Jeff Head - Dragon's Fury 5 - Eagles Talons

DRAGON’S FURY

VOLUME V

EAGLE'S TALONS

J E F F

H E A D

www.dragonsfuryseries.com

COMING SOON BY

JEFF HEAD

DRAGON’S FURY SERIES COLLECTOR'S EDITION

All five volumes in a single, finely-bound hardback.

(Coming for Christmas 2004)

THE STAND AT KLAMATH FALLS

How rural western farmers stood up to entrenched environmentalism and agencies of the Federal

Government…and won!

(Coming in 2005)

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OTHER NOVELS

BY JEFF HEAD

DRAGON’S FURY VOLUME I – BREATH OF FIRE

DRAGON’S FURY VOLUME II – TRODDEN UNDER

DRAGON’S FURY VOLUME III – HIGH TIDE

DRAGON’S FURY VOLUME IV – THE LONG MARCH

Published By:

Alpha Connections

Emmett, ID 83716

This is a work of fiction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary. Any similarities to

actual persons or events are purely a result of the author's imagination.

This work, and any parts thereof, may not be copied, reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any

means; electronic, mechanical or otherwise without prior written permission from the author.

ISBN 0-9747610-3-6

Proudly produced in the United States of America

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication.I

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Acknowledgments.II

Author’s Note.III

Prologue.1

Chapter 1.12

Chapter 2.54

Chapter 3.107

Chapter 4.153

Chapter 5.208

Chapter 6.257

Chapter 7.313

Epilogue.360

Afterward.365

Glossary of Terms and Acronyms.367

About the Author375

Dedication

I must dedicate this final volume of theDragon’s Fury Series, to my World War II combat veteran

father. He passed away on January 25thof this year, 2004. He was a hard working, all-American, faithful

Christian man, husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, and my dear friend. In his youth, he

voluntarily signed up to defend his nation, its liberty and way of life while he served in combat in the US

Navy in the Pacific Theater of Operation against the Empire of Japan. His teachings and upbringing, next

to that of my Savior, Jesus Christ, have influenced my moral, political, spiritual and career thinking like no

other and I cannot help but dedicate this work, which deals with all of those areas, to him after his

passing. He was a great fan and supporter of this series and his insights and support made a great

difference to the entire work. I only wish he could have read the last volume which he looked forward to.

Dad, I will miss you so much. I am holding a copy of Volume Five in trust for you when we meet again.

I must also dedicate this final volume to my brother, Greg Head, who passed from this mortal existence

on July 3rd, 2004, at the age of forty-nine years. He and I were close brothers being only 15 months

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apart, he being the older. We went to the same High School, played on the same football team, hauled

hay in the hot Texas summers together, served missions for our church at the same time, roomed at

college together and shared so many things. We both had a great passion for the outdoors, particularly

the American intermountain west, and we were both dedicated to the principles upon which the liberty

and republic of the United States of America rests. He fought valiantly for life over a two and a half year

period when he was expected to only live six months. I respected his stamina, his zest for life, his caring

spirit and his desire to emulate his Savior, irrespective of difficulties or shortcoming. He also was a great

fan of this series, and I look forward to handing him the final volume over there, across Jordan, one day

in the future when we meet again.

Finally, like all of the other volumes, Volume Five is dedicated to lovers of liberty everywhere, and to the

principles upon which true liberty rests: faith, morality, virtue, honor, free will, commitment, valor, and

eternal vigilance. It is also dedicated to all of those Americans and their families who have served in

defense of liberty and sacrificed their time, their efforts, their very lives and the lives of their loved ones

for that cause, whether at home or abroad.

Acknowledgments

As always, special thanks to my family for their faith in me. In particular, thanks to my dear wife of 26

years for her love and patience with this work and to my sons for their input and suggestions…and to my

oldest daughter who has faithfully read all of the volumes and had faith in her Dad. In addition, once

again, special thanks to my father, A. L. Head Jr., a combat veteran of World War II, for his support

which were constant and unalterable until the day he died on January 25, 2004. And again, equal thanks

to my mother, Georgia, whose Christ-like love and faith will always be an example and inspiration to me.

Mom, may our entire family be comforted in the loss of both Dad and Greg, looking forward with a

perfect brightness of hope to our eventual reunion with them and our Savior.

Once again, I cannot have a section on acknowledgements without personally thanking those who have

collaborated with me.

Thanks to Joanie Fischer of Pennsylvania, for her tireless reviews, edits, faith, and encouragement.

Thanks to Chris Durkin of Pennsylvania, for his faithful edits, perseverance, and invaluable technical

input on so many topics.

