exchange between Batman and one of his crime-fighting-colleagues that would stay with him even as a soldier.  His colleague discovered that Batman carried a lethal amount of Kryptonite in his utility belt.  When asked about this, Batman replied,

Let’s just call it insurance.

Kryptonite is a fictional material that appears primarily in Superman stories.  It is a green crystalline material originating from Superman’s home planet that emits a unique poisonous radiation that could weaken or even kill Superman.

But why did Batman deem it necessary to have insurance when it came to Superman...his friend and ally?

Because Batman understood that today’s friend could be tomorrow’s enemy, and it was best to be prepared.

Kaiden had experienced firsthand in Afghanistan and Iraq that those foreign allies working closest to you could one day turn against you.

A seemingly trusted Afghan pilot came in one day and shot and killed several U.S. military personnel before being killed himself.  The same thing had also happened in Iraq...on more than one occasion.

Kaiden was in the vicinity of a couple of these rogue attacks, and he considered himself lucky that his head wasn’t blown off by a disgruntled Afghan or Iraqi soldier who was tired of Americans occupying their country...even if it was to rid them of a tyrannical dictator or Muslim extremists.

It was wise, Kaiden learned, to keep one eye open at all times, and not to fully trust ANYONE.  He had experienced, over the years, a handful of disgruntled U.S. soldiers that had turned on their own as well, whether it was out of frustration, mental illness, or ideology. 

Batman was indeed right to have a lethal dose of Kryptonite handy, Kaiden thought...and that would stick with him...for life.

It didn’t surprise his friends and family that he joined the Army after he graduated from Boston University. What did surprise the people that knew him, was that he joined as an enlisted soldier instead of an Army Officer.

Some of the people closest to him would ask if he had lost his fucking mind. Why would a guy with a four year college degree, enlist in a much lower shitty rank making thousands less a year, instead of becoming an officer, and being in charge? He told his parents that he joined the enlisted ranks because they had a student loan repayment option, which meant that the $45,000 he owed in student loans would be paid off by the Army in four years. That option was not available for officers, he told anyone that asked...but that was mostly a lie.

The part about the loan repayment was true, but he would have joined the enlisted ranks even if they didn’t have the student loan repayment option.  Max Kaiden wanted to be an infantry soldier.  If he did join as an officer, there was no guarantee that he would be given the infantry branch.  He was simply not willing to take the chance of being stuck in some fucking office pushing papers.

Kaiden did his homework. The army was built around training enlisted soldiers into lethal Non-Commissioned Officer weapons.  It would be hard as shit trying to get most of the army’s kick-ass schools as an officer.  Officers can’t get Sniper School, and have to literally beg for Ranger, Airborne, and Air Assault School...let alone Special Forces and Delta Force schools.  Fuck that, he thought.

He was as deadly a soldier as anyone in the army, he felt.  He knew he was lethal, but it wasn’t always like that.  Growing up, he was considered tall for his age, but was average athletically.  He was a class clown at times, but was really self-conscious deep down as a biracial kid.  What really made him stick out was his piercing blue eyes. 

Grade school was brutal for kids that wore braces, were overweight, or had brown skin and blue eyes. Those blue eyes, first thought to be a curse, turned out to be a blessing.  By the time he was a high school senior, he stood 6’ 2" and weighed 210 pounds, and was the starting varsity quarterback. His light brown skin, wavy black hair, and of course his blue eyes, seemed to attract women, which boosted his confidence in all aspects of his life.

He always had a competitive mindset, and even had a good shot at a few football scholarships, but that all changed after his second concussion, when he realized that he wasn’t going to jeopardize his health for a game that he could take or leave.

He left football behind and enrolled into the Boston University Army ROTC Program, and realized that the only thing he really liked about college, was being a cadet, and playing army, especially the part that included conducting raids and assaults on the bad guys.

During career week, each military service branch, along with several commercial companies, would set up tables in the gym, hoping to recruit the new graduates.  Kaiden vividly recalled the smiling faces and giveaway pens, pencils, and other branding items handed to students in an effort to etch their company into the minds of the potential employee.

Kaiden noticed a lone army soldier sitting by himself...seemingly uninterested if anyone approached his table or not.  He was more interested in the football game highlights on his phone, than in recruiting any of the wide-eyed college students that were quickly snatching up his branding items, and scurrying away from the table for fear the soldier may actually speak to them.

