Patrick McLanahan Collection #1 (121 page)

“I'm a bomber guy, Kevin,” Patrick said. “You know that. Folks think I'm already too biased.”

“Can you be honest with me and everyone you deal with, Patrick?” Martindale asked. “I think you can. You saw firsthand what we faced. You need to find the right systems that will help prevent a repeat of those attacks. What do you say?”

Patrick looked at Maureen, took a deep breath, and said, “I'll do it, Mr. President.”

“I knew you would. Meeting tomorrow at ten-thirty in the Oval Office—you know the way. Be ready with your plan of action. I want to hit the press with the plan in time for tomorrow's prime-time news. Thanks, my friend. Good to be working with you again.” And he hung up.

Patrick replaced the phone on its hook. Maureen looked at him closely—and her heart leaped again. He had that faraway gaze once more—but this time there was fire in those blue eyes. He was no longer looking back into the dead eyes of his friends or scenes of blackened devastation; he was staring into the future, and she could see the excitement lighting up his face.

Maybe someday, she thought, I'll light up his face like that. It was too soon to know if she would ever get that chance, but at least perhaps he was going to be around long enough for her to try.

“Got some phone calls to make, General?” she asked.

“Yes,” Patrick replied. He reached over to her face, pulled her gently to him, and kissed her lips. “Just take a minute.” He then spoke, “McLanahan to Luger.”

That same time

G
o ahead, Muck,” David Luger responded. He was sitting in the superviser of flying's radio truck, out at the approach end of Battle Mountain's twelve-thousand-foot-long runway. His driver's-side window was open slightly, enough for the interior not to fog up and so he could raise a pair of binoculars to his eyes occasionally.

The parking apron and taxiways on the isolated base in north-central Nevada were beehives of activity. Along with the few surviving EB-52 Megafortresses, EB-1C Vampires, and the one remaining AL-52 Dragon aircraft, the two surviving B-2A Spirit stealth bombers had been relocated to the 111th Bombardment Wing at Battle Mountain to undergo modification as QB-2 unmanned bombers. In addition, the first QA-45C “Hunter” unmanned combat air vehicles—slightly smaller versions of the B-2 stealth bomber, capable of carrying ten thousand pounds of ordnance or sensors and attacking targets with pinpoint precision—had been deployed to Battle Mountain for operational tests. The surviving E-4B National Airborne Operations Center command posts, RC-135 reconnaissance planes, KC-135R tankers, C-21 transports, and EC-135 intelligence-gathering aircraft that had been based at Offutt Air Force Base had also been reassigned to Battle Mountain. The Battle Management Center had been redesignated the new U.S. Strategic Command battle-staff area.

“I need you in Washington tonight,” Patrick said. “I need the strategic-transformation report we've been working on updated with the latest intelligence and industrial-research data.” He paused, then added, “And pack for an extended stay.”

“I'll be there,” Dave said. He raised the binoculars and focused them on an aircraft preparing to turn base leg in the visual pattern. “Break. Luger to Furness.”

“Go ahead.”

“You guys just about done playing around? I've got a flight to catch to Washington.”

 

A
board the EB-1C Vampire bomber in the visual pattern, Major General Rebecca Furness shook her head. “I figured as much,” she said. “I'm glad we got our flying in early. You need me to watch the store for a few days?”

“Might be for a lot longer than that, Rebecca.”

“Roger that,” she said. She turned to her mission commander and remarked on intercom, “Sixth or seventh time the boss has been called away. I have a feeling he's not coming back this time.”

“I agree,” her mission commander, Brigadier General Daren Mace, replied. He still bore some of the scars on his face and extremities from frostbite after spending almost three days in a life raft in the Bering Sea, but he was now back on full flying status after his rehabilitation.

“I think we're ready to take charge of this place, don't you, General? I'll run the Air Battle Force, and you take over the One-eleventh Bomb Wing. How does that sound?”

“I hate to admit it, Rebecca,” Daren said, “but I think I'm ready for a desk job. I love flying, but I think these high-tech birds are getting smarter than me. And I can't keep up with these young sticks. They're trying to tell me I'm too old for this shit, I think.”

