aircraft maximum.’
Richter’s gaze switched between the two men. ‘I think we need to be absolutely clear about this,’ he said. ‘If you give me the go-ahead for this it will be an illegal act – an act of war, in fact – against a country that’s expressed no hostile intent whatsoever towards the United Kingdom. If I don’t make it back, the best outcome would be for me to go down with the aircraft. If I’m captured, I’ve no doubt I’ll spend some time in a cellar somewhere having my fingernails pulled out and various bones messily broken before they finally stick what’s left of me up against a wall and summon a firing squad. And the same will apply to any other pilot who goes in with me.
‘That’s one aspect of the situation. The other is that their Lordships at the Admiralty will probably not be entirely delighted if the captain and senior aviation officer on a Royal Navy capital ship are found to be conspiring with a civilian pilot to commit the said act of war. My guess is that the subsequent court martial would be the least of your worries. We could be talking of dismissal from the service, loss of pension rights and all the rest. Maybe even a charge of treason. This is serious stuff.’
Davidson smiled thinly. ‘I have a substantial private income, Mr Richter. I’m in the Navy because I like it, not because I have to be. I’ll make it clear that the final decision was mine, and I’ll issue appropriate orders to all those involved. If this particular can of worms ever gets opened, I’ll make sure I’m the one in the firing line.’
It was a somewhat mixed metaphor, but Black and Richter knew exactly what he meant.
‘Obeying an order an officer knows to be illegal is also a court-martial offence,’ Richter pointed out. ‘But if I handed you a copy of that signal with a few changes on page two, you wouldn’t know the order hadn’t come direct from CINCFLEET and, unless you went down to the CommCen to see the original, you’d never know that I’d made any alterations. That might provide a bit of protection.’
‘True,’ Davidson said, ‘but that would put you right in the frame if this all goes wrong.’
‘I’m used to that. About the only advantage in working for Richard Simpson is that he’ll do whatever’s necessary to protect his staff, as long as he thinks what they’ve done is justified. As this’ – he pointed at the signal – ‘is almost certainly his idea, he’ll find it very difficult to do anything other than support me. So don’t worry about my career, such as it is.’
‘Right,’ Davidson said. ‘I think we have a broad agreement. I’ll order our escorts to new positions, and move the ship closer to the North Korean coast. Wings, have a quiet word with a few of the more enthusiastic squadron pilots and ask them if they’d like to go along for the ride.’
‘Aye, aye, sir.’
Davidson stood up and extended a hand. ‘Good luck, Mr Richter. I hope to see you back on board when this is all over.’
Kim Yong-Su was not surprised that he’d heard nothing further from the ‘Dear Leader’. He was well aware of the significance of the action they were planning, yet despite all the time and preparation that had been involved, he still wasn’t certain Pyongyang would actually go through with it.
But late that evening his direct telephone line rang, and the voice he heard sounded full of confidence as the ‘Dear Leader’ announced that ‘Golden Dawn’ would start at precisely 0530 local time the following morning, with the first troop movements at 0630.
‘You have three volunteers to go along with you,’ Roger Black announced as he walked in and closed the door behind him. Richter was in the admiral’s quarters at the stern of the ship, just forward of the Quarter Deck, maps of North Korea spread out over the dining table in front of him. ‘They’re the Senior Pilot, and two of the most experienced men on the squadron: Charlie Forbes and Roger Whittard. You’ll make a good team.’
‘I’m still not sure that it’s such a good idea.’
‘I disagree, and so does the captain. You’ve about a one per cent chance of pulling this off if you go in by yourself. With a four-aircraft group, the odds are maybe fifty per cent.’
‘That good, eh?’
Black smiled at him. ‘Well, maybe a
Richter picked up a large buff envelope, prominently marked ‘Secret’ at top and bottom and with a large red ‘X’ on each side. ‘I’ve got the latest satellite imagery, but it only confirms what we already thought. The No-dongs that the Yanks think have nuclear payloads are located at Mayang and Ok’pyong, those being the two most southerly missile bases on the east coast, and at Hochon and No-dong.’
‘Do they want you to hit all four of them?’
Richter nodded. ‘Yes, they’re desperate to knock out anything the North Koreans have got that can reach Japan. The east coast missiles
‘And do they really think that having us carry out this mission will prevent a North Korean invasion?’
‘It’s a fine line. Because Pyongyang threatened that any attack by South Korea or the Americans would be considered an act of war, there’s some chance that if we do it, the North Koreans might be confused and not react, or not react as violently. And that might work: after all,
‘Is it worth while doing anything to sanitize the aircraft?’ Black asked.
Richter considered the question for a few moments.
‘If one does get shot down, a new paint job isn’t going to fool anyone, and the whole point of this is that the attack aircraft must clearly not be American, so the “Royal Navy” logos and squadron markings should stay. That might tell any eyewitnesses that the aircraft are British, though I doubt if many North Koreans would be able to recognize a Harrier. And especially not one that’s two hundred feet above the ground doing about five hundred knots. They’ll hear it, but they probably won’t ever see it.’
‘You still think a low-level approach is best?’
‘I don’t think there’s much choice, Blackie. If we go in at high or medium level, we’ll get picked up by radar and every SAM battery and anti-aircraft gun emplacement within range will start shooting at us. Not to mention having to tangle with their Fishbeds and Floggers, and at high level a Foxbat would eat a Harrier for breakfast. At low level, the GR9 can outrun, or at least outmanoeuvre, anything they’ve got, I hope. A high-speed, low-level quick in-and-out is the only way this is going to work.’
‘Welcome back, Walter. You’ve some news for us? Good news, I trust?’ ‘News, Mr President, yes,’ Walter Hicks said, sitting down in front of the desk. ‘But “good” isn’t the word I’d use to describe it. It looks as if Pyongyang is moving additional troops closer to the northern edge of the Demilitarized Zone, and our satellites have detected activity at most North Korean airfields.
‘Normally, they keep their aircraft in the hardened shelters dug into the mountains, but we’re now seeing quite a few Ilyushin 28 bombers parked out on hardstandings, and some have begun running their engines – the heat blooms are unmistakable. Just as worrying is that there are also large numbers of fighters on the ramps, mainly Sukhoi Su-25s, MiG-19s, 21s, 23s and Shenyang F-5s. Those are all old and fairly obsolete types, but we’ve also counted twelve Foxbats.’
‘And the implication is that they’re gearing up for military action?’
‘It’s difficult to put any other interpretation on it, Mr President. Historically, the North Koreans have always been frugal in their use of aviation fuel, because they haven’t got much of it, and their pilots carry out the minimum possible numbers of sorties per year as a result. We’ve