On his table sat a poster that read, Join the Special Forces.  It featured a helicopter with three soldiers repelling from it, dressed in all black, with assault weapons ready for action.  It looked badass, Kaiden thought. Good morning Sergeant. Kaiden said, with a kind of enthusiasm that he wished he hadn’t revealed because it made him sound like a geek.

Hey kid. You must be in the ROTC Program, right?  The Recruiter asked...looking unimpressed.

How did you know that? Kaiden asked.

Only ROTC students call me Sergeant.  Here, take some info.  The Recruiter said, trying to get rid of him.

Can you tell me about some of the missions you’ve been involved in? Kaiden asked.

No.  The Recruiter answered bluntly.

How do I find out about what really goes on then...to decide if I want to be part of the Special Forces branch? Kaiden asked.

Look kid... The Recruiter, now looking around to see if anyone was within earshot, so they wouldn’t hear what he was about to say, continued... ...I’m what the Army calls an Operator.  That means the shit I do can’t be discussed with people like you.  I’m only here because some shit happened that I can’t talk about.  I’m being sidelined until it gets straightened out.  If you are really interested, join the infantry, get some experience, and more training, and THEN...and ONLY THEN, will you understand what I do.  And, by the way...only 5% are selected for what I do...so good luck, kid. 

Glancing at the recruiters name tag, Kaiden says, Okay Sergeant Smith...I may just do that.

It wouldn’t be the last Operator, with a last name of Smith that Kaiden would encounter.

Colonel Montgomery

Army Colonel Mark Montgomery stood staring out of his Pentagon office window as he often did throughout the day when he wasn’t in strategy meetings or putting out fires.  His window was located on the same side of the building where an American Airlines plane hit the outer wall, between the first and second floors, and smashed through three of the Pentagon’s five concentric rings during the morning of September 11th, 2001.

Although he was in high school at the time, he vividly recalled the panic and shock on his teachers face, and how they were let out of school early.  Over the years, he watched the footage, more than fifty times, of the plane hitting the Pentagon, and how the jet fuel exploded and created a thunderous fireball. 

The very area where he stood, which was now dedicated to Covert Special Operations, collapsed about an hour after the plane hit. By the time the rescue crew could sift through the debris, 125 people working in the building would be killed, along with the 64 crewmembers, passengers, and hijackers on the plane.

As his mind veered back to the present, he couldn’t quite figure out why the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation wanted one of his guys for a special assignment. It just didn’t make sense to the Colonel.  They had plenty of agents, and this was the first time any such request was submitted to his office, which prompted him to request a meeting with his supervisor, Lieutenant General Patrick Francona.

Thanks for seeing me General. The Colonel said, with the tone and demeanor expected by a subordinate officer. Like all Generals, Colonel Montgomery had known over his 20-plus years in the Army, that they NEVER minced words.

Sit, Colonel. Before you say a word, it’s out of my hands.  The General said. It was as if the air was let out of the Colonels sail before he even left the pier.

General, it’s just that... The General cut him off before he finished his sentence. Colonel! I know your history with Kaiden, but AGAIN, it is OUT of my hands! The General yelled...clearly agitated at this point.

Colonel Montgomery had served under the General on more than one occasion, and he knew that it was time to shut the fuck up.

Listen Mark... The General said, now clearly trying to moderate his tone. ...I understand clearly how you feel, but this comes from the VERY top.

The General let out a sigh of resignation, which Colonel Montgomery took as being authentic.

Yes sir, I heard the Director of the FBI requested him. The Colonel said...followed by a look of bewilderment.

No Mark, the FBI Director is just the messenger.  This request came from the VERY, VERY, top of the food chain.  Neither of them said a word for what seemed like an hour.  They knew that this assignment, whatever it was, would probably end Master Sergeant Kaidens life.

Colonel Montgomery stood up, saluted the General and said, I will let him know today, sir. He left the room knowing that the person that literally saved his life was headed for a suicide mission.

It was around 4:30 AM, Ukraine time, when Master Sergeant Kaiden was awaken by his satellite phone.

Max...it’s Mark. The Colonel said with a somewhat somber tone.

