Brown, Dale - Patrick McLanahan 02 (62 page)

 
          
“Why
couldn’t DreamStar just blast its way
out
like it blasted its way into
Nicaragua
, General?” Stuart asked. “You said this
XF-34 can fly rings around any other fighter in our inventory. If we put a
radar plane and a few fighters right in its way, what’s to stop it from
shooting them down?”

 
          
“If
the Soviets fit those external tanks to DreamStar, she won’t be in nearly as
good condition to fight,” Elliott said. He sounded more optimistic than he
felt—he was in the realm of pure speculation now. “DreamStar’s wings weren’t
designed for external fuel tanks. My guess is that a small interceptor group
can defeat DreamStar in this situation—at least the odds would be nearly even
...”

 
          
“But
your plan still calls for an armed response,” Stuart said. “You’re trying to
force this government into a confrontation with the Russians. How many times
does the President need to say no to you, General?”

 
          
“If
DreamStar stays in
Nicaragua
, sir, there won’t be a confrontation,” Air
Force Secretary Wilbur Curtis spoke up. “Our interceptor task force will be on
just another
Caribbean
training flight. If DreamStar tries to
break out, then the Russians will have violated our arrangement and
demonstrated a cynical unwillingness to resolve this matter—” he turned to the
President—“in which case, in my opinion, it justifies a much stronger response
from us . . .”

 
          
The
President leaned back in his chair, massaged his forehead and stared at the
chart of
Central
America
.
Exhaustion and strain made the colors in the chart begin to dance before his
eyes. “What forces do we have in the area?” he asked.

 
          
Elliott
was already flipping to the page in his notes in anticipation. “Sir, the forces
are essentially in place right now to cover the eastern
Caribbean
. We can step up interceptor activity to
identify all low-flying high-speed aircraft that we detect. As for the northern
and western
Caribbean
, that will be tougher. We should be able to
arrange a fighter drag into the area in six to eight hours—”

 
          
“A
what?”

 
          
“A
fighter drag, a deployment. Nine fighters from Howard Air Force Base in the
Canal Zone
would deploy to our garrison staging base
at La Cieba on the
Honduras
north coast. Three aircraft would go on
station over the
Caribbean
immediately with the AWACS bird and a
tanker, with the rest rotating in shifts. It may be possible to get support
from the
Cayman
Islands
for
landing rights, but I’m anticipating difficulties with them allowing armed
American aircraft to land there so I’ve planned this without the
Cayman Islands
.”

 
          
The
President was impressed that Elliott had already planned this mission in such
detail. Still . . .

 
          
“This
would continue until we could bring up naval support from
New Orleans
or the eastern
Caribbean
, either of which would take approximately
forty-eight hours to reach the area,” Elliott pressed on. “The best we’ve got
available is the carrier
Theodore
Roosevelt,
which is deployed north of
Puerto Rico
on a training cruise. She can be in
position in about two days. CVN-73
George
Washington
is the better choice, but she’s in port in
New Orleans
and may take several days to deploy.
Aircraft would be armed with short- and medium-range air-to- air missiles as
well as long-range fuel tanks. They would intercept any aircraft within range
and visually identify each one. If they become overloaded with targets,
priority would be given to high-speed, high-altitude aircraft. Although it’s
possible for DreamStar to make the flight at almost any speed and almost any
altitude, the enormous distance he has to go would suggest he’d have to
conserve as much fuel as possible, and that means high altitude and as little
high-lift, low-speed flying as possible . . . Our pilot’s orders would be . . .
and this hurts . . . to destroy DreamStar and any other hostile aircraft that
may be escorting her that engage our aircraft. But if possible they would try
to harass or divert DreamStar toward a forced water landing.”

 
          
Elliott
finally stopped his headlong briefing, then glanced at Secretary of the Air
Force Curtis. Curtis nodded to Elliott and said to the President: “Sir, I’m
recommending adoption of this plan. It’s low profile and at least the Air
Force’s part is easily implemented. We’ll need to confer with Navy and the rest
of the Joint Chiefs on the deployment of a carrier group, but I’m afraid this
situation warrants an immediate go-ahead on the first phase.”

