out of control. He didn’t see a chute. Chalk one up for Viceroy.
Saber’s missile had also guided, and there were only two contacts left. They were splitting up, diving for the deck, afterburners lit up. They were heading north. Tony watched them go, bright flame flaring aft. The Diamonds’ fuel state wasn’t up to a high-speed chase.
Besides, the Phantoms had done their work. The last F-4s were just making their attacks. He ordered the Diamonds to disengage, and with the Garnets, they trailed the Phantoms out of the area. They didn’t have enough fuel to cover the poststrike reconnaissance aircraft. The spyboys would just have to take their chances.
The egress route was west of the target, but close enough for Tony to see a cloud of gray dust and black smoke hanging over the area. There was another blotch, off to his right, on a hillside. As he got closer, he could see the remains of a Phantom that had slammed into the ground. He couldn’t see if the canopy was in place.
As his flight passed the wreck, Bookmark called. “Diamond Lead, we have two wounded birds. Request close escort, over.” It looked as if they weren’t finished.
The F-16s tanked on the south side of the DMZ, and Tony counted noses. Owl was missing, his wingman losing sight of him during the big dogfight with the Fishbeds. Dish’s own wingman, Ivan, had taken a piece of flak in his left wing. He was still airworthy but had to reduce speed or the vibration would shake him apart. Viceroy was gone, too.
Two for fifteen or so. He guessed that was an acceptable loss ratio. It didn’t feel like it though. In silence the F-16s joined on the limping Phantoms and turned for home.
The ops office was quiet now. The day’s last missions had been flown. Fourteen hours of grueling planning, preparation, and flying — all mixed in with desperate minutes of high-g combat. By rights, Tony should be asleep, worn down by responsibility and exertion. But he couldn’t sleep.
He was too worried about Anne. He’d been able to push her face out of his thoughts in the air, but his fears for her had come back as soon as he was on the ground. She was still in Seoul, and the North Koreans were pushing hard to take the city. Combined Forces HQ said they were still about two days away, but NK heavy guns had been shelling Seoul from Day One. The worst of it was, he couldn’t do anything to help her.
The phone rang again. Come on, Anne or somebody, answer. This was the first clear line he’d been able to get in three days of trying.
Ring. Answer it. Please, God.
“Logistics Center.” It sounded like her. It had to be her.
“Anne?” He heard the quaver in his voice and tried to still it.
“Tony! Oh, Tony.” He heard her take a deep breath. “Are you all right?”
His heart jumped slightly. She was worried about him. About him. “Yeah. Oh, yeah. Look, Anne, I’m fine. No problem.” He hurried on. “But what about you? I mean, they’re hitting the city pretty hard.”
She sounded calmer. “They aren’t shelling near us, Tony. They’ve been hitting the defenses and military bases. We’re pretty safe.”
“Only ‘pretty safe’? Jesus, Anne, the gomers are moving on Seoul.”
There was a pause. Then she said, “I know. But don’t worry, Tony. They’re going to fly us out, move the entire operation to Japan. They’ve already started moving records and such. We’ll go anytime now. One bag apiece, just the essentials. You know the drill.”
His pulse started slowing. Evacuation. Thank God somebody in the high command had some brains. “Are you taking the scarf I gave you?”
He could almost see her smile. “Yes. Look, Tony, I’m going to be fine. I’m more worried about you. Really, how are you doing?”
“I’m flying, Anne, that’s all I can tell you. I’m doing okay.”
He heard voices in the background. Then she said, “Tony, I’ve got to go now. Work to do. I’ll let you know where I am when I get to Japan.”
“Okay…” He searched for the right words but didn’t trust himself to say them.
“I’ll miss you, Tony. I’ll call as soon as I can.”
There was a click, then silence, and he put the phone down reluctantly.
CHAPTER 28
Evacuation
The orders came late in the day. Anne hadn’t gotten much sleep lately, and there was a dullness behind her eyes. She had to read them twice before she understood them.
Waving one hand over her head, she called, “Everyone! Listen, we just got the order. We move out at eighteen hundred.” She saw their panicked expressions and looked at her watch. It was 4:10 P.M. — 1610 hours military time.
Everything had come to a dead halt, and she saw no reason to start it up again. “All right, if you can’t finish it in five minutes, pack it away. Trucks will pull up at six o’clock to take us to Kimpo. We’re going to Misawa, Japan, and set up there.
“Gloria, keep taking messages. We can’t tell anyone we’re evacuating, so it’ll just be awhile before we get them their data.”
The office had changed in the last four days. Everyone had moved their belongings, one bag each, into the office. The enemy had closed steadily on the city, until fighting could be heard almost constantly to the north.
Last night she had told Tony that they had not been shelled, that the North Koreans had more important targets. The base had been shelled twice since then. Stray rounds had come within a few hundred feet of the computer center. There had been no damage, and nobody hurt, but she had felt the barest introduction to combat. From an infantryman’s point of view, this was not even close. But she wasn’t a soldier, and neither were her staff. She wondered what Tony must feel, being shot at daily since the war started.
There were blackout curtains on the windows, and the basement had become an air raid shelter and dormitory. They had worked hard to keep track of the logistics situation, which had included reversing the flow of materiel out of Korea, managing the stream of supplies coming into the war zone, and searching supply bases worldwide for critically needed items.
They had been on twelve-hour notice for days, trying to be ready to shift the entire operation to Misawa’s computers as quickly and smoothly as possible.
She had planned the transfer carefully. All the data was being copied onto tapes, and two copies of each tape were being made. That would take most of the hour and fifty minutes they had. Twelve hours’ notice. That was a laugh.
She paused. In a way it was good. It would minimize the time that they were unable to operate. The Army had already started setting up a site at the airbase there, and thank heaven they used the same type of computer. An hour to the airport, another hour to load, and then it was about a two-hour flight to Misawa. Another hour to get to the base’s computers, and an hour to load the software and data. With luck, they would be back in business by breakfast. It would be a long night, though.
The trucks came early, with a mixed U.S. and Korean escort. In addition to the vehicles for the logistics center’s personnel, there were two more full of soldiers, and an armored car at the front. The lieutenant in charge loaded them as if the plane were waiting at Kimpo airport with its engines turning over.
They loaded in the cold dark, with no lights and apparently no organization. Anne and the other supervisors tried to keep their people together, but she wouldn’t be sure if they’d succeeded until they got to Kimpo airport. Finally a soldier half-threw her onto a truck. She felt like a side of meat going into a freezer.
It was dark in the back, and what little light there was disappeared when they lowered the canvas flap on the back. That caught her in midstride, and she would have fallen but for friendly hands catching her. Anne groped and half-stumbled her way to a seat, landing just as the truck started moving.
She followed the turns the truck made in her mind and tracked them until they turned right outside the main gate. All she could think of was how cold the seat was. It didn’t get any warmer.