Kaiden knew exactly who it was. Colonel Montgomery was one of a handful of people that called him Max.  Officers and enlisted military personnel typically did not address each other by their first names, but when it was just the two of them, that protocol was out the window.  The two of them had been through some hairy shit together, and had gotten to know each other better than anyone else on the planet.  In their eyes, it was pretty fucking stupid to not be on a first name basis in private.

Mark! What’s up buddy?! Kaiden was clearly happy to hear from the Colonel.

Max, just a heads up...you are getting pulled out of there in the next couple of days. It’s for some kind of special assignment that does NOT involve the special operations branch.  The General and I are both in the dark.  We don’t know SHIT! The Colonel said.

Kaiden, now wide awake and sitting up, had a bad feeling.  It was the kind of feeling he had in 2019, when he and other Operators were told to leave Northern Syria.  The United States had backed the militia in the war against the Islamic State since 2014, and more than 11,000 Kurdish fighters had been killed in combat against the terrorist group.

He, along with a platoon of other Operators, felt that they had betrayed the Kurdish people.  To him, it was the equivalent of running out of your own family’s burning house, and not bothering to see if your family members got out safe.

He knew he had no choice...an order was an order.  That didn’t stop him from feeling guilty.  How many innocent people had been slaughtered since he left Syria?  He thought about that often...even occasionally waking up in the middle of the night, punching the wall and cursing the decision maker’s that authorized the move.

A few short years later, with the war in Ukraine still dragging on in the Donbas Region, he is told again to leave a mission that was not close to being completed.

Being part of an assignment that did NOT involve the Special Operations Command, concerned the hell out of him. That would mean there would likely be no backup that he could count on.

Fortunately, Kaiden thought, he had the type of training that was designed for him to survive and complete a mission alone... against the world...in any hostile environment...whether it was foreign or domestic.

2. Infantry or Nothing

W ell, I just won’t join if I can’t get infantry. Maxwell Kaiden defiantly said to his Army Recruiter, Sergeant Howard.

I didn’t say you wouldn't get it Max! I just wanted to prepare you for that possibility. Sergeant Howard said.

Max knew what he wanted. He wasn’t some fresh out of high school kid with no direction in life.  He had four years of college, was a member of the Army ROTC program, and even made the Ranger Challenge team. The Ranger Challenge is an Army ROTC Varsity Sport. Teams form early in the semester and train rigorously nearly every morning of the week, in preparation to compete against other ROTC programs.

The competition is conducted over two days on a non-tactical course. The goal is to challenge a Cadets mental and physical toughness, and to develop future leaders.

Although Max loved the competition, he knew most of the Cadets participating in the Challenge had no real interest in going active duty after college.  A large percentage of them were in it for the extra money, which he didn’t have a problem with. He did, however, have a clear disdain for those Cadets that wore the uniform, but didn’t give a shit about their appearance or getting into better shape.

Cadet Kaiden studied every single war or conflict America was ever involved in.  He was fascinated by bigger than life soldiers like Generals Colin Powell, George Patton, Dwight Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, Norman Schwarzkopf, and of course, Douglass MacArthur.

He watched their speeches, mannerisms, and their overall command of the briefings they gave to a Nation at war.  He took notes.  He wanted to be like them...but didn’t want the bullshit and politics that accompanied the rank of General.  Besides, it would take him away from the real action, and he would no doubt be relegated to what would amount to a highly paid desk jockey. 

His uncle, now retired, had joined to be a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War.  He had refused promotions simply because it required him to give up flying...and there was no way he was going to take an administrative position, when there were men counting on him to get them out of some tight spots, he would tell his young nephew.

Just make sure this is what you want to do, Max.  His uncle would tell him.  Don’t join if you are doing it for the money.  The Army doesn’t need any more lumps of shit hanging around...keeping their head down...and waiting for retirement.  Those fuckers can work at a McDonald’s if they are looking for a safe place to work.

By the time he graduated from college in May of 2013, he was more than ready for the jump into the real Army. By July, he had not only signed an enlistment contract that guaranteed him Infantry, but also many other options that included  Ranger School, student loan repayment, a $30,000 quick ship bonus, and a guaranteed station of choice, to the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart in Georgia. 

There were two main reasons why Max insisted on Fort Stewart as his first assignment.  He had the Ranger School Option in his contract, and the First Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, was located a few miles away at Hunter Army Airfield, in Savannah. 

