"We consider this is a slice of Russia in the middle of Central America," Tret'yak said with a smile. "You will be home soon.

Until then, this base and all its personnel are at your disposal, and I will see to it that you are treated in recognition of your feat." Tret'yak was bobbing around like a young flying cadet, showing his excitement at meeting Maraklov. "Tell me about your flight, and all about this magnificent aircraft. I took the liberty of inspecting it this morning. It seems a fantastic ma- chine, no doubt the fighter of tomorrow . . . We must talk about your flight over breakfast."

"Thank you, sir. I could go for some coffee and breakfast before we begin DreamStar's preparations for the flight back-"

"Oh, we will see to that, Colonel. It is already being done."

Maraklov stared at Tret'yak. "What? You-?- "Under orders from Moscow, we have already begun the pro- cess of dismantling the aircraft. In a few days it will be-"

"Dismantling DreamStar? What the hell do you mean?"

Tret'yak looked puzzled. "How else do you intend to get it out of Nicaragua? Do you intend to fly it back to Russia? It is sixteen thousand kilometers from here to Moscow, with North America on one side. the U. Navy in the center and all western Europe on the other side. I should think you would have found it dangerous enough flying a thousand kilometers across Central America. "

"But I don't know how to take it apart," Maraklov said. "I didn't bring the tech manuals with me and besides, I don't want to risk-"

"That is not our concern," Tret'yak said. "We are pilots, not mechanics. When we are in the cockpit, we are in charge. But when we are on the ground the grease-monkeys and pencil- pushers are in charge."

"That isn't some rag-wing biplane out there, General. You can't just take a, few screws out of her and fold it up. DrearnStar 236 .

may be the world's greatest jet fighter but it's as delicate as an inertial guidance computer. If it's taken apart, it will never fly again. Believe me . . . "

Tret'yak was obviously bored with the argument and anxious to hear about Maraklov's escape from the U. He shrugged.

"There are tropical-weight flight suits in the closet. Get dressed.

We'll talk."

"Sir, call off the dismantling until I can speak with Mos- cow. I don't think-"

"it is already being done, Colonel. Now-- "I said call it off, General."

Tret'yak turned and looked with astonishment at Maraklov.

He was, after all, a general. But then he softened, seeming to understand. "I know how you feel, Andrei," he said, sounding like an older brother or- father. "But these orders came directly from Kalinin himself. I must comply with them. It is an amazing war machine, I realize. You are afraid it will never fly again and I understand that-our scientists and engineers can get a little overzealous at times. They have little appreciation for what we do. But you did realize, Colonel, that they were going to get the XF-34, did you not? I cannot think of one instance where an aircraft stolen or delivered to another country in such circum- stances was not used for study and research. It certainly never flies again. True, the MiG-25 that traitor Belyenko stole from Petropavlovsk and flew to Japan twenty years ago was flown a few times, but just for-"

"They can't destroy DreamStar. It's no damn lab rat. You of all people should appreciate that. DreamStar needs to be stud- ied, true, but studied in one piece. We can train Russian pilots to fly her and develop an entire squadron of pilots who can fly her." Maraklov paused, wondering how much of this he believed, how much was his attachment to DreamStar, his communion with it. "How would you, sir, like to be the first MiG-39 Zavtra squadron commander?"

Tret'yak broke out into a grin-he'd be dead meat in a poker game, Maraklov thought. "Zavtra? Has it been given a name?"

'Not officially, sir. But the 39 series is the next to be devel- oped in both the Mikoyan-Gureyvich and Sukhoi design bureaus, and you suggested the name, sir. You said it was the fighter of tomorrow-zavtra means 'tomorrow' in English. So . . . the first fighter of tomorrow."

"Zavtra," Tret'yak said, nodding. "I like it."

Thank God, Maraklov thought, for Tret'yak's huge ego and the bits of elementary Russian that were coming back to him.

"We can paint it on the XF-34 right away, sir-with your name as commander, of course."

"This will have to be cleared through the engineer corps working on the XF-34-- "MiG-39, sir."

"Yes, the MiG-39. I will speak to people in Moscow. After breakfast." He left with a pleased smile, and Maraklov hur- riedly dressed and followed.

His apartment was in the back of a small administrative sec- tion next to the main hangar. He passed two guard posts, one outside his door and the other at the end of the corridor leading to the hangar. The last guard at the end of the corridor moved toward Maraklov and pinned a restricted area badge on his flight suit.

