The Complete Night Stalkers 5E Stories

Introduction

Introduction

In the beginning, there was the Night Stalkers.

I had written several books in a variety of genres before the one that really captured my imagination and, as a bonus, launched my career.

The Night Is Mine, the first book in The Night Stalkers, was my first major success. It launched to rave reviews and I followed it happily with many titles following the adventures of US Army Majors Emily Beale and Mark Henderson. Their crew came to life across numerous novels and short stories.

While I wasn’t really paying attention, the teams began spinning off into new series. Some close to home: The Night Stalkers White House, The Night Stalkers and the Navy. Some less close: Firehawks, Delta Force. They also inspired numerous short story series.

Amongst all of this proliferation, I learned a great deal about the Night Stalkers, both real and fictional.

In real life, the US Army 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (airborne)—SOAR(a)—are the most elite helicopter fliers anywhere. They are tasked with delivering America’s very top teams anywhere they need to go. Delta Force and DEVGRU (SEAL Team 6) are their main customers. And by anywhere, they mean anywhere. The Night Stalkers also get their customers back out—from anywhere. Need to get into bin Laden’s Pakistan compound? That was them. As well as: Panama, Takur Ghar, and a host of others. Need extraction from an out-of-control battle? They’ll be there. And they’ll touch down within thirty seconds of when they promised.

I am simply in awe of these fliers.

And as I learned more about the real-life exploits of these amazing men and women, the more I felt that I had shortchanged them in some ways.

Mark Henderson’s 5th Battalion D Company fought noble fights, rescued orphans, and fell in love. Well, the last was a given, these are romance stories after all. Even the main series of short stories had a similar…feel to them.

I loved telling their stories. It was an immense amount of fun as well as the honor of paying even a glimmer of an homage to the real-life heroes.

However, there was another slice of stories that I found myself wanting to tell. Stories where the moral lines weren’t so clear. Where the missions were more extreme, more challenging. Not just to the warrior, but also to the person inside the warrior.

From these desires were born the Night Stalkers 5E, 5th Battalion E Company—the “Extreme.”

I provided the 5E with the very latest stealth helicopters.

I formed them not from the best of the best, the most shining warriors. Instead, I sought fighters who were tough—"diamonds in the rough” rather than already polished and shining. It let me dig into the evolution of a person far more deeply. Instead of merely becoming their best selves, I got to watch/help them grow into it. And make it clear that there was still more road out ahead of them, too.

Perhaps the 5D had been overly polished. Part of it was the natural idealization of a good romantic tale. But I think another part of it was that I was growing as a writer.

I also went looking for more dangerous missions. In the tales of the 5D (Mark Henderson’s and Emily Beale’s stories), my crews were occasionally assigned what I termed the “Black-in-black” missions.

A “White” mission or “White Op” is one that is reported to the news services.

A “Black Op” is one that is never supposed to come out, except perhaps after the fact, such as the takedown of Osama bin Laden. The Black Op is dominant in the world of the real-life 160th SOAR as well.

However, there are deeper and darker missions. For these I made up the name for the missions that could never be admitted to: Black-in-black. Not to the press, not to a commanding officer on the “outside” of the mission, not to anyone—ever.

They were a part of each Henderson and Beale novel, but they weren’t the core.

As I kept telling the 5D stories, I liked the idea that the missions were top secret—but the 5E had a further goal: each mission should seem as if SOAR and US forces had never been there at all.

What if the 5E were invisible?

That gave birth to the novels and their wild settings:

Target of the Heart – the heart of China Target Lock on Love – Russia Kamchatka Peninsula Target of Mine – a cruise ship and Honduras Target of One’s Own – Senegal, Africa, and the Dakar Rally in South AmericaThe short stories?

These are also in the vein of the “rougher diamond” and I hope they make you smile.

Love Behind the Lines

Lieutenant “Manny” Malcolm’s mission: Extract an embedded CIA agent from deep inside Russian Crimea. When a missile blows up his helicopter, it’s a whole new mission.

Alisa, Irina, Lyudmila... After wearing so many identities, does her true self even still exist? Betrayed by a trusted contact, her new assignment—survival!

Only together can they find Love Behind the Lines.