could he possibly say?
The phone stopped. She waited a minute, then picked it up and checked her voice mail system.
No message.
Jennifer turned back to the TV just in time to see Fudd blast himself with his own shotgun.
She felt so sorry for him she started to cry.
Dog, Zen, Alou, and Stoner previewed the mission together, reviewing the latest intelligence from the States as well as Dreamland and the ASEAN flag staff. Two dozen ASEAN ships, mostly frigates and destroyers, would track the progress of a pair of Australian submarines across a swatch of ocean nearly twelve hundred miles wide over the course of the next few days. The exercises today were being conducted in an area two hundred miles east of the Vietnamese coast; besides the allied vessels, the Chinese had two trawler-type spy ships in the vicinity, as well as a submarine. Further to the north but still in the open sea, the Russians were expected to fly a long-range surveillance aircraft; they had done so yesterday, following the progress of the exercises. There were also a number of civilian flights and merchant vessels that would routinely ply the area.
“Flight plan is basic. We come up, rendezvous with the frigates, then keep going. Stop short of Hainan, we do a square out and catch the clone in the flat,” said Zen. “
“Who’s got the blitz?” asked Dog.
“We audible that at the line,” said Alou, not missing a beat.
“The Chinese may or may not pick up the U/MF that launches from
“They may send fighters if you get this close,” warned Stoner. “The Chinese aren’t known for subtlety.”
“I’ve gone through it with my guys. They know to ignore the fighters,” said Zen. They were standing in the main room of the Whiplash security trailer, which doubled as a home-away-from-home sit room. Live connections to Dreamland, and from there to the rest of the world, were just a hot key away. “Only way we’re going to get their attention is if we’re obnoxious.”
“If it’s Chinese, yes,” said Stoner.
“Only one way to find out,” said Dog. “Are you sure your guys can handle the decoy?” he asked Zen. Neither of the new Flighthawk pilots had ever seen combat.
“All they have to do is fire the missile and hang on. We’re starting them off slow,” said Zen.
“Slow to us, but not the Chinese,” said Stoner. “Hainan is part of their country. It would be like going over Staten Island.”
“Worse case, Starship puts the Flighthawk on automatic and follows
“I don’t think I’ll have to,” said Alou.
“I’ll be watching from
Dog looked over the charts. Hainan was a large island below the Chinese Mainland across from northern Vietnam; its western shores edged the Gulf of Tonkin. The clone had appeared to the southeast of Hainan on the earlier mission. Zen and Stoner were theorizing that the clone was based northeast of there, and so its flight path would inevitably cross close to
The techies had made a few small tweaks to
Dog looked down at the charts, sorting out possible bases. Southern China was regularly covered by a variety of systems, from optical satellites to RC-135 launcher trackers. How could a UAV base be missed or overlooked?
“What if this came off a ship?” he said.
“The Chinese carriers were under surveillance the whole time,” said Zen.
“Not a carrier,” said Dog. He leaned over the map, practically putting his face on it. “There were plenty of ships that would be within range.”
“Their destroyers, their patrol ships — everything was covered,” said Zen. “The Navy wouldn’t miss something like that.”
“What if you launched from a civilian ship?” asked Dog. “Is it possible?”
“You tell me,” said Stoner.
“You’d need some sort of catapult system,” said Zen. “Even then, it might be hard. One of the reasons the Flighthawks are air-launched is the stealthy characteristics would make it difficult for them to get airborne in a short distance. Besides, those other ships are not Chinese.”
“Maybe it’s not Chinese,” said Stoner.
“You could overcome the launch limitations,” said Dog. “Part of the reason the Flighthawks are air-launched has to do with their mission, working with EB-52s. There are other ways to go.”
“Sure,” said Zen. “Hell, anything’s possible, at least until we see what we’re dealing with.”
“Well, hopefully that happens today. You coming with us?” Dog asked Stoner.
“I have some people to talk to here,” said Stoner. “Zen said he didn’t need me.”
“I got it covered.”
Zen and Stoner still weren’t getting along, although to their credit they hadn’t let whatever personal animosity was between them get in the way of the mission.
Yet.
Colonel Bastian checked his watch. It wasn’t quite seven-thirty A.M. here, which would make it about 1530 or three-thirty in the afternoon the day before back home. He needed to check in with a whole roster of people back at Dreamland — Major Catsman, Ax, Danny Freah, and Rubeo — before the flight briefings. He was also supposed to update Jed Barclay, though that could wait until he was aboard
He also wanted to give Jennifer another try. She hadn’t answered any of his calls.
“Are we set?” Zen asked.
Dog took another look at the map. It bothered him that he had an inexperienced man running the Flighthawk that would cross over Chinese territory, but tracking the clone definitely called for someone of Zen’s skill. And the EB-52s had different specialties, so they couldn’t be easily swapped.
The thing to do, Colonel Bastian realized, was to switch places with Alou. This way, if things got too hairy with the Chinese in the early going, he’d be there to take care of it.
Made sense. He ought to be the guy with his neck on the line.
“I’m going to take
“Your call, Colonel,” said Alou. “One way or the other’s fine with me.”
Dog nodded. Alou was typical of a certain type of officer common in the Air Force. Easygoing and generally quiet, they were pros who tended to do their jobs without much flash or complaint. They didn’t have the balls-out aggressive manner of a Mack Smith or a Zen before his accident — or even a Colonel Bastian, for that matter. But their steady approach and calm demeanor would generally carry the day when the mud hit the fan. Most of them, certainly Alou, didn’t lack for personal courage; they just didn’t strut about it.
“All right,” Dog said. “I have to go talk to the folks at home. I’ll see you in a half hour or so.”