Thanks to Cory Emberson of California, for her edits and her faith and belief in this project.

Thanks to Matt Bracken of California, for his input as a former officer in the U.S. Navy Seals.

Thanks to Matthew Riley of Connecticut, who passed away this year on March 19, 2004, for his

reviews and for his input. Rest in peace and God’s speed, Matt, you will be missed.

To each of these and all others who have encouraged me and put up with my ramblings,I say again,

heartfelt thanks.

Author’s Note

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Every effort has been made to make this concluding volume of theDragon’s Fury series,Volume V:

Eagles’ Talons , a standalone novel that can be purchased and read individually. In order to do this, in

the introduction of characters and the story line, short paraphrasing of past activities have been included

in an effort to bridge the volumes. I hope this will allow first-time readers enough flavor and background

to enable them to enjoy Volume V without having to first read the other four volumes. At the same time, I

have attempted to do this in such a way as to also allow those who have already read the first four

volumes to pick up the tale with as much continuity and as little redundancy as possible.

Clearly, this remains an attempt to satisfy two conflicting interests. I believe I have struck a good

balance. As in the past, I suppose that time, the experience of readers and their comments will tell

whether my attempts have been successful or not. In either case, whether you are a new reader of the

series, or whether you are returning for Volume V after having read the others, I hope that the read is an

enjoyable, compelling and thought-provoking one for you

I say all of this with this comment and observation. The books are written as a series. Even though I am

making every effort to allow the various volumes to be read as standalone novels, they were meant to be

read as a series and I sincerely hope everyone who picks up one volume of the series and reads it, will

be inspired to read them all.

DRAGON’S FURY

VOLUME V

EAGLE'S TALONS

HHHHH

www.dragonsfuryseries.com

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Prologue

May 21, 2010, 21:50 WST

800 yards outside of the outer perimeter fence

US Air Force Space and Missile Range

Central Nevada

Lee Phillips was one of those Chinese-Americans who barely looked the part. Outside of slightly higher

cheekbones and dark hair, he did not display any of the racial characteristics, particularly about the eyes,

that would identify him as being of Chinese descent.

But that did not matter in the least. He was a third-generation Chinese-American who had been

recruited into the services of the PRC intelligence apparatus by one of his cousins when he had traveled

to mainland China in the mid 1990s as a young, aspiring engineering technician. While there, he worked

for a large computer manufacturer that was setting up operations in the PRC at the time. It had not taken

too much outlay of funds or entertainment by Chinese intelligence at the time to seal the deal. And it

became apparent over the next several months that Lee was a “natural.” Between that time and 2004,

Lee’s meteoric advancement within his firm in China had landed him so many stock options and resulting

wealth that he had been able to return to America and retire at the ripe old age of 32 years old, well

before the onset of hostilities, exactly as planned.

He had brought his new Chinese wife with him, herself a colonel in the Chinese intelligence apparatus,

back to the West Coast of America, and they had played the role of American urban yuppies to a tee.

Living 80 miles southeast of Sacramento in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in their multi-million dollar

chateau, the couple had gathered data and transmitted it back to their masters in Beijing, either by courier

or by secure, encrypted satellite transmission, while those devices were still available. That data had

included critical information for the Chinese planners regarding the American mobilization effort and the

computer technology advancements the Americans were making during the early stages of the war.

Once the satellites had been destroyed in the fighting, Lee, his wife, and his entire team had been viewed

as too strategic an asset to risk, and so their active work had ceased for almost two years. They had not

been activated even for the monumental operation the year before in Washington, D.C., when the

American president at the time, Norm Weisskopf, had been attacked and killed while presenting the

Medal of Freedom to Stacy Urkut, an American woman who had been a hero of the successful

American resistance of the Chinese invasion of Alaska.

That operation in Washington, D.C., had been a costly joint Chinese and Arab venture in which all of the

operatives had been killed. It had nonetheless been successful in its immediate and primary goal of

assassinating the strong-willed and insightful American leader who had led the United States through the

darkest days of World War III.

But strategically the operation had failed miserably. China's enemies in general, and the American's in

particular, had not been demoralized by it at all. To the contrary, they had rallied around the new

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American President, John Bowers, who was turning out to be at least as inspirational a leader as

Weisskopf had been.

“Where do they get these people?” Lee asked himself as he monitored communications and continued to

watch through his night vision equipment the prominent rise in elevation, some 25 miles distant, behind

which he knew the American space launch facilities were located.

“Bowers has not only energized the people past the death of Weisskopf, he has redoubled their efforts

militarily in the field and pushed the American efforts successfully into space.

