Wings Of Fire

by Dale Brown

  "Not for long," Khan said angrily. "Issue an order to the Ministry of Defense, stating that the Supreme Judiciary dismisses Baris from his post immediately in the interest of national security. He is suspected of masterminding the assassination of President Salaam and inciting a military coup. Have him arrested and Mrs. Salaam arrested as well.. . ." Then he thought better of the political ramifications of that and said, "Better yet, have her taken into protective custody. Do it right now." Khan picked up the telephone. "This is Ulama al-Khan, chief justice of the Supreme Judiciary. Is this Vice Marshal Ouda?"

  "Yes, Holiness."

  "You will tell me everything you know about what has gone on out there, Vice Marshal, and you will do it quickly" Khan ordered.

  He did-and Khan couldn't believe what he heard. "They are still here, Holiness," Ouda concluded. "They have virtual free run of my base, thanks to General Baris. He has ordered my intelligence directorate to turn over the latest intelligence information on hundreds of military sites in Libya. They fly aircraft in and out of here almost hourly, everything from light jets to medium transports. These are the same men who commandeered one of my warships! How dare Salaam and Baris give them all that material and then harbor them on my base without even consulting me?"

  "Baris and Salaam gave them classified information?" Khan couldn't believe what he was hearing.

  "Yes, Holiness. The latest information we have. Mountains of it! Most of the data dealt with Libyan defenses and installations-"

  "Anything on Egyptian installations?"

  "Some, Holiness. Overhead photos of some of our bases, easily obtainable commercially."

  "But are they classified photos?"

  "We classify all photos we obtain for three months, sir."

  "Then Salaam and Baris gave the Americans classified information?"

  "Well, technically, the photos are not-"

  "Yes or no, Ouda?"

  "Yes, Holiness. We classified the photos 'Confidential,' but only because-"

  "It doesn't matter," Khan said. "General Baris violated the law by turning over classified information to foreign nationals. You will do everything you can to stop those men, Vice Marshal. They are a threat to Egypt and to our peace and security. Use every man and woman on your base, or get more men-I don't care if you take every soldier in your district, but you will not allow those men to leave. And if Salaam or Baris returns to your base, you will place them both into custody. Do you understand?"

  Khan didn't wait for Ouda to respond, but hung up the phone. "Major! Get in here!" he shouted. When-Gheit re-

  turned, he said, "Get the king of Libya on the phone immediately-and have Salaam and Baris found and arrested immediately!"

  TONOPAH TEST RANGE, NEVADA THAT SAME TIME

  The security checks and identification procedures took unusually longer than normal for one simple reason: None of the security officers or their U.S. Air Force supervisors had ever processed a security clearance on a nine-year-old before. But Kelsey Duffield kept her amused, sincere smile and bubbly personality despite all the probes, pat-downs, questions, and the double and triple takes as they proceeded past the several layers of security.

  Helping occupy Kelsey's attention was one of the female security guards, who identified herself only as Sandy, a small but very beautiful woman appropriately dressed in sand-colored battle dress uniform, web harness, desertweight boots, desert hat and aviator sunglasses, and carrying an Uzi submachine gun. Accompanying Sandy was her partner, one of the largest Doberman pinschers Kelsey had ever seen. It was lean, muscular, angular, and lithe in every movement it made. Its face never changed expression, but it was soon evident that the dog's demeanor could be judged by the position of its long, regal, pointed, cropped ears: When the ears were pointed straight up and motionless it was locked onto its prey; when they swiveled around like radar dishes it was hunting, searching; and when the ears were down, it was sorry for not paying attention.

  Kelsey saw the big dog and instantly fell in love. When she tried to go over to it, the big dog's ears drooped, and its little stubby docked tail actually seemed to wag, but Sandy motioned her away. "Stay away, little girl," she said sternly.

  "But why?" Kelsey asked.

