lowering his altitude. They might need him before the night was through. That meant they might bounce the laser off his degraded mirror, possibly destroying his craft.
It was a fearful thought, one he hadn’t envisioned while taxiing down the extra-long runway early this evening. He might die, but he was here to fight for his country.
The second Reflex interceptor moved up into position. Two and a quarter minutes later, the Fresno station fired its laser. The beam bounced off the new plane. This time, the pulse-laser struck true and burned down its second Ghost bomber, igniting the craft’s fuel and causing a spectacular midair explosion.
Captain Lee watched in horror as stealth bomber after stealth bomber perished to the great beam firing down from the heavens.
The Americans tech was better than the country had a right to possess. This was terrifying.
He increased speed and spilled chaff. He fired two decoy missiles. Each emitted strong signals. Somehow, the Americans could see them and he had to confuse the enemy.
Captain Lee gritted his teeth, willing his bomber to go faster. If he was going to die, he wanted to deliver his cargo. He needed another three minutes. He turned control over to the aircraft’s AI by pressing a button. The Ghost would jink now, maneuvering in a hopefully unpredictable manner. If the Americans used space lasers, as they must be since the beam slashed downward from above, those took time to beam to target. In that delay from sighting and firing was his slender hope.
The next few minutes of violent maneuvering brought vomit acid burning to the back of Captain Lee’s throat. The terrible laser destroyed most of the stealth bombers until only his plane survived. Twice more the laser struck, missing his plane by centimeters.
Now he had reached the maximum range of his missiles to the two targets. Captain Lee’s fingers moved fast, arming the missiles as the AI jinked again. The great beam flashed a third time, and once more, the Americans missed his plane.
Captain Lee laughed in nervous desperation. “Launching,” he whispered.
The first missile detached, causing the Ghost to wobble. Then a great flame appeared, and the nuclear-tipped missile flashed toward the Donner Pass.
Captain Lee detached his second missile, and the Ghost wobbled once more. At that moment the great beam bouncing off a Reflex interceptor found the captain’s plane. It burned through the canopy, instantly killing Lee and cutting the Ghost in two.
As the Chinese Air Force captain died, his second missile ignited, rocketing toward the distant target of Beckwourth Pass.
“Those are missiles, sir,” the air controller whispered.
“Burn them. Burn them now.”
“Do you know what they are, sir?”
“I don’t give a
Major Romanov’s throat had turned dry. NORAD gave the order and he took his plane back up.
He was glad his hands didn’t shake. The other two interceptors headed back to base in Fresno. Their mirrors had degraded too much. The mirrors wouldn’t reflect with a reasonable chance of accuracy. The calibrations needed due to distance were far too fine.
Romanov blinked and brought his aircraft into perfect alignment. The stars were bright up here and there were no clouds, just him and endless solitude. He radioed NORAD. They were going to use his mirror now. If the beam burned too strongly or if mirror had too many microscopic flaws—
As he held his position, Major Romanov began to pray, something he hadn’t done in years.
The first Chinese air-to-ground missile hugged the terrain. It expelled chaff and radio-emitting decoys. Twice a laser flashed by it, hitting the wrong target or missing by just enough.
Then the missile closed on its target. Its onboard computer adjusted the flight path, pitching the missile up. At precisely the height to give it maximum efficiency the nuclear warhead ignited. A fireball consumed the rail line and bridge and it tore into Donner Pass, causing rocks and boulders to fly and fall. A convoy was using the road, twenty huge transport trucks bringing M1A3 tanks to Los Angeles. The haulers and tanks crumpled and exploded in the fireball and blast, none of the drivers surviving. It was the first direct successful Chinese nuclear assault upon America.
“What is the status of your mirror?” the NORAD colonel asked Major Romanov.
The major sat blinking in astonishment. The Chinese had exploded a nuke.
“I repeat—”
“It’s operational,” Romanov said.
“Say again.”
“My mirror is operational. Go ahead, use it.”
Romanov was lying.
“The laser is ready for firing,” the Fresno station chief reported.
“Fire,” the NORAD colonel said.
The second Chinese air-to-ground missile streaked toward target. There was no more chaff in its container and it had deployed every decoy. In another fifty-eight seconds, it would reach ignition point.
Then the pulse-laser from Major Romanov’s heavily degraded reflex mirror struck the Chinese missile. The missile exploded, but the nuclear warhead did not detonate. It tumbled earthward, unexploded, saving the Beckwourth Pass for America’s use.
“You’re a brave man, Major Romanov,” the NORAD colonel said. “I saw the degradation percentage regarding your mirror. It’s a miracle your plane is still intact.”
“Yes, sir,” Romanov said. Sweat bathed his face and he was shaking. He couldn’t believe he was still alive or that they’d destroyed the second missile.
“Return to base,” the NORAD colonel said.
“Yes, sir,” Romanov said. He peered out of the window at the stars above. “Thanks, God. I appreciate that.” Then he banked the giant interceptor, heading back for Fresno.
Anna Chen was back in her CIA cubicle the next morning, searching and compiling data on the Chinese command structure and on their marshals.
She’d received information about the nuclear strike last night, and it filled her with fear. The Chinese had overcome their inhibition against using the ultimate weapon. Now she wondered where it would lead. Massive nuclear usage…it could destroy the civilized world.
Yes, Director Levin had been correct in one sense. The American nuclear missiles had saved the situation in the Bay Area. But what would be the future cost? This attack on the Sierra Nevada Passes—nuclear employment would likely escalate now. It was the human pattern. Levin had won a battle but may have caused the loss of the war and the world.
Levin seldom spoke to her now and he no longer confided in her. Should she have backed him on his wish to use nuclear weapons?
“No,” she whispered. She had to follow her conscience. She would be no good to anybody, least of all to herself, if she went against what she knew was right.
Anna sipped tea and continued to read. After several hours of intense study, it began to dawn on her that Marshal Nung was an outcast among the others in Chinese High Command. He seemed very Old Russian in his approach to military problems.