“Well, perhaps after tonight we can put a stop to that,” he muttered as he considered the other

operatives he had working with him tonight.

Ten miles to his north and west, atop a ridgeline, he had his principal communications team. Upon seeing

the flash of the launch, and its continued strobe-like effect made by the nuclear pulse technology

employed by the Americans, Lee would wait until the spacecraft cleared that distant rise. He would then

use his miniature transmitter to send an encrypted burst message to his communication team on the

ridgeline behind him. That message would travel in a very short and tightly focused, line-of-sight beam to

his people on the ridge, who would in turn transmit news of the launch using their sophisticated

short-wave radio so that listening stations directly on the West Coast could then transmit the message on

to China.

Two other Chinese-Americans who were operating the sophisticated 10-meter radio accompanied by a

three-man Latino security team were located on that ridgeline at over 8,000 feet. The two Chinese

operatives there had been in America for over 10 years themselves and had been assigned to him by

Beijing after the on set of hostilities. They had helped him in various low-risk operations when he was

gathering information during the early days of the war.

The three Latinos were very experienced in security operations. Each of them had been members of the

military in their homelands of Nicaragua and Panama before “immigrating” to America across the

southern border of the United States as a part of Hector Ortiz’s FTA trucking/smuggling operation in the

1990s.

Lee had met Hector only once, and had been impressed by the man who had created the largest

Mexican NAFTA trucking company and ultimately established that company’s U.S. headquarters in

Dallas, Texas. The entire operation had been nothing more than a very sophisticated front company for

bringing Aztlan operatives and weapons into the Unites States for use in helping bring downEl Norte .

Hector had created unbelievable chaos and carnage across much of western America by using his

operatives to attack malls, infrastructure, manufacturing plants, and other facilities after the onset of

hostilities against the mainland United States in March of 2006.

“Well, ultimately Hector was caught, tried and executed, along with most of his leaders and personnel,”

Lee contemplated as he continued to think about his five team members up on the ridge.

“But the fall of his organization added to my own. Those three guys are good and are just what we need

for this evening.”

Since coming onboard with Lee’s group, the Latinos had posed as immigrant workers at his chateau,

using the time in training for field operations like the one tonight.

With a Stinger anti-aircraft launcher and four missiles, a LAWS anti-armor launcher and an M60

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machine gun, he felt his team would certainly be able to hold out long enough to successfully transmit the

required message when the time came.

And he was right.

May 21, 2010, 22:02 WST

U.S Air Force Security north-central monitoring post

Outside the US Air Force Space and Missile Range

Central Nevada

“I’ve got a contact Chief…no, wait…now it’s gone,” Specialist First Class Logan said as the rising

sound of the approaching craft continued outside of their camouflaged position.

“Funny, but it was a clear read…just too short to pinpoint.”

As Chief Miller contemplated a reply that befitted any false alarms at this particular stage of the launch,

Logan excitedly announced, “Now another contact! Definite transmission, 10-meter band, coordinates

Delta-Bravo 23.5, Victor-Echo 55.”

The Chief wasted no time. All thoughts of any snide comment disappeared with this definite contact so

close to the perimeter of the base. His training took over and he immediately contacted the

North-Central facility quick reaction team and reported the contact.

Three miles to the west, a heavily armed Kiowa helicopter and an Air Force Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft

had been spooled up for the last half-hour in the event of any security need. Upon getting word of the

transmission, these aircraft immediately lifted off and sped towards the coordinates on the ridgeline where

Lee Phillips team was located.

The Kiowa was armed with a 25mm chain gun and a pod of direct fire missiles. Its detection and

self-protection electronics were state of the art…and it soon found it needed them.

Eight hundred yards in front of the Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, which itself was armed with a 40mm cannon

mounted in a pod of the left side of the aircraft, a door-mounted .50 caliber machine gun on the right

side, and carrying 18 heavily-armed Air Force security personnel, the Kiowa helicopter instantly

detected the launch of a Stinger missile that was targeting it.

The small wasp-like helicopter made an unbelievably sharp turning ascent to the south, while dropping

several bright flares to decoy the infrared, heat-seeking missile.

As this occurred, the Osprey began targeting the firing position of the Stinger missiles with its 40mm

cannon. The third burst silenced the Stinger missile launcher and killed the Latino who manned it, but not

before another missile was launched just as the Kiowa turned back towards the fight, having successfully

eluded the first missile.

The second missile slammed into the side of the faired cowling covering the Kiowa’s engine, just below

the main rotor and blew the helicopter out of the air. The main rotor itself came completely apart and

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spun off wildly in one direction while the burning hulk of the helicopter plunged to the ground and

exploded.

