Dale Brown's Dreamland--Strike Zone
Page 31
“Says you.”
“You sound like a pessimist, Mr. Delaney.”
The copilot laughed. “Guess I am.”
Dog checked in with Jed Barclay back in D.C. “We have one last flight to look at. IDs have come back good and it looks like it’s clean. More than likely they never had a bomb to begin with.”
“That’s a relief,” said Jed.
“Sure is,” said Dog.
On the Ground in Kaohisiung
0330
STONER PAID NOattention to the noise in the hall, figuring it was Danny coming for him. He continued to work at the documents; they were a kind of personal history, detailing Professor Ai’s mother’s flight from the Mainland.
Ai didn’t want to take back China so much as destroy it. His mother had been accused of being a whore or traitor—the words weren’t clear to him.
“Mr. Stoner,” said one of the Whiplash troopers from down the hall.
“Yo!” yelled Stoner.
Boston trotted into the room, two Marines in tow.
Stoner looked up from the desk. “I need to talk to Captain Freah.”
“Gotta come up to do it. We’re not in line of sight, and we’re too deep under the concrete for the sat transmission. That would be why your radio didn’t work,” the sergeant added.
Stoner smiled. He realized he hadn’t even tried it.
“Mr. Stoner?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Hang on a second. Let me finish this one section here. Then we gotta go find your boss. Quickly.”
AboardRaven
0330
WITH THEF-8IISon a northern intercept, Zen turnedHawk Four onto their noses and changedHawk Three ’s course so he could fly by the 767 and continue out toward them. He was at 35,000 feet, about 8,000 higher than his target but lower than the Chinese Communist planes. He pushed his nose down slightly, figuring he would ride just above the airliner, close enough to get a good view but still give himself room to react to the Mainlanders.
The image of the 767 appeared in his screen, synthesized first by the long-range radar. He switched back to infrared, getting the now-familiar blur. The computer counted down the intercept in the lower left-hand side of the screen, time over miles. As he passed the five-mile mark, he saw the faint glow of the cabin lights.
“Looks like passengers aboard,” he told Dog.
DOG ACKNOWLEDGED ANDglanced at Delaney, who was already looking at him, probably ready with another warning about their dwindling fuel.
Before the copilot could do that, Danny Freah interrupted on the Dreamland Command frequency.
“Go ahead, Danny.”
“I have Stoner here. He has more information.”
There was a pause, some static on the line.
“Colonel, I found some sort of document here prepared by the man who did most of the work on the UAV and some weapons. They do have a nuke.”
“You sure?”
“Oh yeah. It’s not an ordinary nuke—it’s a neutron bomb. A scientist named Ai Hira Bai developed it. I’m looking at what I guess you’d call kind of his life story. I haven’t translated everything. It’s kind of rambling about his past and family and the Japanese. He was close to Chen Lee, but apparently Chen Lee died.”
“When?”
“Not clear. Recently, according to this. My guess is that if they have a bomb they’ll try to detonate it over the capital, kill the Chinese leadership. They’ll take out the leaders but spare the buildings. I’m pretty sure about that.”
“Thanks for the advice,” said Dog.
“One other thing—they have two bombs, not one.”
“Two? You’re sure?”
“The symbol for two happens to be one of the first things I ever learned,” he said. “Looks like two missiles in a box. Yeah, I’m sure.”
Aboard Island Flight A101
0331
PROFESSORAI FELTthe sweat starting to pour down the back of his neck. He was not worried about death; he was concerned with failure. They must launch the dragon plane with its bomb now, or they would fail. The communists and the Americans were too close.
“It is time,” he told Chen Lo Fann through the aircraft’s radio. “We must act.”
“Yes. Launch the plane.”
Ai went through the procedure quickly, directing the pilot to begin his descent only a few seconds after he had ascertained all was ready.
The small UAV fell free of the wing. Ai’s hands shook as he watched the plane’s progress on his computer screen.
