Hell and Gone (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

Characters/People edit see section history

• Bassam Amin: A 15 year-old Palastinian orphan, raised in the camps by the PLO. He knows the fat, rich Jews must be pushed into the sea, but his raging hormones are a stronger influence than the teaching of the holy men, right now.He's never known anything but hunger and cruelty. Sure, he'll martyr himself in jihad, if it guarantees him full-bosomed virgins in paradise. But he'll be an unstoppable kamikaze if Khaled Ali lets him sample some full bosoms now, in this life.
• Dwight "Rocco" Cavarra: Once a maverick SEAL team skipper, he now owns and operates a tactical shooting school, and sells ammunition and paramilitary equipment to suplement his income. He keeps in shape, dives and swims regularly, as well as maintaining fluency in his languages (Arabic, Hebrew and Italian), because he nurses a fantasy of going back into action again. Since the attack on the Twin Towers, that fantasy doesn't seem so farfetched. A no-BS commander who leads from the front. He gives his men room for initiative, is willing to entertain their ideas when the mission permits, but holds them accountable for bad decisions. Handling a dozen pseudo-mercenaries with no support structure is a new challenge for him, but he's just the masochist...er, man for the job.
• Ehud Siyr: An African mercenary who is more than meets the eye. His chameleon-like ability to blend into his social environment allows him to sneak away and back again almost unnoticed. Almost. His merc resume reads like a tour guide of African and Middle Eastern trouble spots. And he handles himself like an old pro in a firefight. Still, one can't help wondering where his true loyalties lie.
• Charles Mai: A Force Recon marine/Gulf War veteran who climbed as high as Gunnery Sergeant before his bigotry and brutality went too far, costing him his career. An experienced brawler who is ready to raise hell anytime, anywhere, for any reason (or no reason at all, for that matter). Mai has never met a man he doesn't hate. This served him well for many years, but hasn't helped him adjust to "the world." He volunteered for this mission because he has nowhere else to go; but that won't stop him from burning bridges behind him, even now.
• Tommy Scarred Wolf: A highly decorated Special Forces Operator who lived up to his warrior heritage before and during Desert Storm, but returned to the reservation after the debacle in Somalia. He built a life, and a family, but is haunted in his dreams...especially since 9/11 and all the white man's talk of war. The Special Forces taught him to speak Arabic, train armies, survive and bring smoke in any environment. This former Sneaky Pete is a weapons expert, a tactical savant, and a juggernaut in a firefight. To Tommy Scared Wolf, counting coup is not just some arcane practice of 19th Century plains tribes.
• Yacov Dreizil: An agent of the Mossad sent into Sudan to support Israel's deep cover agent in-country. Dreizil ammassed an exemplary record in the IDF Airborne and the Sayeret Matkal ("Israeli Commandos" to the outside world). He has access to far too much scary information to be as waggish as the average Israeli. His mission cannot fail. It will not. Dreizil has read files on Cavarra and every member of his unit. He doesn't trust them. American commitment to any objective lasts only as long as their MTV/microwave dinner/pay-at-the-pump attention spans will permit...and until their fickle, convoluted emotions pull them in a different direction. If his man inside the team can't pull off this miracle single-handed, Dreizil isn't afraid to get his own hands dirty.
• Lombardi: Add a description of this character.
• Campbell
• Zeke
• Mugabe
• Cole
• Mccallum
• Terrell
• Bobbie Yousko
• Thibeault
• Hendricks
• Qawi
• Khaled Ali
• Boehm
• Haugen
• Justin
• Varney
• Jenkins
• Allah
• Kabiu
• Roger
• Hasan
• Melissa
• Harris
• Wilson
• Dwight Cavarra
• Puttcamp
• Bojado
• Pete Baker
• Kelly
• Vince
• Sam Dechalk
• Skyraider

Quotes edit see section history

• “Dreizil: "You've heard of Masada?"Cavarra: "Yeah. I watched the miniseries."”

• “Hendricks: "You said 'doom,' not 'damn'."Cavarra: "I'm impressed by your attention to detail. Want me to draw you a happy face?"”

• “Cavarra unsheathed his black anodized Trench Master and pointed with it at the model tents in the sand table. "This is our target: a terrorist training camp in the Nubian Desert." He shifted the full tang fighting knife from the sand table to point at the map. "It's located in the Hala'ib Triangle--a demilitarized zone that Egypt and Sudan don't completely agree on the ownership of. In other words, both countries can deny knowledge of, and responsibility for, what comes out of there." The knife pointed back to the sand table. "Somewhere in this camp is a tactical atomic weapon small enough to fit in a briefcase, a knapsack, book bag, laptop case or even a large purse."Cavarra paused. Twelve pairs of eyes looked from him to the pilots, to the sand table, and back to him."That's the bomb we're supposed to intercept," he said. "So not only is it likely that some of us won't come out of this alive, it's possible that none of us will. That there won't even be enough of us left to bury."Mai exploded. "You weren't gonna bother telling us about this?""I'm telling you now. And you can quit now."Mai looked around at the others, hoping to see the same outrage he felt.Some mouths hung open, many eyes widened. A couple men stared keenly at Cavarra, but otherwise looked blank."That's just brilliant," Mai said. "How the hell do we get out of here now?"Cavarra nodded toward Jenkins. "You can stay on the bird after we deploy. Captain Jenkins will be heading from the target directly to a friendly airstrip.""What airstrip?""Don't worry about what airstrip," Jenkins said."What if we get shot down?""Then I guess we crash," Jenkins replied.”

