Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Sand Spider
    Sand Spider
    Sand Spider
    Ebook83 pages1 hour

    Sand Spider

    By Carl Bowen, Dan Whisker, Benny Fuentes and

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    As Lieutenant Commander Ryan Cross and the soldiers of Shadow Squadron welcome their first female member to the team, Cross receives an urgent call from a powerful senator demanding assistance in saving his kidnapped son. When the team touches down in Mali, they immediately learn that something far more sinister than a simple kidnapping is going down in the desert... In their Starred Review of Elite Infantry, Kirkus Reviews lauded the Shadow Squadron series as "breathtaking to the word" with "top-drawer renderings of secret military missions around the globe." This action packed series delivers exciting stories highly relevant to today's real-world conflicts. Each book in the Shadow Squadron series includes glossaries, writing prompts, and discussion questions aimed at stimulating safe, objective discussion about war, current events, and the modern military.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCapstone Young Readers
    Release dateJul 1, 2014
    ISBN9781496504821
    Sand Spider
    Author

    Carl Bowen

    Carl Bowen's novel, Shadow Squadron: Elite Infantry, earned a starred review from Kirkus.  He lives in Lawrenceville, Georgia.

    Read more from Carl Bowen

    Related to Sand Spider

    Titles in the series (11)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Children's Historical For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Trust Your Drill Sergeant? Army Takes New Approach To Basic Training.

      Oct 7, 2020

      Boot camp now focuses more on trust than intimidation, cultivating trust not only among soldiers but between soldiers and their leaders.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Stanley Christopherson

      Oct 28, 2021

      Stanley Christopherson
      3 min read

    • Article

      The COMMANDO THE LIFE AND DEATH OF CAMERON BAIRD, VC, MG

      Jun 19, 2019

      In mid-2007 Cam Baird and the men of Bravo Company were put on buses and taken to Sydney airport. With relaxed grooming protocols in effect, many of the guys were already growing the beards that are almost a prerequisite for special forces soldiers o

      7 min read

    • Article

      So Others May Live

      Nov 22, 2022

      So Others May Live
      9 min read

    • Article

      Shock and Awe

      Aug 10, 2021

      Shock and Awe
      11 min read

    • Article

      Rescue Swimmer’s Wisdom

      Dec 13, 2022

      Rescue Swimmer’s Wisdom
      9 min read

    • Article

      Country Boys

      Apr 6, 2021

      Country Boys
      4 min read

    • Article

      Hoofbeats Of History

      Feb 28, 2023

      Hoofbeats Of History
      8 min read

    • Article

      In Search Of ...

      Apr 1, 2019

      Fifteen-year-old Tay lives on Rannoch, a distant planet covered with water, where undersea pods or living chambers provide life support for up to three people—usually two adults and one child. Tay learns that her parents are expecting another child a

      8 min read

    • Article

      Sas In Sicily

      Jun 8, 2023

      Sas In Sicily
      11 min read

    • Article

      Coming Of Age In Afghanistan: Reflections Of A Young Officer In The Scots Guards

      Aug 2, 2018

      A great-grandson of Sir Winston Churchill looks back on his own service in the British Army. More than five years ago, after serving seven years in the British Army with the Scots Guards, I called it a day and have since started a career in the com

      7 min read

    • Article

      ‘Daring Beyond Precedent’

      Apr 6, 2021

      ‘Daring Beyond Precedent’
      4 min read

    • Article

      Warring Commanders

      Jul 6, 2021

      Warring Commanders
      12 min read

    • Article

      Uncommon Courag

      Jun 17, 2022

      Uncommon Courag
      7 min read

    • Article

      Self-defence Has No Rules

      Jan 29, 2024

      I am a ‘laaitie’ from Belhar in the Western Cape of South Africa. This region forms part of the notorious Cape Flats area, and historically segregated as one of the largest coloured communities originally in the Western Cape. This is where I grew up,

