“This was supposed to be a test run for them,” he said to Higgins. “They weren’t expecting this crisis.”
“Who the hell was?”
Scheib sat and pecked at his notebook. “Damned security red tape,” he muttered, his head bent over the tiny keyboard. “Slows everything down.”
Jamil looked up from his calculations. “I think it’s imperative that we send a warning to the civil defense operations in Honolulu, Hilo, Anchorage, Juneau—”
“Not San Francisco?” one of the civilians asked.
Jamil looked up the table at General Higgins. Very calmly, he replied, “I seem to be the only one here who’s worried about San Francisco.”
Higgins made a sound halfway between a grunt and a snort.
Gently, Coggins asked, “You still think it’s possible that they’ve targeted San Francisco?”
“I do. And we ought to be watching what the Chinese are doing. Watching very carefully.” “There doesn’t seem to be anything unusual—”
“They’ve put their missiles on high alert, haven’t they?”
“Well, so have we. And the Russians.”
“And the Iranians?” Jamil asked.
Coggins studied his coffee-colored face with its fringe of beard as she wondered, What’s he after? Why is he pushing us into his disaster scenario? And the answer immediately came back to her: because he believes it. He’s scared that we’re about to unleash a nuclear holocaust.
To Jamil she murmured, “The Israelis will take care of Iran.”
“Before or after Tehran launches its missiles on Israel?”
Coggins hesitated.
“We should at least warn the Israelis of the possibility,” Jamil urged with quiet intensity.
“And have those hotheads launch a preemptive strike on Iran? That would start your Sarajevo scenario all by itself, wouldn’t it?”
Jamil slumped backing his chair. “Damned if we do, damned if we don’t.”
General Scheib called from his seat halfway up the table, “Okay, I’ve got it. The crew for today’s flight of ABL-1, civilians and blue suits.”
“What kind of experience does the pilot have?” General Higgins asked.
“Let me scroll down to…” Scheib’s face reddened, then went white.
“Well?” Higgins demanded.
His voice dead flat, Scheib replied, “The pilot is Lieutenant Colonel Karen Christopher—”
“A woman?”
“One of the best pilots in the Air Force,” Scheib said without looking up from his miniature computer’s screen. “She piloted B-2s in actions over Afghanistan and Iraq. Very experienced, decorated…” His voice fell off.
“What’s she doing driving a test program plane?” Higgins groused. “A pilot with that much experience and seniority.”
Scheib knew, of course. It wasn’t printed out on Karen’s dossier, but he knew that she’d been stuck in the airborne laser program as punishment for refusing to divulge the name of the married Air Force officer she’d been sleeping with. Her career’s been blighted because she was loyal to me, Scheib knew.
And now she’s flying right into what could be the start of a nuclear war.
What if she gets killed on this mission? he asked himself. That would solve a lot of problems.
And he hated himself for even thinking of it.
Monk came back through the hatch with both his hands full of black cases that held spare optics components.
“Relax, Harry,” he said. “I can get it put together again in an hour, maybe less.”
“You can work up there?” Harry asked. “It’s a tight space; I barely got into it.”
Delany grinned at him. “I know the layout inside out, Harry. All I gotta do is get my arm into the housing.”
“You sure of that?”
“If I need to I can get Taki to help me. She’s small enough to get in there with no trouble.”
Harry nodded but heard himself say, “And how do we test it?”
Monk stared at him.
“You put a new lens assembly in, but how do we know it’s aligned right? How do we know it’s working the way it should?”
“Jeez, Harry, I’m doin’ the best I frickin’ can.”
“Yeah, I know. But it might not be good enough.”
Monk put the boxes gently down on the workbench that ran along one side of the compartment. Turning back to Harry, he asked, “So what do you want to do?”
I want to go home and have a beer and watch the sun go down over the ocean, Harry thought.
“Harry?”
“Get to work,” he said. “I’ve got to talk this over with the pilot. She’s in command of this plane.”
“If we can’t be sure the ranger is okay, we’ll hafta turn back, I guess,” Monk said softly, almost as if talking to himself.
“We’re not turning back,” Harry said. “Not unless the woman in charge says so.”
“She doesn’t know shit about this technology.”
“She’s in charge. It’s her decision, not mine.”
Monk looked as if he wanted to argue, but he merely shook his head dumbly.
“You need help with this?” Harry asked him.
“Naw. Another pair of hands would just get in the way.”
“Okay,” Harry said. “I’m going up to talk it over with the skipper.”
Harry ducked out of the optics compartment.
Taki was at her battle management console, looking bored. But one glance at Harry’s face made her get to her feet.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Plenty,” said Harry. On an impulse, he said, “Look in on Monk, give him a hand if he needs it. He’s got to replace the ranger’s optics assembly.”
“Replace?” She looked startled. “Why? What’s wrong with the—”
“It’s missing.”
“Missing? How can it be missing?”
Harry thought she looked genuinely surprised, genuinely alarmed. “That’s what I’d like to know. You go in and offer Monk your help. Don’t leave him alone in there.”
Taki’s face, normally impassive, was wide-eyed with consternation.
Harry left her and started up the ladder to the flight deck, thinking, If Monk sabotaged the ranger, he probably won’t try anything else with Taki watching him. Unless she’s in on it, part of the plot. Hell, they could all be in on it. Maybe I’m the only one who isn’t.
The two blue-suiters were at their consoles, the lanky black lieutenant and the redheaded captain at the communications console. It seemed quiet up on the flight deck, the big jet engines muted to a distant background drone, the plane’s throbbing vibrations barely noticeable.
The redhead gave him a quizzical glance as Harry clambered up from the ladder.
“I’ve got to talk with the skipper,” Harry said.
Without a word to him, the comm officer tapped a key on his console and spoke into his pin mike. Then he looked up at Harry.