"Pazhallosta, vi mnyeh mozhitye pahkahzaht tvoye sahmah- 1yot, tovarisch ? " the guard asked him as he pinned the, badge on his suit.

Maraklov recognized that it was a question and made out the- word for plane, but the guard's stem voice also made it sound like a request to stay away from DreamStar. Maraklov ignored it, turned and walked away.

The guard looked at him. Another stuck-up pilot, he thought.

All he did was ask him if he could take a closer look at his fighter.

The hotshot didn't even answer him. Maybe he really was more American than Russian now, like some were saying . . .

Maraklov had to strain to hold back his anger when he saw DreamStar. They had, indeed, wasted no time. Every access panel and maintenance door had been opened. External power was on the aircraft-and judging by the size and high-pitched whining sound of the power cart it was probably supplying the wrong frequency. DreamStar's electrical system would kick off external power if there was any danger of damage, but if those engineers forced the circuit closed it could do irreparable dam- age. Then they would have to ship it out of Nicaragua.

Tret'yak was returning from the administrative offices wearing a big smile. "Damn you, Colonel," he said with mock irrita- tion, "you have got to learn Russian again so I can stop with this damned English . . . I have a call in to Moscow outlining 238 .

your concerns about dismantling the MiG-39. I expect an answer in an hour. Meanwhile I have no choice but to continue with my orders, the dismantling must proceed.

Maraklov heard it like a stab in the heart, but there appeared nothing he could do-for now. "I understand. However, sir in the future I would like to be present while any work at ali is being done on Zavtra."

"Granted. I understand how you feel. Having these cavemen tear into a pilot's airplane is like watching your mistress out with another man-you want to tear the man's eyes out but there's nothing you can do about it."

Maraklov had to suppress a smile. Tret'yak was straight out of central casting, a real anachronism. But at least for now he was dazzled enough by Andrei Maraklov, his aircraft and his feat in flying to Nicaragua that he was being cooperative. But that wouldn't last long if Moscow insisted on ripping DreamStar apart.

If orders came to go on dismantling DrearriStar, Maraklov thought, as Tret'yak led him away to the chow hall, he would have to think of something else. Something drastic. He didn't rescue DrearnStar from mothballs in the U. to have it become heaps of fibersteel and electronics scattered around laboratories all across eastern Europe. DreamStar didn't deserve to die. At least not without a fight . . .

Washington, D.

"All our ground security units and anti-air missile units were at full readiness and responded properly," General Brad Elliott was saying. "The XF-34A was able to elude all of our area defenses, which is what the aircraft was designed to do, and it evaded or defended itself against all other airborne interceptor units . . .

"The responsibility for the loss of the XF-34 is mine. It was my responsibility to make sure that personnel assigned to HAWC had the proper background investigations and security checks; it was my responsibility to secure our aircraft against attack, sab- otage or theft. And it was my responsibility to do everything in my power to repel any attacks or hostile actions against person- nel and resources in my center .

The President sat at his desk in the Oval Office, listening to Elliott's mea culpa. With him was the Attorney General, Rich- ard Benson, his brother-in-law and, it was said, closest adviser; Paul Cesare, the President's Chief of Staff; Army General Wil- liam Kane, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; General Martin Board, Air Force Chief of Staff; William Stuart, Secre- tary of Defense; Deborah O'Day, the National Security Adviser; and Speaker of the House and ranking congressional Democrat Christopher Van Keller, another close adviser and personal friend of President Lloyd Taylor.

"Your ground forces-you said you had two armed combat vehicles on the ramp at the time, " Attorney General Benson said, "and you still couldn't stop that aircraft?"

"That's correct."

"What are these vehicles armed with?"

"Twelve-point-three-millimeter-half-inch-heavy machine guns. They also carry two armed security troops. They're an-ned with standard M-16 rifles. Some have M-203 infantry grenade launchers as well."

"And with all that they were ineffective?"

"Yes." It was the n-th time he had heard the word "ineffec- tive" during this half-hour briefing, along with "incompetent"

and "irresponsible." - . - "But the infiltrators set up remote- controlled mortars with concussion grenade rounds," Elliott added. "They were relatively light ordnance, but at close range and against soldiers on foot they were very effective. It gave James enough time to taxi away and take off."

