The Artifact PDF
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For Teague. Again and forever . Copyright © Jack Quinn, 2011 All rights reserved Cover design by Tom Chandler at [email protected] PROLOGUE Camp Champion, Kuwait March 2003 The half dozen officers and non-coms stood in the harsh light of elevated klieg lamps observing the orderly line of Bravo Company troopers clad in desert camouflage utilities, jogging in place with slung weapons. Each of the soldiers carried forty pounds of gear in backpack and parachute strapped to their chests. Khaki scarves or bandannas tied across the lower half of their faces provided scant protection against the gritty particles of sand swirling around them in the chill night air by the dervish-like sirocco. “Airborne! Airborne! All the way!” Their muffled shouts melded with the cacophony of the final loading of heavy equipment, pallets of ammunition, Humvees and helicopters onto C-130 Hercules transports on the cargo tarmac beyond. Standing in the forefront of the observing officer group, his helmet jutting several inches above those of his subordinates, Third Battalion th nd Commander Colonel Clyde G. Callaghan of the 367 Regiment, 82 Airborne Infantry Division spoke to the man at his elbow without gesture or turn of his head. “That trooper near the end of the line is favoring his left leg.” Major Charles Geoff ordered a sergeant to retrieve the soldier in question, and the NCO ran out to the boarding line. He returned at a slower pace to accommodate the limp of the person dressed in non-regulation jump suit, helmet, rucksack and parachute. The sergeant came to a halt before the Colonel, snapping off a salute before addressing the senior officer. “Not a trooper, sir.” He turned to introduce the person beside him. “NNC-TV correspondent Andrea Madigan.”
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