  "We call her the Alpha Bitch," Jon offered. Sandy made a scolding expression toward him, and he smiled back. "Not Sandy; the dog, Sasha. She was trained by the best

  military working dog schools in the world-right here at Tonopah. She is the most protective dog I've ever seen-I think she'd kill anyone who tried to lay on hand on Sandy. I've seen her in training: She can climb a two-story-tall vertical ladder, drag a two-hundred-pound man, and open doors with her jaws. I've also seen that dog eat-she devours two cans of dog food in two bites." He smiled at Sandy again and quipped, "Still can't find a date yet, eh, Sandy?" The guard said nothing, only smiled evilly. Kelsey waved good-bye to Sasha as they proceeded on, and Sasha seemed to be disappointed she was leaving.

  With Kelsey was her mother, Cheryl, being escorted by Jon and Helen Masters. Although Cheryl was patient throughout the several-hours-long process, at the end of it all her patience was definitely wearing thin. "Is all this security absolutely necessary?" she asked as they finally cleared the last checkpoint and walked inside the facility toward one of the large steel hangars.

  "You should know better than to ask, Cheryl," Helen responded.

  "But we have Top Secret clearances. ..."

  "That's just for you" Helen explained. "These procedures are for this area-it's different. There is another set of security procedures once we actually get to the specific project-they won't be as difficult as those were, but you will have to submit to them as well, each and every time. The procedures change depending on which area we're going to and which projects are active, so they might be easier or harder next time-"

  "Harder?"

  "This isn't even the worst of it," Jon added. "Hangar Seven-Alpha's classification is only Secret. If you want to go to the Top Secret areas, it'll be an extra hour. Heck, we've gone through three hours of in-processing just to pick up a can of soda because the ice chest was in the wrong lab."

  "How do you get any work done?"

  "You get used to it," Helen said. "You just budget your time accordingly. You learn not to come out here unless

  you've lined up an entire day or more of work, and you stay until the work gets done. We sleep out here all the time. You ask why we invest in the best computers, why we buy two or three systems when we only need one, and don't use leased equipment-this is part of the reason. Getting a service tech to come out here would be impossible, and it takes even longer to get clearance for a piece of electronic equipment to come in here than it does a person-every diode, microchip, and printed circuit board has to be checked for bugs before it comes in here."

  "This is insane," Cheryl muttered. "We've been involved with many classified projects before, and I've never seen security procedures this tight."

  "Getting a briefing or giving a talk on a classified program is one thing," Jon said. "Actually building a weapon system that won't officially exist for another five years is another."

  "This is like going to Disneyland," Kelsey exclaimed happily.

  "I love your attitude, kiddo," Jon said. Her excitement and glee, Jon had to admit, was infectious.

  The partnership deal between Jon, Helen, the shareholders of Sky Masters Inc., and Sierra Vistas Partners went through quickly and without any major glitches, once Jon was convinced it was the best for all-thanks to Kelsey. Jon and Helen Masters instantly became multimillionaires, not just on paper but in reality. The price for that newfound liquidity was twofold-having a lot of strange people working around the administration areas, and dealing with a whole new attitude from the board of directors, who overnight went from having virtually no power in the company to having the critical swing vote in every decision in the entire company. They didn't ask for information anymore-they demanded it. Memos flew, phone calls followed, and the staff was kept h
opping keeping up with requests for updates from directors and their attorneys and accountants.

  Most of Jon's day was filled with bringing Kelsey up to date on all of Sky Masters Inc.'s projects and programs, a chore that Jon actually found beneficial. Since very few en-

  gineers at the company could match Jon's intelligence and innovation, Jon rarely talked to others about his projectswhen he needed input or help, he usually had to spend more time explaining what he was trying to do. Not so with Kelsey. She listened intently, rarely took notes, could speedread a page of engineering data in just a few seconds, and always asked intelligent, relevant questions-not just on the basic science, but on future applications or future directions to push the research. Jon found that explaining a project to Kelsey actually helped him rethink the problems and discover a new approach to solving a dilemma or impasse.

