Say again.'
'Prastiti. I am sorry, four-five Fox. You… you are United States aircraft?'
'Da.''Amirikanskaya 'the Soviet pilot said excitedly Then, more officially, reported, 'Four-five Fox, you are at our twelve o'clock position, seven-six kilometers. 'A slight pause.
I never talk to United States before.'
Orinack let out a long breath of air. 'Looks like you may have made a friend, General.'
'Two-two-one, you are Soviet military plane?' Elliott asked.
'Yes!' came an enthusiastic reply. 'Pay Vay Oh Strany. Far East Command. 'Elliott translated to the crew, as he did all the Russian.
'I' VO Strany,' Elliott said over interphone. 'Air Defense unit. Could be a Bear or Backfire recon plane.'
'Or a fighter,' Angelina said.
'Gyda vi zhivyoti-excuse, pazhaloosta. Where you from, four-five Fox?'
the Soviet pilot asked. 'New York?Los Angeles?I know San Francisco.'
'Butte, Montana,' Elliott asked. Let him chew on that.
'Mon-tanya? My English not very good. They teach English but we do not use much. Difficult.'
A pause, then: 'Four-five Fox, contact Kommandorskiye Approach on two-six-five decimal five. Immediately. 'The new voice was clipped, military, authoritative.
'Da, tovarisch,' Elliott replied.
'I report… I report you on course okay, commander,' the Russian pilot said in a low, almost secretive voice. 'You correcting back.
Not okay to come closer. Okay, commander?'
'Balshoya spasiba, tovarisch,' Elliott replied. 'Thank you.
'Pazhaloosta. Nice to talk English to you, Montanya.'
'Two-six-five decimal five, roger,' Elliott repeated. Just before he changed channels he asked, 'Atkooda vi? Where are you from, two-two-one?'
'Yaiz-er, I from Kevitz,' the Soviet pilot said with hometown pride.
'Big fisherman. Nice to talk, Montanya.
Dasfidamya, mnyabileochin priyatna!'
Ormack shook his head as he changed the radio frequency.
'Nice son of a bitch, wasn't he?'
'Kevitz,' Elliott asked. 'That's what Kavaznya was known as before they built the laser there.'
'He gave us a break,' Luger asked. 'I'll bet he plotted our position.
He must've noticed us because we were so far outside the airway 'He's not scanning us on radar anymore,' Wendy reported.
Elliott reset the frequency on the number one radio.
'You're not going to contact Kommandorskiye, are you General'' Ormack said.
'We don't have any choice, John. If we don't contact them, our friendly Bolshevik back there comes back and blows Montanya and his friends away.'
Elliott keyed the microphone. 'Kommandorskiye Approach, Lantern four-five Fox is with you at flight level fourfive-zero.
'Lantern four-five Fox, roger, at flight level four-five-zero,' the Russian air traffic controller replied in hesitant English.
'Say your heading, please.'
'Sto shizfisyat. Heading is one-six-zero, Approach.'
'Roger, four-five Fox. Spasiba. 'There was a slight pause, then: 'I do not have a flight plan for you, Lantern four-five Fox.
'No shit,' Ormack said over interphone.
'We are on a military flight plan from Alaska to Japan, Elliott said.
'I show no flight plan,' the controller repeated. 'Please relay type of aircraft, departure base, destination base, time enroute, hours of fuel on board, and persons on board, please.'
'No way,' Ormack said.
'I haven't done an international flight plan in years, but at least I know it's never relayed to a Soviet controller.
'Yes,' Elliott said, 'you're right. This guy's just fishing for information. 'On the radio Elliott said, 'Kommandorskiye, we will ask Kadena overwater flight following to relay our flight plan to you.'
'I will be happy to take the information, sir,' the controller said 'as a convenience.'
Nice try, Ivan, Elliott said to himself. Over the radio: 'Thank you Kommandorskiye. We will notify Kadena. Stand by.
'Very well,' the controller replied coldly 'Lantern fourfive Fox, squawk three-seven-seven-one and ident.
'Shit,' Ormack asked. 'Now he wants us to get a squawk.
'Looks like we're digging a hole for ourselves,' Elliott said, reached down and set the four-digit I.F.F identification and tracking code, leaving the altitude encoding and modes one, two, and four switchs off.
He then switched the I.F.F to ON and hit the IDENT button.
'Four-five Fox squawking,' Elliott said.
'Radar identified, Lantern four-five Fox,' the Soviet controller replied. 'I am not reading your altitude. Please recycle mode C.'
'Recycling,' Elliott said. He turned the mode C altitude encoder on.
'I am reading your altitude-' Elliott switched him off.
'I have lost your altitude again, four-five Fox. Recycle again, Please. 'Elliott repeated his 'failed' mode C routine.
'Your mode C appears to be intermittent, four-five Fox,' the controller at Beringa finally said.
'Roger, we'll write it up, sir.'
'I cannot allow you to cross into Petropavlovsk airspace without a fully operable identification encoder, four- five Fox,' the controller asked. 'Please turn twenty degrees left, vectors clear of Soviet airspace. Maintain heading for one-five minutes, then resume own navigation. Ochin zhal. Sony.'
'How far does that put us off the airway?' Elliott asked Luger.
We're almost on the airway now. We'd end up seventy, eighty miles west.'
Elliott turned the Old Dog to the new heading.
'How long are we going to be in Beringa's radar coverage?'
'We're only on the edge of it now,' Luger said.
'Their radar signal is very weak,' Wendy asked. 'No guarantee-but I don't think they've got a primary target on us.
'Meaning Ormack began.
'If we shut the I.F.F off, we disappear,' Elliott asked. 'Just like Seattle. Patrick, how far are we from your next planned turn-point inland?'
'We'll never hit it on this heading.'
'Call it up,' Elliott said, taking manual control of the Old The computer heading bug swung almost fifty degrees to right.
minutes,' Elliott estimated. 'That puts us 'About twenty between both Bcringa and Petropavlovsk radars.'
'And as close to the coast as we can get between the two radars,' McLanahan added.
'I don't think it'll take Beringa that long to discover we don't have a flight plan,' Elliott asked. 'Things are going to get hairy pretty soon. Wendy, you're sure he can't see us?'
'As sure as I can be.'
'Can you jam their radar in case he spots us?'
— Yes, I'm positive of that.'
Elliott adjusted his parachute harness. 'This means we're close to the penetration descent, crew. Wendy, prepare to take the Center radar down. We'll be making a power-off descent in a few seconds. When everyone's ready to go, we'll start a gradual turn toward the gap in the radar coverage. When Beringa notices us off-course
