"I don't like this," the President said. "We're risking dozens of lives to guard against a breach of a legitimate deal with the Soviets. But like Reagan once said, 'Trust, but cut the cards.'

All right, the operation is approved, General Elliott. Provided 318 .

that we get landing rights in the Cayman Islands and Montserrat.

If we don't get authorization, your western fighters will refuel with their tanker, recover in Honduras for crew rest, then return to Panama, and the eastern fighters will stay in Puerto Rico. I'm not going to authorize extended overwater patrols. If they're allowed to recover in Georgetown on Grand Cayman, or Ply- mouth on Montserrat, I want no more than four-hour patrols over-water. I'll reserve judgment about follow-on naval opera- tions until I get a briefing from the Navy. Understood? " Curtis and Elliott quickly said it was.

"Brief your pilots that I want no interference with normal air traffic in the area," the President said. "It's probably full of high-speed jets. I don't want your people scaring any airliners or, much worse, pulling the trigger on the wrong target. Is that clear? "

"Absolutely, sir," Curtis replied.

"I'll be on board the AWACS and take on-scene control of the situation," Elliott said.

"I've heard that one before. Wilbur, I want briefings every hour once this thing kicks off, beginning first thing in the morn- ing. And be prepared to stand down your fighters if we get the right answer back from the Soviets."

"Yes, sir."

The President stood and walked out of the conference room without another word. Deborah O'Day went up to Elliott, a smile on her face.

"Thanks for the assist," Elliott said quietly.

She stepped closer. "You owe me one, Bradley Elliott. And I expect prompt repayment, in full."

Elliott studied her bright eyes, nodded.

' 'Plan on your fighters recovering in the Cayman Islands,"

she said. "The deputy governor of the Caymans happens to be an old family friend. I hope you can bring a two-seat fighter with you-he and members of his family will probably ask for a ride. He's a nut about fighters."

"I doubt this mission will turn out to be a joy-ride," Elliott said, and shut up as Wilbur Curtis joined them and they all walked down the hall from the Oval Office to O'Day's office.

Major Preston served coffee as the three took seats.

"We need to get our staffs together and fine-tune this thing, Curtis said. "Briefing the Old Man is one thing-getting two 319.

squadrons of interceptors together for an extended deployment is another." He looked at Elliott. "Problem, Brad?"

"Something doesn't make sense. " Elliott walked over to a large map of the southern United States and Central America.

"Between naval units normally on-station and our airbase in Puerto Rico, we've got the eastern Caribbean covered pretty well right now. It's the western Caribbean where we don't have enough coverage. Yet we're assuming the Russians would fly DreamStar east toward Russia."

"Naturally," Curtis replied. "Where else?"

He pointed at the map. "Cuba. Cuba is only six hundred miles from Sebaco. Once DreamStar is in Cuba . . . hell, it might as well be in Russia. We couldn't touch it there. Cuba is no Nicaragua . . . "

"But why put those external tanks on DreaniStar? " O'Day asked. "Why spend the extra time to bother?"

"I think they still intend to fly it to Russia," Elliott said. "But we caught them red-handed preparing for a long flight. They know we can close off the eastern Caribbean. For now, Cuba is a more logical destination. "

"It doesn't make sense to go to Cuba, Brad," Curtis insisted.

"Sure, they can protect it better, but Cuba is right on our back doorstep. We have round-the-clock surveillance on Cuba. If we could get the President to buy off on it, we could blockade that island by sea and air. DreamStar could never get out. Besides, we saw those extra tanks on DreamStar. Why would they waste the time putting those things on if they only intended to take it to Cuba?"

"I disagree with your assessment of Cuba's security," Elliott said. "We don't have the same military superiority we did back in the sixties-a cordon would be much more difficult. And I think the Russians realize that we aren't going to use a lot of military force to get DreaniStar back. This is an election year- they figure Taylor won't hang it out over one fighter. " He paused, then rapped his knuckles on the long, thin island south of Flor- ida. "Nope, I'm convinced-they'll take DreaniStar to Cuba instead of flying it east."

