Savage Wars of Peace (ePub)

THE SAVAGE WARS OF PEACE

by

Darcy Vernier

SYNOPSIS

Jake Brabston was a Marine helicopter pilot in Afghanistan. On a recon mission he was shot down and was the only survivor. Two days in the rugged countryside, including one as a POW, have left him haunted and peripatetic. Were he in a western novel he would be called a "drifter."

Years later while working in a French Quarter strip club, he is recruited by his old commanding officer, Walt Macbeth, a man with many years in Africa, but unknown priorities. With nothing to keep him in New Orleans, and the belief that there are no bad flying jobs, Jake is off to the Sudan. When he accepted Macbeth's offer he said that he just wanted to fly: "No do-gooder stuff."

Tamsin Amidon is an idealistic relief worker, dedicated to her work. She is beautiful, smart, sexy, and, normally, uninterested in any kind of commitment to anything but her job. She is the quintessential "do-gooder." In many ways it is her story as much as it is Jake's.

While in Mombassa the two of them meet and fall, if not in love, certainly in lust. The longer they are together, Jake's demons fall away and he understands more and more of the basis for Tamsin's selfless dedication, and how empty his life has been. Bit by bit, he learns that it may be possible to achieve a balance, to even out the scale of lives lost, with lives saved. Tamsin teaches him to take "the small victories."

Together, the two of them share a number of adventures, which reflect the turbulent, dangerous part of the world in which they're working. Friends are murdered by rampaging mohajadeen; the evacuation of a hospital is interrupted by government MiG fighters. Finally, while escorting a UN food barge headed up the Nile, Tamsin is kidnapped by government soldiers. She and two other relief workers witness the massacre of hundreds of Dinka families, an event which actually occurred in 1986. The others are killed and Tamsin is raped, brutalized, and left for dead.

When Jake hears of the barge hijacking, he immediately tries to learn what happened, but is told by Macbeth to "mourn appropriately and get on with your life." It seems that there was more than food items on the barge, and Macbeth and whoever he is working for, were in the middle of it.

Ignoring Macbeth's directive, Jake finds and rescues Tamsin. He gets her back to the aircraft, but, as they are flying to safety, she asks him to go back for a group of women and children who would surely be killed by the soldiers. Knowing the risks but knowing that he must take them, Jake lands and loads the women and children. As they make their escape, a Sudanese soldier fires a Stinger missile that cripples their aircraft and kills Tamsin. Jake flies on, alone, across the Sudan, towards safety.