With the onset of combat, the commander of the reaction team inside the Osprey called for

reinforcements. Another reaction team had been dispatched and now approached the back side of the

ridge. The first team’s Osprey landed approximately one thousand feet below the ridgeline and two

thousand yards distant, and immediately came under fire from the M60 machine gun and LAWS that

Lee’s personnel had set up on the ridge.

Desperately trying to buy time so they could disengage, Lee's two remaining Latino personnel continued

to provide covering fire while the two Chinese operatives packed up their shortwave radio and retreated

to the opposite side of the ridge. As they began to make their way down the slope on that side, they saw

the second U.S. Air Force reaction team approaching.

Unseen by the Americans, who were deploying and focusing on the reports coming in from the first

reaction team regarding the location of the enemy firing positions, the two Chinese split up, shielded

themselves from the advancing Americans using rock outcroppings, and took opposite paths along the

ridgeline to try and evade capture.

Ultimately, the American reaction teams completely surrounded the two remaining Latinos in Lee’s team

and killed both of them. In the exchange, two Americans were seriously wounded, along with the loss of

the Kiowa and its two pilots.

Three hours later, one of the Chinese was located with infrared detection gear hiding in a crevice along

the lower end of the ridge. As American personnel approached and demanded his surrender, he killed

himself.

Lee and the other radio operator successfully evaded capture, having completed their mission of alerting

the Chinese armed forces of the launch of the latest American mission into space.

May 22, 2010, 02:15 local

PLA Space Launch Facilities

Central Mongolia

The Colonel looked up from the display that he had just completed reviewing and addressed the

commanding general.

“General, we have received a launch and attack authorization code from Beijing, sir. Intelligence reports

indicate a successful launch by the Americans of three nuclear pulse SSTO craft just over…let me

see…yes, just over 15 minutes ago.

“Our eight Dragon Spirit craft are fueled and ready to launch. I will need your final review and approval

to execute the orders.”

General Hsua’ba reviewed the information that was being displayed by the communications officer on his

screen-the same information that the flight operations officer had just referred to. It was all as Colonel Zo

had indicated. The much-anticipated time for launching and testing of the Dragon Spirit aircraft had

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arrived.

“You have my approval, Colonel. Order an immediate launch of our spacecraft and an intercept of the

American space station according to our plan and based on this latest information.

“As soon as the spacecraft obtain orbit, have the mission commander, Colonel Le’dung, contact me for

a final status report and any resulting command instructions.

“Inform the entire strategic missile forces assigned to this mission to begin their attack as soon as the

American station comes within range and continue that attack throughout the engagement.

“Also, contact General Shaun at the Altyn Tagh facility and have him hold his four Dragon Spirit aircraft

in a ready standby condition. Indicate to him that those aircraft must be ready to launch within five

minutes of my order.”

The General reflected on this momentous occasion. Although he had been concerned about General

Hunbaio’s orders to make the space debut of these craft a combat mission, he understood full well the

reasoning behind it. It was paramount that the Americans have no advance warning of the Dragon Spirit

craft, and that their initial deployment occurs under the cover of China’s normal, and to date ineffectual,

missile and kinetic energy attacks against American launches.

“Who knows?” the general mused. “Perhaps this time those attacks will prove effective and the Dragon

Spirit attack can proceed immediately to the American Southern Star station.”

Either way, the General knew that confusion and surprise would reign amongst the Americans once they

realized the true nature of the threat against them. It was clear to the General and to the entire chain of

command, up to and including the entire Politburo and Jien Zemin himself, that it was paramount that this

new American foray into space over the central Pacific be stopped, and their station over Australia be

destroyed in this first combat mission of the Dragon Spirit spacecraft.

The General’s attention was attracted to the bright and simultaneous ignitions of four heavy-lift Chinese

boosters on the displays at four different launch pads on the base. Although the digital display screens

made them appear much closer together, the General and the entire staff in the operations center knew

that each launch pad was separated from the other by over two kilometers.

Dual solid-fuel rocket engines, complimented by dual liquid-fuel motors, all working in concert in an

SSTO configuration, would lift their payloads into orbit. In this case, the mammoth, heavy-lift vehicles

would each carry a flight of two Dragon Spirit craft into orbit.

As the lift vehicles cleared the towers and thundered up into the dark sky, the General anxiously awaited

the successful insertion into orbit of the craft, and then the communication with the mission commander.

May 22, 2010, ten minutes later

PLA Space Craft DS-001

Over Eastern Mongolia

Colonel Le’dung reviewed the status of the spacecraft under his command as he prepared to contact

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Jeff Head - Dragon's Fury 5 - Eagles Talons

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