"What you're saying doesn't make sense, Brad," Curtis ar- gued. "I think we should concentrate our forces on the southern and eastern Caribbean. It would be stupid to fly to Cuba-that wouldn't get them anywhere."

320 DAIE BROWN.

Elliott was silent for a few moments, then: "All right, sir.

But we've got the eastern Caribbean covered pretty well - I'll take command of the western task force."

"The Old Man expects you to take the east."

"I only told him I'd be airborne in an AWACS-1 didn't say which one. I'll be in real-time contact with the eastern forces at all times from the AWACS out of Honduras. I'll bet my pension they try to pull a fast one on us."

"Let me assure you, Brad," Curtis said, "you are betting your pension on this one."

The Consulate of the Soviet Socialist Republics, Washington, D.

Friday, 19 June 1996, 2015 EDT (Saturday, 0415 EE7) The voice and data-scrambler system was experiencing severe distortion from solar-flare activity, but the elation in the KGB chief's voice was obvious.

"That is very good news," Kalinin said. He was sitting in the Kremlin communications center in Moscow, sipping tea and waiting impatiently for his aide, Molokov, to finish buttering a plate of pirozhoks, his favorite small turnover pastries, with fruit and creme fillings. "The Americans are obviously anxious to avoid an embarrassing conflict so close to their national elec- tions.

"The Americans may have extended their waiting period, comrade Kalinin," Vilizherchev said from Washington, sipping a snifter of brandy, "but they have certainly not relented. They are expecting a message from Moscow in no more than twelve hours agreeing not to move their aircraft out of Sebaco and agreeing to turn the aircraft over to them in five days. If you do not comply they have well-supported and vocal elements of their military that are ready to invade Sebaco and take their property back. They're led by General Bradley Elliott of their air force - "

"Elliott . . . a paper tiger, an anachronism," Kalinin said.

"Too hawkish for the current government. I estimate he will be forced to retire soon. After all, we removed the XF-34 from his base. "

"Elliott was at the White House tonight," Vilizherchev said.

"Apparently he was the one who staged the overflight at Sebaco I-.

321.

today. If he has fallen from grace in the eyes of Taylor's gov- ernment, they are hiding it very well."

"Don't worry about Elliott-- "I am not worried about him," Vilizherchev said. "I am concerned about you, sir. On your behalf I agreed to take their message to my government. The Americans are expecting a re- ply. But I sense that you are unconcerned about any possible agreements and that you plan to take that aircraft out of Nica- ragua regardless of any tentative agreements . . ."

"You will be vindicated in this, Sergei," Kalinin said. "The aircraft will be gone from Nicaragua long before the Americans expect a reply from the Kremlin. The KGB will accept the re- sponsibility for the aircraft, and you can tell the Americans that the rotten KGB ignored your agreement and acted on their own.

There's nothing they can do once we have the aircraft except protest. And they will get their aircraft back-after we finish studying it, of course. I understand it is a fabulous machine. "

"I agree, it must be a fantastic machine," Vilizherchev said, "because I believe the United States will retaliate in ways other than just protest." There was a pause, with both men listening to the crackles and snaps of solar-generated electrons interfering with the satellite transmission. Then: "About my report to the Foreign Minister . . . "

" Delay it for twenty-four hours."

Vilizherchev had been expecting this. "That is impossible,"

he said. "I went to the White House. I spoke with the President.

I left the Consulate at night without escort, without leaving an itinerary or contact log. What shall I report-I went on a drive around Washington to see the sights? What if someone in the White House mentions my visit to someone in Moscow and they find out I did not report it? What if this whole incident ends up in the newspapers-the media is behind every lamppost in this city. "

"Calm yourself," Kalinin said. "The missing report will not surface for at least twenty-four hours, perhaps more. By then this incident will be concluded and I will explain everything to the General Secretary and the Politburo."