He tapped the command and severed the communications tie. The computer program aboard the UAV would carry it on its way.
Now he could carry out his own plan.
“Change course,” he told the pilot, giving him new coordinates. Then he got up to go to the back of the aircraft.
“HE’S DIRECTING USto Shanghai,” the pilot told Chen Lo Fann.
“Why?”
“He did not say.”
Chen Lo Fann sat back a moment, trying to puzzle out what Ai was doing. The UAV had been programmed to fly to the capital on its own; it no longer needed guidance. But what was Ai up to?
And then Chen Lo Fann realized.
“There’s another bomb on the plane,” he told the pilot, unsnapping his restraints.
AboardRaven
0332
THE WING OFthe plane seemed to catch fire as Zen approached. The 767 bucked downward and then up, and his first thought was that it had been hit by a missile he hadn’t seen.
Then he realized what was really going on.
“Hawk leader—we have a launch from the airliner,” said Delaney, his voice about an octave higher than normal.
“Roger that,” said Zen. He turnedHawk Three in the direction the 767 was flying. Mainland China lay in the distance, lights glittering in the dark night.
A small circle of red exhaust slid down through the left-hand quadrant of Zen’s screen.
The clone?
Zen started to follow.
Aboard Island Flight A101
0334
CHEN FOUNDPROFESSORAi hunched over a large crate in the rear section of the aircraft behind the control deck for the UAV.
“Why didn’t you tell me there was a second bomb?”
“Your grandfather forbade it.”
“That’s not true,” said Chen Lo Fann. “My grandfather would not have done that.”
“He didn’t tell you about the first weapon,” said Ai. “Or the UAV and this plane.”
“But my grandfather would not have wanted to blow up Shanghai,” said Chen Lo Fann. “Why do you?”
Ai Hira Bai didn’t answer.
“Get away from the box,” said Chen. “We will not attack Shanghai.”
“If there is only one attack, the communists may not respond,” said Ai. “This will guarantee war, and we will win.”
“You want to destroy Shanghai. It’s where your people come from, isn’t it?”
Anger flashed in Ai’s eyes, but he said nothing.
“Away from the box,” said Chen. He took his hand out from behind his back, revealing the pistol he kept there.
“The city deserves to be destroyed,” said Ai. “Everyone who collaborated with the communists deserves to be destroyed.”
“Away from the box, or I will shoot you,” said Chen.
Ai nodded his head, and started to get up. Too late, Chen realized he too had a pistol.
The bullet tore into Chen’s left shoulder an instant before he fired his own weapon. For the first second, there was no pain. Surprised, Chen glanced at his arm, thinking Ai had somehow missed.
Then the pain came.
He fired again, but Ai had already collapsed. Chen took a step toward the scientist. The bullet had blown off a good part of his skull.
Pain seared Chen’s body, and Chen felt what his grandfather had felt before he died of the heart attack. He slipped down to his knees, his good arm grabbing at the crate that held the nuclear weapon. There was a digital arming devi
ce at the front. It blinked at him. As Chen Lo Fann tried to focus on the digits and make out the control, the pain rushed across his body.
It’s armed, he thought. Then he saw darkness and felt himself fall to the floor of the cabin.
AboardRaven
0335
“F-8S THINK IT’Sa missile,” said Delaney.
“Is it?” Dog asked.
“Not sure.”
“Can we get it with an AMRAAM-plus?”
“I can’t get a lock.”
“Get one.”
“Yes, sir.”
Dog leaned on the throttle slide, coaxing the power plants for more juice.
“Gonna screw up our fuel.”
“Mind what you’re doing,” said Dog. “Zen, we’re launching a Scorpion.”
“Roger that.”
“Bay,” said the copilot. The plane shuddered as the bomb bay door opened so the AMRAAM-plus could be fired.
“Locked—”
“Go!” said Dog.
Delaney launched. A second later, the Mainland planes turned sharply in front of them.