“They're trying to tell you to stay here, with me. We'll run this place the way
we
think it should be run, and we'll show these hot-shot young techie nerds how the war is supposed to be fought,” Rebecca said. “Then, in a few years, when they put us out to pasture, let's build a ranch out here so we can raise a few head of cattle and some horses, take long dips in the hot tub together, and keep an eye on this place—from a distance. How does that sound to you?”

“Perfect,” Daren said, patting Rebecca's gloved hand on the center-console control stick of their Vampire bomber, his eyes dancing. “Just perfect.”

Thanks to Gene and Alison Pretti, Steve and Chris Johnson, and Dave and Cheryl Duffield for their generosity.

Special thanks to William Dunsmore, Major, U.S. Air Force (retired), for his invaluable insights and experiences.

DEDICATION

ACRONYMS AND TERMS

CAST OF CHARACTERS

REAL-WORLD NEWS EXCERPTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

EPILOGUE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

CREDITS

COPYRIGHT

2S6M Tunguska
—combination missile and cannon mobile Russian air defense system

AGM-170D
—supersonic scramjet-powered attack missile

Almaz S-300
—Russian surface-to-air missile system, also capable against ballistic missiles

ARB
—Air Reserve Base

Armstrong Space Station
—first American military space station

BDU
—Battle Dress Uniform, the standard utility uniform worn by soldiers in combat

BDU-58 Meteor
—releases payloads over a target area after atmospheric re-entry

BERP
—Ballistic Electro-Reactive Process, the material worn by “Tin Man” commandos

BOHM
—borohydrogen tetroxide rocket fuel oxidizer

CAP
—Civil Air Patrol (U.S. Air Force Auxiliary)

CID
—Cybernetic Infantry Device manned combat robots

CO
—Commanding Officer

COMSEC
—communications security

Condor
—bomber-launched commando insertion and retrieval aircraft; also large unmanned new technology airship

Crew Exploration Vehicle
—next generation orbital and lunar manned space vehicle

DARPA
—Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

Doshan Tappeh Air Base
—Tehran headquarters of the Iranian Revolutionary GuardsCorps

EVA
—extravehicular activity; a spacewalk

exfil
—exfiltration

G-forces
—acceleration forces imposed on the human body, expressed in multiples of Earth gravity

hypoplastic thumb
—congenital birth defect where the thumb is reduced in size, missing, or fused with another finger

IRGC
—Iranian Revolutionary Corps

ISAR
—Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar

JP-7
—jet fuel refined with a higher flash point than more common JP-4

KC-77
—aerial refueling tanker and cargo aircraft

komiteh
—Iranian moral and religious enforcers

LADAR
—laser radar

LakeSpotter
—private individuals who camp outside secret U.S. military installations to spot classified aircraft test flights

LPDRS
—Laser Pulse Detonation Rocket System
magnetohydrodynamic generator
—using the movement of liquid metal moving through a magnetic field to generate electricity

Majlis
—Iranian parliament

MHD
—magnetohydrodynamic

mil power
—full aircraft engine thrust without using afterburners

muay thai
—kick boxing

NCOICNon Commissioned
—Officer In Charge

NSA
—National Security Agency

OPSEC
—operational security

Orion
—next generation manned spacecraft

Pax River
—Patuxent River Naval Air Station

Pilatus PC-6
—Swiss-made single-engine turboprop trainer

pollicization
—surgical creation of a thumb from a finger

PSID
—pounds-per-square-inch differential, a measure of cabin pressurization

RFID
—radio frequency identification device

RPG
—rocket propelled grenade

RTB
—return to base

SA-10, SA-12, SA-19, SA-21
—Russian surface to air anti-aircraft missiles

SAM
—surface to air missile

SDB
—small diameter bomb

Shahab-2, Shahab-3, Shahab-5
—Iranian ballistic missiles

Skybolt
—space-based anti ballistic missile laser

SPAW
—supersonic precision attack weapon

SPO
—senior project officer

sun-synchronous orbit
—orbit that places a satellite over the same spot on Earth at the same time of day

Supreme Defense Council
—Iranian military advisory group to the president

TEL
—transporter-erector-launcher

Tin Man
—commandos who wear advanced protective suits and carry sophisticated weapons

VFR
—visual flight rules

XR-A9
—Experimental Reconnaissance Article Nine, Black Stallion spaceplane

Zulfiqar
—Iranian-made main battle tank