The 75th Ranger Regiment is the U.S. Army's elite premier light infantry unit and special operations force within the United States Army Special Operations Command. According to the Department of Defense, their primary mission is to execute direct action raids in hostile or sensitive environments worldwide, often killing or capturing high value targets.

Tier One Units are highly secretive special operations forces that are involved in high-profile military operations, such as the mission to kill or capture Osama Bin Laden, and are commanded and controlled by the Joint Special Operations Command.

The 75th Ranger Regiment's Regimental Reconnaissance Company, was a Tier One Unit, and Max wanted to be close enough to reach out to some of the soldiers to learn as much as he could before he left for Ranger School.

The second reason why Max insisted on Fort Stewart was simply because it was where Audie Murphy was assigned as a soldier.  Murphy was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II.  He received every military combat award for valor available from the U.S. Army, as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism.

He also received the Medal of Honor for valor when he single-handedly held off a company of German soldiers for an hour, and then led a successful counterattack while wounded and out of ammunition.

In the mind of Maxwell Kaiden, Audie Murphy WAS Batman.

His unrelenting insistence on being guaranteed Fort Stewart earned him the nickname Mad Max, which was a fictitious movie character that followed the exploits of a police officer, in a future Australia that was experiencing a societal collapse due to war and critical resource shortages.

Although the Mad Max moniker would stick with him for the rest of his military career, he didn’t care. He wore it like a badge of honor.  It was better, in his mind, that people knew up front that he wasn’t the type of soldier that could be pushed around and bullshitted to.

Infantry School at Fort Benning was pretty much what he had expected.  Get up early, run, do pushups, sit-ups, chin ups, get yelled at, repeat, repeat, repeat.  It was easy for then Specialist Kaiden.  Because of his college degree, he was able to enlist at a couple of ranks higher than the average recruit, which was more of a headache than an advantage.

His Drill Instructors loved fucking with him about being a college boy that wanted to prove to his mommy and daddy that he was a real man.  The shit-talking by the Drill Instructors didn’t bother him however.  Where he came from in Rochester New York, talking shit was pretty much an everyday event...especially in football practice.

Half of the recruits were dragging ass and throwing up like it was some kind of competition.  Kaiden came to the conclusion early on that his two-a-day high school football practices were much more demanding and exhausting than what he was going through as an army recruit.

Although he didn’t spend much time with his recruiter, there was something he said that turned out to be 100% true...and that was the three types of group dynamics that he would witness during his initial training.

Max, let me explain the three types of individuals you will see during training. Sergeant Howard said... while leaning back in his chair as if he was his father getting ready to explain to him about the birds and the bees.

The first group of individuals are the studs.  Let’s call them the A group. These are the guys that run the fastest, jump the highest, and have that aggressive Type-A personality.  They don’t bullshit around...they want to be the best, and graduate at the top of the class.  Sergeant Howard could see by the way Max leaned forward that he was taking it all in.

The second group, we will call the B group, have only one goal...and that is to make it through the training and move on to the next phase of their enlistment. They don’t give a shit about awards, accolades, or being the fastest or the strongest.  They just want to fucking graduate and move the fuck out!

Sergeant Howard was now leaning forward and becoming more animated.

The last group, we will call them the C group, is what we refer to as the sick, lame, and lazy.  These are guys that seem to be always hurt, always bitching, and complaining, and always trying to get out of doing anything physically demanding.  They are typically trying to find a reason to get kicked out. Howard said.

Sergeant Howard continued.

Now listen Max...the C group will try and pull in some of the B group.  How?  They pounce when someone in the B group has received a Dear John" letter from his girlfriend breaking up with him, or after a Drill Instructor has cursed them out for something stupid.  Just watch.

As soon as they see him depressed, they swoop in and try their best to bring them down to their pitiful level."

Why do they do this? Max asked.

Because misery fucking loves company! Howard shouted.

Do they try the same stuff on the A group guys?  Max asked.

Not on your fucking life!  The A group despises the C group, and the C group knows it!  They stay far away from them because they are likely to get cursed out or punched in the face!  Think about this Max, infantry soldiers are on the front lines of war. They go into places that they know for a fucking fact, because of their military occupation, could, in all probability, end their life.  Howard said...then took a breath, and continued on.

"So, imagine if you had to clear a building of suspected terrorists, in let’s say, Iraq. What if you are a