      6 min read

    • Article

      The God Is Not Willing

      Jun 16, 2021

      The God Is Not Willing
      1 min read

    • Article

      Up A Creek

      Feb 9, 2021

      Up A Creek
      6 min read

    • Article

      Fatal Sabbath

      Dec 24, 2019

      Fatal Sabbath
      7 min read

    • Article

      Eyewitness To Withdrawal

      Aug 22, 2023

      Eyewitness To Withdrawal
      11 min read

    • Article

      Vietnam My Son, The Soldier

      Sep 1, 2021

      Vietnam My Son, The Soldier
      9 min read

    • Article

      Medusa’s Curse

      Jul 2, 2019

      Medusa’s Curse
      10 min read

    • Article

      ‘I Was The First Who Fell’

      May 16, 2023

      ‘I Was The First Who Fell’
      13 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Sand Spider

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Sand Spider - Carl Bowen

      CLASSIFIED

      MISSION BRIEFING

      OPERATION

      I’ve received an urgent call from a senator involved with Shadow Squadron’s budget. To say he has a request is not entirely accurate -- it’s more like a demand. In any event, if we want to keep receiving funding for the team, we have to head to Mali and rescue his kidnapped son.

      I expect the team’s cooperation to be top-notch after we finish extensive cohesion training with our new combat controller, Morgan Lancaster.

      - Lieutenant Commander Ryan Cross

      PRIMARY OBJECTIVES

      - Determine location of hostage

      - Escort hostage to safety

      SECONDARY OBJECTIVE

      - Avoid conflict with local forces

      CHAPTER ONE

      COHESION

      COM CHATTER

      - BRIEFING: information presented before a mission that is relevant to said mission

      - COHESION: training required to help team members work together more effectively

      - OPERATIVE: a secret agent or spy

      Lieutenant Commander Ryan Cross assembled his men in the briefing room as early as he dared, considering the previous evening’s festivities. They’d held a going-away party for USAF Staff Sergeant Edgar Brighton, the team’s former combat controller. The young soldier had been a member of the team since its creation, but he’d accepted a reassignment offer after a recent mission. From now on, he’d work for a highly classified psy-ops and cyber warfare division of the Department of Defense that promised to make better use of his intellect and technical skills.

      That left Commander Cross with a hole to fill on his team. A rather big one, since Brighton was excellent at his job. But after a long period of paperwork evaluations and a handful of interviews, Cross was finally ready to introduce Brighton’s replacement to the rest of the team.

      That team was Shadow Squadron — a top-secret special missions unit. Assembled by the United States’ Joint Special Operations Command, the unit was comprised of elite soldiers from all branches of the military. The team had soldiers from the Navy SEALs, Green Berets, Army Rangers, and the Marine Special Operations Regiment. They traveled all over the world rooting out terrorist threats, hunting international criminals, rescuing hostages, defending foreign leaders, and even fighting pirates. From one end of the world to the other, the team had showed up wherever the US government required military intervention but couldn’t act openly for tactical, political, or legal reasons.

      Cross’s second-in-command was Chief Petty Officer Alonso Walker, a Navy SEAL like Cross. As usual, Walker arrived first, followed closely by the five remaining soldiers of Cross’s team. Except for Sergeant Mark Shepherd, a Green Beret, none of them looked worse for the wear from their partying the night before. Shepherd was sporting a black eye from his ride on a mechanical bull at Brighton’s going-away party. All of them sat quietly and glanced at the empty chair at the middle of the table. Brighton’s absence was sorely felt.

      Let’s get started, Cross said. He clicked on a computer touchpad built into the tabletop. The projector in the ceiling displayed the globe-and-crossed-swords emblem of Joint Special Operations Command on the computer whiteboard behind him. With Staff Sergeant Brighton having moved on, we need to train his replacement and get the team back up to full cohesion.

      The men nodded. When Shadow Squadron was created, the men had to go through nearly a year of special cohesion training. The purpose was to blend a group of individuals with different skills and military backgrounds into a functioning, singular unit. When Second Lieutenant Aram Jannati arrived from the Marines Special Operations Regiment to replace the deceased Larssen, another month and a half of the same training was required to integrate him into the team. Now with the arrival of Brighton’s replacement, another period of more cohesion training lay ahead of them.

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1