“They think we’re firing at them. They have ECMs active,” said Delaney. “That patrol plane over the mainland, fifty miles away—it’s some sort of airborne AWACS type, jamming.”
Dog ignored him. The techies liked to call the AMRAAM-plus guidance system “particularly robust,” meaning it was hard to jam. But the distance was another matter. The target had been over forty miles away when the missile was launched. While the air-to-air missile could hit Mach 4, it was operating at the very edge of its effective range.
“Wes, hail the pilot,” Dog said. “Tell him to turn around.”
Delaney launched a second missile, then snugged the belly of the Megafortress. The 767 was now visible inRaven ’s own infrared screen, a blur growing in the lower right-hand quadrant.
“Missile batteries coming up,” said Delaney. “We’re just about over their territory.”
“Wes?”
“Not answering.”
“Stand by.”
Dog reached to the com panel to key in Jed Barclay. He wanted the President’s direct command before proceeding. As he did, one of the equipment specialists behind Dog said something—the Taiwanese fighters were asking their base for permission to shoot down the 767.
And received it.
“Jed, here’s our situation,” he told the NSC op. “We think there are two bombs. If one is aboard the UAV, that leaves one for the 767.”
“Understood, uh, the President is on the line.”
“Colonel, stop him any way you can,” said Martindale.
“Yes, sir. Zen?”
“Hawk leader.”
Aboard Island Flight A101
0335
“HAVE YOU DONEyour duty?”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
“Your lessons are complete?”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
“Can you describe the Tao?”
The question shook Chen Lo Fann. He and his grandfather were in the midst of a large garden, with water burbling nearby. Chen was nine or ten.
“The Tao is the way,” said Chen. “The world—our fate—everything together.”
“The path we follow,” said Chen Lee.
“Yes,” said the boy.
“We will be reunited with our homeland someday,” said the old man. “But the path is not a straight one. Remember that life and death are mere steps on the path, as stones next to each other in the garden.”
The dream ended abruptly. Chen Lo Fann found himself staring at the bomb in the crate, numbers sliding away on the trigger device.
His grandfather had not wanted to blow up Shanghai; that was Professor Ai’s doing.
The digits drained to 1:00, then 0:59.
It would blow up in less than a minute.
Should he let it? Ai’s argument made some sense—two bombs would be impossible to ignore; the communists would have to respond.
But many innocent people would die.
Was Shanghai any different from Beijing?
Chen stared at the numbers.
:30
Bombing Shanghai was not his grandfather’s will. Chen Lee had made no secret of where the bomb was to be exploded.
The plane veered sharply to the left, shuddering as it turned, losing altitude.
Chen reached for the control. One of the characters on the fifteen-button panel read “Abort.”
He thought of his dream, but it provided no answers.
:10
If his grandfather had wanted to destroy Shanghai, he would have said so clearly, as he had made clear Beijing was his desired target.
:03
Chen Lo Fann reached to the device, ignoring the pain roaring in his chest and shoulder as he pushed the button.
AboardRaven
0338
ZEN HAD THEFlighthawk closing on the right wing of the 767, his targeting screen blinking yellow. He could see shadows through the windows of the plane, people moving around.
God, he thought, I’m going to kill dozens if not a hundred.
God.
What if there isn’t a bomb in that plane?
Zen had killed a fair share of people in combat, but this felt very, very different. He had no proof that there was a bomb in the airplane; Stoner had told him he thought Chen had enough material for two weapons, but that didn’t mean one was aboard the plane in front of him, or even that they had been made.
The windows seemed to grow, though this was an optical illusion. Zen pushed his nose down, the pipper just turning red.
He had his orders, lawful orders. They had come from the President himself.
What justification was that if he killed innocent men and women and children?
The pipper blinked. Zen pressed the trigger.
Three seconds later, his stream of bullets ignited one of the wing tanks of the 767.
