Plan of Attack

“I’ll give them a call and see if they’ll let you come on in. Stand by.” But less than a minute later, he came back. “No good, Muck. Every phone line is jammed.”

Patrick hesitated — but only for a moment. He retracted the speed brakes, pushed in the mixture and prop levers, then slowly moved up the throttles, while at the same time continuing his descent. Soon the radar altimeter, which measured the distance between the airplane and the ground, clicked in at two thousand feet above ground level.

“Aerostar Five-six Bravo Mike,” the approach controller radioed a few moments later, “you are below my radar coverage, radar services terminated, frequency change approved. Land immediately and remain on the ground until specifically cleared for flight again by the FAA. Do not acknowledge.”

Don’t worry, I won’t, Patrick said to himself. When the radar altimeter read one thousand feet aboveground, Patrick leveled off — and then he punched the DIRECT-TO button on his GPS navigator and entered “KBAM,” the identifier for Battle Mountain, Nevada. He had to adjust the routing to stay away from restricted airspace around the Dugway Proving Grounds, but soon he was heading westbound as fast as the Aerostar could carry him, as low as he could safely go in the mountainous terrain. “Dave, I’m coming in, ETE one hour twenty-five minutes,” Patrick reported.

“How’d you manage that, Muck?”

“The old-fashioned way — terrain masking,” Patrick replied. “I just hope no interceptors think I’m a bad guy. Send a message to NORAD and tell them what I’m doing so their fighter jocks won’t shoot me down.” Undoubtedly the North American Aerospace Defense Command would set up air patrols around the entire region in very short time. “After you do that, you can brief me on the status of your forces.”

“They’re your forces, Muck,” Luger said.

“I’ve been bounced out of my last command, Dave,” Patrick said. “Houser has preferred charges against me. I’m not in command of anything.”

“These are your forces, Muck — always were, always will be,” Luger repeated. “I’m just keeping them warm for you. You realize, of course, that I never received orders confirming me as commander of Air Battle Force?”

“Yes you did. The message from the Pentagon—”

“Only directed that I take control of the force while you were called to take command of the Nine-sixty-sixth,” Luger said. “You’re still the boss — and I think the powers that be wanted it that way. Come on in, and we’ll figure out what we’re going to do next — if we survive this, that is.”

“We’ll survive it,” Patrick said. “Were you able to deploy any of the Tin Men?”

“I’ve got two teams deployed to Eareckson right now,” Luger said. “I’m just awaiting an execution order.”

“Get them out of there — if the Russians are going after ballistic-missile defense bases, it’s likely to be next.”

“Already done, Muck,” Luger said. “We dispersed them to Attu as soon as the air-defense alerts were broadcast.”

Patrick made several rapid mental calculations and quickly determined that the mission was nearly impossible. It was around fifteen hundred miles from Eareckson Air Force Base on the island of Shemya in the Aleutian Islands of western Alaska to Yakutsk, Russia. For the MV-32 Pave Dasher tilt-jet aircraft, it meant five hours and at least two aerial refuelings one way, flown over open ocean as well as over some of the most inhospitable terrain on the planet. The team’s tanker aircraft, a U.S. Air Force HC-130P special-operations tanker, would have to fly over the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Sea of Okhotsk, and probably a good portion of Siberia to rendezvous with the MV-32 on its return leg.

If the Pave Dashers missed any of their refueling rendezvous, they would not make it back home.

From the moment the MV-32 and the HC-130P left Shemya, it would be virtually over enemy territory — there was nothing between Shemya and Yakutsk except icy-cold oceans and Russian territory. It was suicidal. No one would ever imagine that such a mission could succeed.

Which made it perfect for the Tin Men. “Have the team stand by, Dave,” Patrick said. “I want to get them airborne as soon as possible — but they’re not going in alone.”

Sixty Miles East of Offutt Air Force Base,

Bellevue, Nebraska

That same time

The intercom phone next to Lieutenant General Terrill Samson’s seat buzzed. He, along with Major General Gary Houser of the Air Intelligence Agency and several of their senior staff members, were flying to Offutt Air Force Base south of Omaha, Nebraska, to meet with General Thomas Muskoka of Air Combat Command and the staff of the United States Strategic Command to discuss activities in Russia and what sort of plans they should recommend to the Pentagon to respond. Samson glanced at Houser, who was seated across from him in the club seating of the small jet, silently ordering him to answer it. Houser reached forward and picked up the receiver. “This is General Houser.”

“Major Hale up on the flight deck, sir,” the copilot of the Air Force C-21 transport jet responded. “We’ve received a notification of an air-defense emergency over the United States.”

“What?” Houser exclaimed. “What’s the emergency?”

“Unknown, sir,” the copilot responded. “Air-traffic control is ordering us to land immediately. Offutt Air Force Base has closed its runway because of operational requirements. The nearest suitable base for us is Lincoln Municipal.”

“We’re not landing at a civilian airfield, Major — we’re a military SAM flight, for Christ’s sake,” Houser retorted. A SAM, or Special Air Mission, was a designation that gave government or military flights priority handling by air-traffic controllers, almost on a par with Air Force One itself. “And what the hell does ‘operational requirements’ mean?”

“They wouldn’t say, sir.”

“TellATC that we’re going to land at Offutt unless further notified,” Houser said. “Remind them, again, that we’re a military SAM flight. Then get the Fifty-fifth Wing commander on the line immediately.”

“Sir, we’ve already tried to communicate with him directly — no response.”

“I’ve got General Samson with me. He’ll authorize us to divert to Offutt.”

“Sorry, sir, but this directive comes down from NORAD through the FAA.”

“Then request General Samson speak with General Shepard at NORAD ASAP — he’s probably already at Offutt for the meeting we’re supposed to attend, for Christ’s sake. If he’s not available, get General Venti at the Pentagon. We’re not going to divert to a civilian airfield, especially not if an emergency exists that we need to respond to. Hurry it up.”

“Yes, sir.”

Samson looked up from his laptop computer. “What’s going on, Gary?”

“ATC says someone’s declared an air-defense emergency,” Houser said. “They’re trying to get us to land at the nearest civilian airfield.”

“They know we’re a SAM flight?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Base ops at Offutt will have to contact FAA directly.”

“The crew has tried to contact the Fifty-fifth Wing commander directly. They’re going to try to get General Shepard to get us permission to land. He should be right there at the STRATCOM command center.”

The phone buzzed again, and this time Samson picked it up. “General Samson.”

“Major Hale up on the flight deck, sir. ATC says to divert immediately to Lincoln Municipal. Offutt is out. They say base ops at Offutt advised ATC not to allow anyone to land there, including inbound SAMs. No response from General Shepard.”

“What in hell is going on, Major?”

“I don’t know, sir,” the copilot responded, “but I’m monitoring the radios, and it sounds like Offutt launched one of their AOCs.” AOCs were the Airborne Operations Center E-4Bs based at Offutt, modified Boeing 747 airliners with the ability to communicate with and direct military forces worldwide.

“So the runway itself is okay?”