  Today was the most exciting day for Kelsey-actually going out to the flight line to see some aircraft. Cheryl's only reason for going along, other than the fact she wanted to be with her daughter as much as possible, was that she had spent so long getting her special Top Secret security clearance that she thought she'd better use it. Now she was regretting that decision. They had flown the company jet from Arkansas to Tonopah Municipal Airport, and then loaded up into a company Suburban for the drive out to the Tonopah Test Range, sixty miles to the southeast along narrow, winding, cracked roads.

  "I thought we were going out to Groom Lake," Cheryl said perturbedly.

  "Not likely," Jon said. "Heck, it took me a year to go out there-and I designed a lot of the stuff they were testing out there! Helen is one of the senior engineers at the company and has been for years, and she's still never been there! As rough as you might think the security is here, it's nothing compared to ... well, out there." It was obvious Jon was uncomfortable even saying the words "Groom Lake." "Security is not just a procedure out there, or part of the cost of doing business-it's a way of life."

  "So how did that Soviet spy make it in there?" Cheryl asked. "How did-?"

  Jon suddenly turned, stepped right in front of Cheryl until he was just inches from her, and held up a finger right in front of her face. "Cheryl," he began, his voice quiet but deadly serious. His eyes were affixed directly on hers, and

  it'shocked and surprised her. "You have got to learn something right here and right now: We don't talk about stuff like that. No one does. Not here, not at the company, not anywhere, not anytime, to no one. No one."

  "It's no secret, Jon-"

  "Cheryl, listen. . . ."

  "Jon, I heard all about it at a bar in Nashville, Tennessee, during a space technology conference," Cheryl Duffield said with a nervous smile. "Why, I even heard-"

  "Cheryl!" Jon interjected-it was the most emotion he had ever displayed in front of anyone before. "Listen, Cheryl, you have got to learn something-security is not something to be taken lightly around here or most anywhere in the company. To call these guys 'sticklers' for security would be a gross understatement. A company that gets a reputation for lax security gets aced out of every single contract competition-ask Northrop, ask British Aerospace, ask any of a dozen excellent companies that had one little breach. It doesn't matter how good your product isthey'll blackball you in a heartbeat."

  He pointed to a tiny white box on the side of a hangar several dozen yards away. "This place is totally wired for sound-I should know, because I designed most of the systems they use here. We are constantly being scanned for bugs, weapons, recording devices, explosives, stolen components, tracers, communications equipment, chemicals, microwaves-you name it.

  "Every word you or I say is recorded and electronically transcribed and analyzed, and any keywords found in the transcript sends a security flag all the way up to FBI, CIA, DIA, and a dozen other government and military security and intelligence agencies in Washington for follow-up," he went on. "You say the word 'Soviet,' 'bar,' and 'Nashville' in a sentence, and in two days the FBI will have launched an entire investigation of you, all your acquaintances, all the circumstances surrounding your presence at that bar in Nashville, and any other permutation of those words they can think of-and believe me, you'll be shocked at the shit they'll come up with."

  "Jon, don't you think you're exaggerating just a little?" Cheryl asked with an exasperated smile. "I've been involved with some of the most sensitive and intensive security systems out there too, and I've never heard of any of that stuff. And why would they be scanning employees out here in the open for things they just got through checking us for at the entrance? And besides . .." Just then, Jon put his head down and muttered something under his breath. "What did you say, Jon?"

  Moments later they heard, "Hands in the air, all of you!" Cheryl turned and saw a soldier in strange pixilated black, silver, and gray fatigues and helmet aiming an M-16 assault rifle at them from the corner of a building. The strange outfit made him blend in extraordinarily well with the buildings and the shadows at the same time.

  "What in the world are you doing? How dare you!"

  "I said, hands in the air!" the soldier shouted again.

  Jon and Helen raised their hands high. Cheryl grabbed Kelsey as another soldier appeared and aimed his weapon as well. Kelsey giggled and raised her arms too. "Cheryl, I strongly advise you to do as they say, right now" Helen said. She turned to her husband, wilted inside when she saw his "I-told-you-so" smile, and asked perturbedly, "Jon, what did you say?"

  "I said, 'Cheryl, are those bombs under your bra there?'"