"I expect it," Vilizherchev said. "Unauthorized contact with the American government by a member of our government is still punishable, as you know, by life at hard labor. I have a desire to retire to warmer climates than Siberia."

322 .

Kalinin broke the connection without replying. The signal, in any case, was deteriorating rapidly; so was Vilizhervchev's re- solve. He was not a stupid man but he had not been in govern- ment long enough to represent a danger to Kalinin's power.

Unless everything came completely unraveled, Vilizherchev could be trusted to keep silent-after all, having the director of the KGB as a co-conspirator was not such a bad position.

But now it was up to Maraklov to get that aircraft safely out of Nicaragua. All of their futures now rode on him.

Sebaco, Nicaragua Saturday, 20 June 1996, 0-451 CDT Andrei Maraklov awoke to bedlam. Dozens of faults were being reported to him at once, ranging in severity from complete sys- tem short-circuits to oil leaks. But the familiar rush of power and energy that always accompanied a successful interface with ANTARES was a welcome feeling, in spite of the faults being reported.

DrearnStar had undergone a major transfon-nation. Her newest additions were two large cigar-shaped stainless-steel fuel tanks, one suspended under each wing. Two of the four weapon hard- points on each wing were combined to hold the Lluyka tank's pylon; that, plus the size of the tanks themselves, left DrearnStar with the capability to carry only two missiles instead of eight.

Inside each tank pylon, the fuel tank's pressurization line was spliced to the wing tank's bleed air-pressurization system, which allowed fuel to flow from the tanks and feed the engines before wing-tank fuel was used. The hardpoint's jettison-circuitry was spliced into jettison-squibs in the pylon, which would blow the pylon off the win There was no time to test the aerodynamic qualities of the fuel tank with DrearnStar-no, way to determine if DreamStar could even fly with the tanks installed. The tanks could fail to feed properly, feed unevenly, rupture the wing tanks, hit the aircraft on jettison, or flutter so badly that even a normal takeoff would result in a crash. There just was no time to test it. The flight would have to go as scheduled in spite of the risks.

DreamStar's anterior fins were replaced, and the aircraft put back together as best they could after being partially dismantled 323.

shortly after landing. The plan was to use DreamStar's own self- diagnostic computer routines to check the aircraft and direct the aircraft maintenance technicians to the problems.

As always, Maraklov activated the radios first. "How do you read, General? "

General Tret'yak stared at Musi Zaykov as the machinelike words came over his headphone. He keyed his microphone: -Kto dyela ? "

"This is Maraklov, General."

"Colonel, are you all right? Your voice sounds different."

"My voice is altered by computer. I don't think I can speak in Russian. I have several faults that need inspection. The most serious is a left primary-bus short-circuit. The technicians will have to open the left number-four access panel. The bus-module is on the center electronics rack. I will deactivate the system when the panel is open."

"Azhidan'yah, " Tret'yak said. "Wait, Colonel, I do not un- derstand you." There was a slight pause as Tret'yak passed the headphones to Zaykov.

"Andrei? "

"Yes, Musi.

Zaykov stared in surprise when she heard the voice. "Andrei, is that you . . . ? "

"No time to talk," Maraklov said. "Relay these instructions exactly to the chief of maintenance. I can't start my engine until this problem is corrected."

Zaykov copied Maraklov's instructions down on a clipboard, read them back to verify them, then gave the clipboard to the chief of aircraft maintenance. He read the instructions several times, then finally called to his assistant to get someone to begin removing the left access panel.

"They are removing the wrong panel," the computer- synthesized voice told Zaykov. Musi called to the workers to stop, then directed them to the correct panel. She had to repeat the instructions to the assistant crew chief, who told the crew chief, who issued the same orders back down the chain to the workers. They did not begin the job of removing the fasteners until told by their superior.

"Left primary bus-power is off," Maraklov said after issuing the mental command to redirect the power from the external power cart away from the left primary circuit. "That mainte- T-_.