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Sudan
• Israel
• Khartoum
• Panama
• Egypt
• Gulf
• Bor
• Africa
• Vietnam
• Tekezze River Camp
• America
• Lebanon
• Nubian Desert
• Washington
• Tel Aviv

Organizations edit see section history

• CIA: "The Agency." America's Central Intelligence Agency.
• Mossad: Israel's secret espionage organization.
• S.O.G.I.: "Soggy." Special Operations Groups, Incorporated--a Private Military Contractor which recruits SpecOps veterans for mercenary missions or "merc work."

Glossary edit see section history

• 100mph tape: Similar to duct tape, but O.D. green, and strong enough to patch bulletholes in helicopter rotorblades, which spin at about 100mph.
• 201 File: A serviceman's dossier, reviewed when considering promotions or disciplinary actions.
• 4th Point of Contact (or 4th Point, for short): The backside, which is the 4th body part to hit the ground during a properly executed PLF.
• 5.56 NATO: 5.56mm ammunition. Same as caliber .223 Remington, which the M16, M4 and many other assault rifles are chambered for.
• 550 cord: High-strength nylon parachute cord.
• 7.62 NATO: 7.62mm ammunition. Same as caliber .308 Winchester, which many medium machineguns and some main battle rifles are still chambered for.
• 782 gear: Or "deuce gear." USMC equivalent to US Army's "TA-50"--the helmet, canteens/carriers, ammo pouches, load-bearing equipment, etc., issued upon a marine's assignment to a company.
• 80pax: A "cattle truck"--theoretically capable of hauling 80 men plus their weapons and gear.
• A-Team: The component of a Special Forces unit that carries out the operations.
• Airborne: Adjective term for a paratrooper or unit composed of paratroopers.
• Air land: Transport of troops by fixed-wing aircraft, usually to an airfield or landing strip secured by airborne troops who dropped behind enemy lines and took it by force.
• Air mobile: Verb: To transport troops by rotary-wing aircraft (helicopters). Adjective: Troops who normally move by this method. noun: A mission, or component thereof, utilizing such troops/method.
• APC: Armored Personnel Carrier.
• Ate up like a soup sandwich: Sloppy; poorly planned and/or executed. Usually referring to an operation, mission, or event. "That whole Somalian fiasco was ate-up like a soup sandwhich."
• Ate up like a football bat: Usually refers to an individual who is hopelessly stupid or confused in a given situation, and has everything bass-ackwards. "Did you see Dumb and Dumber? That Jim Carey is ate-up like a football bat!"
• Back on the block: Back home; back to the life one had before the military.
• BDU: Battle Dress Uniform--traditionally woodland camoflage pattern.
• Bloop gun: Grenade launcher, or "blooper." (So named for the noise it makes.)
• BOHICA: "Bend over--here it comes again."
• Bolo: To fail, underperform, or come up short somehow. "I heard he bolo'd the Q-Course and got kicked down to Division."
• Boucoup: A lot, much, many. (Vietnam era.)
• Break bad: To dress somebody down; chew them out; devastate them with insults.
• Bring smoke: Kick butt; decimate; devastate.
• BUDS: Basic Underwater Demolition and SEAL training.
• Bumfuq, Egypt: A remote, isolated location with nothing of value. Rarely is it actually in Egypt, or even on the African continent. Often abbriviated as "BFE." "The middle of Nowhere." Similar to "Timbuktu," "Yogi Bear 7" or "East Judas." Adjective form is usually "Podunk."
• Cherry: An FNG in an airborne unit.
• Cheese-eating: Brown-nosing; boot-licking; kissing-up.
• Clerks & jerks: A derogatory term used in the combat arms for non-combatants, support personnel, and other pogues who stay "in the rear with the gear."

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Book of Judges: Specifically, the story of Samson, Gideon, and Ehud all had some degree of influence on the crafting of this story.
• Soldiers and Insanity: Many of Rocco's Retreads don't understand their own love-hate relationship with combat, but recognize that they must be at least a little insane to keep volunteering for it.

Series & Lists edit see section history

List the series to which this book belongs.

First Edition edit see section history

Notes for Parents edit see section history

The language is PG. There is violence in the combat sequences, and human beings die. No F-bombs, no sex, no gratuitous blood & gore.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › War
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Action & Adventure

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Official Hell & Gone Website: There is descriptive content, review highlights, chapter excerpts, deleted scenes, a glossary, technical background pages, links to buy both ebook and paperback, info about the author, disclaimers, and a page for other fiction by Henry Brown.

More Books Like This edit see section history