"Kenneth James?" Defense Secretary Stuart said. "You mean Colonel Andrei Ivanschichin Maraklov.- Stuart fixed an angry stare at Elliott. "Well, at least this happened out in Dreamland, we have a chance of keeping it out of the press. I've had my staff scan James' records and they're squeaky-clean as far back as we can go. But that's the bad news. We didn't start keeping close personal records on him until he applied for admission to the Air Force Academy. It's hard to believe, but I think this Maraklov was inserted then, as a cadet. He apparently worked his way through the system and found himself in Dream- land-- "A nd as the test pilot for our most high-tech aircraft," Ben- son added. "A goddamned Russian spy flying our best fighter for two years .

240 .

be And you take responsibility for this James, or Maraklov, ing in your organization, General Elliott?" the President said.

Yes, sir." Elliott had rehearsed a series of explanations in his mind-the fact that Maraklov had eluded ten years of De- partment of Defense security investigations before coming to Drearnland being the chief argument-but instead he said, "If I had uncovered Maraklov's infiltration earlier, the XF-34 wouldn't be in Soviet hands now."

"I agree," the President said. "Although the problem obvi- ously began well before Maraklov entered your organization, Drearnland is the most sensitive research installation we have.

You have security measures and procedures available to you that air not available to other commanders. But even with all these measures, you failed to present this. And that resulted in the deaths of eleven military and civilian personnel, the loss of two fighter aircraft and one B-52 bomber, millions of dollars of dam- age and the theft of a hugely valuable experimental fighter."

Taylor paused, made a note in his desk book. "But my pre- decessor here held you in very high regard, General. He made a point of recommending that I allow Dreamland to remain in operation and under your command, even after your injury fol- lowing that . . . mission to Russia. I took his advice because I knew he meant it and not because he needed a favor. I kept Dreamland open despite your enormous budget. And I kept you in charge despite numerous calls for your mandatory retirement.

You've been doing some remarkable work and up to now have a fine record, even though much of it can't be publicized . . .

Well, Dreamland and the Advanced Weapons Center is to stop operations immediately until a full investigation can be con- ducted. General Elliott, you will see to it that your unit is prop- erly closed and secured so that any evidence is kept intact. When the investigation is convened you will provide any and all assis- tance asked for. When the investigation is finished . . . I'm sorry to say I will accept your request for retirement."

Elliott said nothing.

"The Mexican government was demanding I hand over your head on a platter for sending that F- 15 into their airspace without permission. You can thank the Speaker here for defusing that one. "

"Deborah O'Day did the legwork," Speaker Van Keller said.

Elliott turned to look at the fiftyish, very attractive National 241.

Security Adviser. Deborah O'Day ... she'd had a career that Elliott had always found amazing for a woman, even in the eighties and nineties-a former professor at the Center for Stra- tegic Studies in Washington, former Ambassador to the United Nations during the previous administration, and the first woman to hold the position as special assistant to the President on na- tional security matters. It had been rumored that her appointment had been made only because of political expediency-Taylor was still a chauvinist of the fifties and figured he needed a woman on his White House staff for show-but O'Day had surprised him with her talent, insight and take-charge attitude. She nodded slightly to Elliott, who was surprised to see a friendly reaction in that place.

"I thought the Mexican government was dragging their heels in allowing us permission to pursue the XF-34 into their air- space," O'Day said. "I reminded the commander of Mexican air defense forces of the times their pilots have crossed into our airspace and even landed in our airports, supposedly by mistake. "

Chief of Staff Cesare broke in: "But it made the President look bad, not only in their eyes but in the eyes of the world.

One hotshot Reserve fighter pilot was bad enough, and he got himself killed. Then we send another plane, and he almost gets killed. The whole incident makes the Air Force look like Key- stone Kops in flight suits, and it made the White House look like we weren't in control."

"Not to mention that relations are bad enough between us and Mexico," Secretary of Defense Stuart said, "without us shooting missiles all over their territory. "

General Kane, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, turned to Gen- eral Board. "I expect to see the discharge papers on those crew- men that violated Mexican airspace.

Board nodded unhappily.

"That would be unwise, sir," Elliott said to the President.

What the hell, he might as well speak up . . . "The first two F-15 pilots were following orders by going along with their for- mation leader. They're trained not to leave their leader's wing under any circumstances, and especially if they're involved in a hostile situation. They turned back as soon as they lost their leader, as ordered. The crew of Cheetah, were following my orders. After DreamStar downed the F-15s, I knew that the advanced-technology F-15 from Drearnland was the only fighter 242 .

capable of going head-to-head with the XF-34, so I ordered Cheetah armed, to pursue DreamStar at best speed."

