MARAUDER WOMAN
Robert J Gordon
Former NATO Special Forces Colonel Don McDougal and RCMP officer Sherry Trottier successfully defend a senior Canadian government minister from an unexpected attack while in Ottawa preparing for a clandestine mission. McDougal heads an international strike force contracted to perform missions most countries will not allow their own military to carry out. The contracts demand an exorbitantly high price. Whether attacking villages supporting terrorists, assassinating political figures, or destroying national opposition McDougal’s Marauders together with similar insurgency groups from France, Germany, and Russia disregard laws regulating warfare conduct including Geneva Convention protocol.
The Marauders accept a contract from Al Qaeda to dispose of an Afghan leader. The Taliban warlord Muhammad El Sjad is privately exporting drugs grown in mountain villages using a Russian connection. The activity contravenes the terrorist organization fund raising rules.
The mission requires a combat qualified woman acting as McDougal’s wife to gain access to the villages in the Kush Mountains of the Afghanistan/Pakistan border region. The pair plans to infiltrate the warlord’s territory disguised as philanthropists representing a charitable organization funding agricultural projects. An exhaustive search of international police and military personnel files results in former nurse, police officer, military intelligence specialist, Sherry Trottier as the ideal candidate for McDougal’s mission.
To assure Al Qaeda and Taliban researchers accept the legitimacy of the pair travelling as a married couple Trottier suggests a short-term marriage arrangement with a foolproof back dated marriage certificate. The situation leads to romance both parties find appealing but in the beginning are reluctant to accept as anything other than part of the mission. The prohibitive romance eventually becomes a major influence in the lives of the couple’s adult children and personal relationships.
McDougal must meet with European allies when the mission appears compromised. The diversion allows Trottier to travel home and make intelligence headquarters contact to report assignment progress. She discovers a breach of mission confidentiality originating with a highly placed source in the military.
Military intelligence recognizing the benefit of a mother/son relationship to uncover the source endangering the mission assigns Trottier’s recently graduated military officer son as military liaison officer with McDougal’s Marauders. The liaison role includes involvement in the planned attack on the warlord’s mountain stronghold offering NATO an opportunity to end the Marauder role as a freelance strike force but complicating the personal lives of McDougal and Trottier.
An incident during the Marauder planned attack on the mountain village involving a drone aircraft meant to destroy the Taliban warlord mountain stronghold places the entire operation, the military component, and Marauder strike force in extreme jeopardy leading to an unexpected outcome.