 
          
The
President looked skeptical as he studied the chart. “How much danger will it be
to our pilots?” he said, pointing to the map. “It looks like they’ll be
overwater for a long time.”

 
          
Elliott
nodded. “Unfortunately that’s true, sir. The fighters will have to cover
eighteen-thousand square miles of open ocean. Tanker support can keep them in
the air for as long as necessary, we’ll rotate another flight and another
tanker in to take over every four hours.”

 
          
“Six-hour
missions for them, refuelings every hour, plus the strain of visually
identifying and possibly going into combat on each intercept they make,” Curtis
summarized. “And all of it overwater—not exactly a fighter pilot’s favorite
place to be.”

 
          
“Sounds
like you’re trying to talk me out of it, Wilbur,” the President said wryly. He
held up a hand as the Secretary of the Air Force began to speak. “I know, I
know, you’re just hitting me with the worst. Well, I think it’s a lousy plan,
gentlemen.”

           
Curtis and Elliott felt their hearts
drop.

 
          
“You’d
be placing those pilots in great jeopardy because
you
don’t trust the Russians to keep their word in this thing. You
act like Stalin or Khrushchev is still in charge there.” He did not try to curb
his temper; exhaustion, tension, concern and frustration had all built to a
point he had to let loose. “And all to stop one aircraft and one pilot from
possibly
being flown out of
Nicaragua
, and all because you two failed to uncover
a Soviet agent in your own organizations. No. You’re asking me to place more
men’s lives at risk because of your screwups. You’re asking me to put this
presidency in jeopardy to satisfy your need for revenge.”

 
          
The
President swiveled his chair around and stared at the Central American chart.
Secretary of Defense Stuart had trouble hiding his satisfaction—there was
little doubt that he was going to enjoy being Taylor’s hatchet man when the
order came down to get rid of Elliott and Curtis. Cesare had motioned in a
young steward with a pot of coffee, quietly telling him to keep the President’s
cup far out of reach in case his temper exploded again.

 
          
Elliott
glanced at Deborah O’Day, who, to his surprise, seemed to be wearing a
confident expression. What did she know? After that tirade, the President
wasn’t going to—

 
          
“General
Elliott.” The President was pointing at the chart. “I want another option for
those pilots. Six to seven hours overwater in a single-seat fighter is too
much, especially if they have to keep it up for days. What else have you got?”

 
          
Elliott
stepped quickly to the chart, finding the place he wanted and putting a finger
on it. “I’m afraid there are few other options, sir. In the eastern
Caribbean
we have landing rights only in
Puerto Rico
and
Grenada
, and possibly in
Montserrat
or
Anguilla
, but it still requires long overwater
periods. It’s worse in the western
Caribbean
.
There are several other coastal airfields in Honduras, including Puerto Lempira
here, thirty miles north of the Nicaraguan border, but they’ve been abandoned
by the military and probably aren’t secure. I wouldn’t recommend landing
fighters there—the drug traffickers control the area better than the militia.
Honduras
has a small island, the Santanilla, between
Honduras
and the
Cayman Islands
, but their airfield is very small. Nine
U.S.
fighters and their support teams would
quickly overwhelm the place. La Cieba is the best option—”

           
“Maybe not,” Deborah O’Day said.
“General Elliott, you’ve already mentioned the
Cayman Islands
. Your assessment of that government’s
response to a request for landing rights may be a bit premature. Sir, I’d like
to follow up on this. Allow General Elliott’s fighters to take up their
stations in the
Caribbean
. We can get permission from
Honduras
for landing rights in La Cieba. While the
planes are airborne I’ll get permission from the
Cayman Islands
and the Brits to land and service our
fighters. The Navy goes in there all the time—I don’t think a few fighters will
bother them too much. I’ll work on landing rights in
Montserrat
too.”

 
          
“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
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
Plymouth
on
Montserrat
, I want no more than four-hour patrols over
water. I’ll reserve judgment about follow-on naval operations 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 morning. 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.”