"General Elliott," Secretary Stuart said, "do you think you have your own private air force out there? You don't order an attack on an enemy airfield, the President of the United states does that. You don't authorize military forces to cross a foreign border, the President does "There wasn't time to get permission, Mr. Secretary. If we wanted DreamStar back, Cheetah was our best hope. There wasn't time to debate the question-"

'Wasn't time'? That's bullshit, General. You don't ignore the military chain of command because you think you don t have the time. What was next-bomb Mexico for letting that plane get away? Nuke Mexico City?"

Deborah O'Day spoke up. "I'm familiar with General El- liott's record and I think he acted at least understandably. If his crewmen could have stopped DreamStar they and he would have been called heroes. He took a risk, it almost paid off . . . The question is, what do we do about DreamStar now?"

"Do we even know precisely where this DreamStar is right now?" the President asked.

"We tracked it almost its entire flight," General Board said, -via the Reserve 707 AWACS at first, then by an advanced 767 AWACS launched from Oklahoma and patrolling off-shore over the Gulf. The XF-34 successfully evaded attack by Mexican and Honduran fighter patrols, with a little help from Nicaraguan in- terceptors, and it landed in Nicaragua."

Board nodded to an assistant who put a mounted chart of Central America up on an easel in the center of the Oval Office.

"The fighter was last seen on radar somewhere north of Mana- gua. We believe it's being kept at a small, isolated valley airbase fifty miles north of Managua called Sebaco. The base is run by the Soviet military-more specifically, by the KGB.- He turned to the President. "Sir, I've ordered satellite recon- naissance of the area. Photo observation by aircraft would be a good idea too, perhaps by the old SR-71 Blackbird still operated by the CIA, but Managua is heavily defended by anti-aircraft artillery and missiles and is a riskier operation. A soft probe is also recommended. "

"A 'soft probe.' You mean agents?"

243.

"CIA has assets in Managua that can possibly get close enough to verify that the XF-34 is at Sebaco," Board said.

"And if they do? Let's say they have it at Sebaco, or in Managua. We're sure as hell not going to go in with the Eighty- second Airborne or the Atlantic Second Fleet and start a war to retrieve a jet fighter .

"Excuse me, sir," Elliott said, "but it's not just another jet fighter.

"Hold it. Hold on one minute, General," the President said.

"I was waiting for you to say that. Let me tell you fight now, General, and all of you in this room-that XF-34 is just another jet fighter in the large scheme of things. It's not some magical war machine, no matter how advanced it is. It's very important, damn fight, but the United States won't start a shooting war with the Soviets or anybody else over this aircraft. Sure, the sonofa- bitches infiltrated our base, stole that plane, killed our people.

We'll lodge protests, we'll demand the plane back, we'll coerce and threaten as much as possible. I'm betting they'll deny havi ing it. They can stall forever by denying everything we say. Even if we have pictures, they can say the photos were faked. And if we do produce irrefutable evidence, they'll have a propaganda field day 'Soviet agent infiltrates top-secret American mili- I.

tary base, steals top-secret experimental aircraft.' The condem- nation of them will be more than drowned out by the laughing aimed at us. "

Elliott hoped he never needed to look at that much of the so- called big picture. God "We can't let them get away with it," he persisted.

"They have gotten away with it, General Elliott," the Pres- ident said. "For all we know they could be taking it apart right now and shipping it off to Moscow. What would you have us do? Intercept every ship, every aircraft, every submarine that leaves Nicaragua, board and search for a component to a fighter plane? Face it, Elliott-you lost it. We lost it, The President glared at Elliott's taut face, shook his head.

"I'll ask Dennis Danahall at State to lodge a stiff protest with the Soviets. We do have that tape of that agent-what's his name?

Maraklov . . . ? admitting he was a KGB agent."

"The KGB will say he was just a nut-case American soldier,"

General Kane said, "claiming to be a Russian spy. We've had our share .

244 .

"I'm still going to order Dennis to protest this incident in the strongest language. I'll ask for the return of the aircraft and compensation to the families of the crew on that B-52 and the fighters that were shot down during the chase. I want some op- tions we can use in case, when they give us the runaround. We can threaten to cancel our participation in that joint trip to Mars in 1998 . . . I was never in favor of that cockeyed idea anyway.

And we can-"

"We've already made a substantial commitment to the Mars project, Lloyd," Richard Benson said.

"Well, State has got to think of something to back up our protest. Kick out some of their embassy staff, raid one of their consulates . . . "