Jack E. Romig

Belly of the Dragon Jack E. Romig

Confrontations between nations, which were previously seen as wars on open battlefields, changed dramatically during the Twentieth Century. With 'volunteer' units appearing to aid the participants on both sides of the fray. These units varied from the AEF in England prior to the US entry into World War II, and the Flying Tigers fighting the Japanese in China, to the Chinese divisions aiding the North Koreans during the Korean war. Suddenly the line between nations at war and those at peace became blurred, and at times indistinguishable. The true nature of the conflict was contained in the diplomat's pouch. Such confrontations required brilliant and unorthodox solutions to eliminate the threat from hostile governments. While this is a work of fiction, set in the 1951 Korean conflict, it illustrates the lengths to which governments will go to find acceptable resolutions. Belly Of The Dragon is about military personnel 'detached' to the CIA and trained as agents. These 'civilians' are to destroy a military objective, a jet engine factory deep in the heart of China. The real story emerges after the successful destruction of the target. Two men, of the nine who started, are alive. One, now suffering from a severe head wound, becomes part time brutishly insane, part time childish coward. Strong hatred on one side and deep resentment on the other seethes under the surface as the two must temporarily put aside their differences in order to survive the five hundred-mile trek to the coast. Both are wounded and sick, tall white men in a country of small yellow people. Stolen trucks, stolen motorcycles, and stolen boats are their modes of travel, always accompanied by their fear. Living off the land, they travel by night, in darkened vehicles on unknown roads and trails. Unable to steal enough food, even unable to keep themselves clean. Raiding a herbalist¿s shop in a small village, they find, by smell, medicine they remember having used as a child. Caught in the act by the 'herb