“BOTH SCORPION AMRAAMSmissed,” said Delaney. “I’m having trouble picking him up—the Chinese are jamming us, or trying to.”
“Hang with it,” said Dog. He checked the sitrep; they were about thirty seconds from crossing into Chinese airspace; in fact,Hawk Four already had.
“Now that they know we’re here, they’re going to use our radar to home in on us,” said Delaney. “If we turn it off, they’ll have a much harder time finding us.”
“Can we follow the UAV without the radar?” asked Dog.
“No. There’s no signal coming from the ghost clone for us to follow,” said Delaney.
“Then we’re going to have to leave the radar on.”
“Fan Song radar dead ahead,” said Deci Gordon. “We’re going to fly right over it. They’ll see us.”
“Jam it when it does,” said Dog.
“Flight identified as Island Flight A101 is on fire and descending toward the ocean,” reported Zen. His voice was as cold as the computer’s synthesized tones.
“Can you getHawk Four on the UAV?” asked Dog.
“Those F-8s are coming for us,” warned Delaney.
“Zen, you’re going to have to shoot down the UAV,” repeated Dog.
“Roger that.”
Dreamland
1240
JENNIFER STARED ATthe large screen at the front of the room. The Megafortress and its two Flighthawks were crossing into Chinese Mainland territory.
They were already being targeted by ground radars, surface-to-air missiles, interceptors—even a Megafortress couldn’t survive the onslaught.
God, she thought, let him live. Let him live.
She did love him. Even if he had failed her, she did love him.
“Jen, this is Dog,” he said to her.
“I love you,” she said, thinking it was a dream.
“The programming you uploaded earlier. Can we use it?”
It wasn’t a dream—he was talking to her. Jennifer felt her face flush deep red.
But there was no time to be embarrassed.
“You have to
be within twenty miles. No, wait.” Her mind wasn’t clear. She shook her head, reached to pull her hair back behind her ear.
Nothing.
“The mother ship, you destroyed it. The UAV will be on its own. It’ll default—we may not be able to take it over.”
“How close do we have to be?”
“Twenty miles,” said Jennifer. “But listen, if it’s on default—it probably won’t deviate from its course once it’s set. But you can try it.”
“Understood. Thanks,” said Dog. “And I love you too.”
AboardRaven
0342
ZEN HAD TWOtasks—protect the Megafortress from the F-8s, and overtake the ghost clone.
Fortunately, he had two planes.
He let the computer takeHawk Four in pursuit of the UAV, using the information piped down to the computer fromRaven ’s sensors. In the meantime, he putHawk Three on the noses of the two communist interceptors. They were swinging east to set up a rear-quarter attack, obviously planning on using their superior speed to close the gap behind the big American plane. Zen had to hang back and wait for them to get closer, his need to stay tethered to the Megafortress limiting his options. The Chinese defenses were handicapped byRaven ’s near-stealth profile, but its need to use the powerful search radar to find the UAV, and the fact that it had to fly a more or less straight line, nearly canceled that advantage completely. Once they were in the general area of the Megafortress, the F-8s could useRaven ’s radar as a beacon to show them where the plane was.
“Missiles!” said Delaney as the Chinese planes began to close in. A pair of radar homers had been kicked off from the lead F-8 at about thirty miles—probably too far to hit them, but they couldn’t take a chance.
The Megafortress’s ECM blared, not only killing the guidance systems in the missiles but giving the Shenyang pilots fits as well. Zen started an intercept that would allow him to slap the lead bandit with a cannon burst, then dip his wing and take on the wingmate.
The lead F-8 came on faster than he expected, its Liyang turbojet obviously feeling its oats. Zen got a shot, but just barely. The computer helped him put the bullets out in front of the Mainlander—in effect, the Chinese pilot ran into them. He got a hit, but it wasn’t enough to stop the plane.
It was too late to worry about it. He tucked his wing, the targeting screen going yellow as the second F-8 flew into range.