324 .

nance chief would be out on his ass in the States. Five minutes to open one access panel-we'll be here all morning."

Sarcasm did not transmit well through ANTARES, but Zay- kov nodded her understanding. "They are all afraid to touch the aircraft," she said. "They're afraid you will electrocute them.

The chief has to order them to do the simplest task."

"At this rate I'll be forced to make the crossing in daylight,"

Maraklov said.

They should be finished in a few minutes."

But that's only the first of about a dozen major items that need to be inspected before I can launch. It's almost sunrise now. I'll have half the U. Navy on top of me before I can fly a hundred miles, and in daylight with two external tanks I'll be a sitting duck."

"Our headquarters is coordinating with the Nicaraguan navy in sweeping the Caribbean for any American ships that might get in your way," Zaykov said. 'So far, they report no Amer- ican ships closer than six hundred miles, except those in the Canal Zone and Puerto Rico. Besides, we have been informed by Moscow that the Ameri cans have agreed not to take any ac- tion for five days. They will be totally unprepared for this."

"Never mind all that," Maraklov said, "just make those idiots out there work as fast as they can. Every minute I sit on the ground in this hell-hole is another mile closer the Americans can get.

One Hundred Nfiles Southwest of the Cayman Islands Saturday, 20 June 1996, 0500 CDT "Dragon Five-One flight, this is Georgetown radar," the cheer- ful British voice announced over the command radio - "Welcome to the Cayman Islands. Stand by for frequency assignments - "

"Now this is what I call a summer camp," Major John Cour- sey said happily, taking another sip of orange juice. Coursey was one of twelve F-16 ADF pilots from Howard Air Force Base in Panama taking part in an operation they had come to know simply as Barrier. Coursey was the leader of Dragon Blue, one of four three-sh ip cells in the huge fighter formation. The twelve fighters were all from the 107th Fighter Interceptor Group, New 325.

York Air National Guard, from Niagara Falls International Air- port, deployed to Panama in one-month rotations. They were all serving their annual training commitment, which for F-16 pilots was always more than the standard Air National Guard two weeks per year.

"One week in Panama is heaven, " Coursey said over the scrambled interplane frequency, "but a secret mission to the Cayman Islands is a real hardship."

"Cut the chatter, Blue flight," came the order from the squad- ron commander, Lieutenant Colonel George Tinker. "Okay, lis- ten up. Red, Yellow and Gold stay on me for recovery. Blue, Georgetown Radar will clear you to an orbit just outside their airspace, blocking altitudes from five to thirty thousand. You're required to squawk modes and codes even though you're outside their airspace, but you are cleared to strangle if you get into a situation. Get together with your tanker for refueling, then set up a high- and mid-CAP as directed by Barrier Control. Watch your fuel. No one goes below three thousand pounds over the high fix at Georgetown. Everyone got it?"

"Don't drink all the margaritas down there, boss," Coursey said.

"No screwing around, Blue Leader," Tinker radioed back.

"We're expecting some brass on board Barrier Control for this one." Barrier Control was the 767 AWACS radar plane that would be controlling the fighters from its more protected orbit point closer to the Cayman Islands.

"Blue Lead copies. We'll look pretty for the brass."

"You'd better. Dragon flight minus Blue, come right and start descent' Blue flight, watch your gas, and good hunting."

"Blue flight is clear," Coursey reported as he watched the three groups of F-16 Falcon air-defense fighters execute a tight echelon turn to the right as they began their approach into Georgetown, the capital city of the Cayman Islands.

Coursey sucked in his breath. Against the crystal-blue shim- mering backdrop of the Caribbean Sea, the large formation looked spectacular-especially to a desk-bound accountant from Tonawanda, New York, for whom the biggest excitement in life lately was having the Delaware Avenue monorail going into downtown Buffalo arrive on time. The Air National Guard was the country's biggest secret, he told himself-he was getting a 326 .