  "Oh, my God," Helen moaned. "This is not going to be pretty."

  It wasn't. Three hours later, including over one hour being individually interrogated and debriefed by security personnel and another two hours going through the original searches, ID checks, and scans all over again-including more of the same astounded expressions and whispered comments about the nine-year-old, as if it was the first time they had ever seen her-the four were right back to where they were before, walking toward the large sand-colored Hangar 7A.

  "I don't think that was very funny, Dr. Masters," Cheryl finally said.

  "It wasn't meant to be funny, Cheryl," Jon said. "But it's hard to impress upon anyone how strict security is around here unless they experience it for themselves. Besides, I'll bet you've never been strip-searched before-it'll make you really watch your p's and q's from now on, not just in here but everywhere."

  "Jon, this is not funny. Those security people stripsearched and X-rayed my daughter."

  "It's not over, Cheryl-in fact, it's only begun," Jon said, his voice turning serious again. "Your life will not be your own until what you're about to see, and every piece of technology associated with it in any way, has been declassified for at least five years. And we're only going into the Secret area-if you go into the Top Secret or higher areas, you, your entire family, and all your known associates will be under constant scrutiny until you all die-plus five years. It's the way it is from now on."

  They entered the big hangar, submitted-more humbly this time-to yet another battery of checks and searches, and then proceeded inside. Two dark gray military aircraft filled the hangar; several smaller aircraft and air-launched weapons were on the hangar floor, all closely guarded by Air Force and company security guards, watching not only the hardware and the visitors but one another as well.

  "Here they are, ladies-Sky Masters Inc.'s latest air combat projects, in advanced R and D or initial deployment," Jon said proudly. "The little ones first." He stepped over to the first weapon. 'This is the FlightHawk, our multi-purpose unmanned combat air vehicle. He can do anything a combat aircraft can do-dogfighting, bombing, reconnaissance, minelaying, anything-and do it completely autonomously.

  "This is Wolverine, smaller, faster, and much more maneuverable than FlightHawk, primarily designed for standoff attack missions against multiple heavily defended targets-it can outmaneuver even a Patriot missile. It has three weapon sections where it can carry a variety of pay-

  loads, including thermium nitrate
explosive, developed by us, which have ten times the explosive power of TNT by weight. It also uses imaging infrared seeker and millimeterwave radar for terminal guidance and reattacks. This is Anaconda, our hypersonic long-range air-to-air missile.

  "Over there, with all the extra guards around it, is Lancelot, our air-launched near-space weapon," Jon went on. "It has a three-stage throttleable solid-rocket motor that gives it a range of over three hundred miles in a ballistic flight path or over one hundred miles in altitude in an antisatellite attack profile. They have extra guards because of Lancelot's warhead: It carries the plasma-yield warhead. It's most effective above thirty thousand feet, which makes it a perfect antiballistic missile and antisatellite weapon, but we can get a one-quarter- to one-half-kiloton-equivalent yield even at sea level. At higher altitudes, the plasma field created by the explosion is electronically selectable in both yield and size-at maximum yield it can destroy a target twice the size of the International Space Station, and at maximum size it can disrupt the flight path of incoming nuclear warheads spread out over four hundred thousand cubic miles of space. The plasma field does not just destroy a target: It converts it into a state of matter that exists in nature for only billionths of a second-or in the center of a sun.

  "All of these weapons are designed to be carried by our combat aircraft, but they can be fitted to be carried by just about any combat-coded aircraft-even transport planes. You probably saw our DC-10 test aircraft outside-we can carry up to three FlightHawks or six Wolverines on board, and we can refit just about any cargo-category aircraft to launch them. The Lancelot, of course, has been deployed in the Air Reserve Forces and is fielded by the OneEleventh Bombardment Wing, which is based here for now but will soon be based up in Battle Mountain Air Force Base here in Nevada."

  He then moved over to the first warplane. "This is one of our EB-1C Vampire battleships. As you know, it's a highly modified B-1B Lancer strategic bomber. It can still carry all of the Air Force's strategic and tactical air weapons,