me.
I haven’t relieved Henry yet, so I’ve got no formal role in this
battle. My place as prospective executive officer is anywhere I’m
needed. And right now, that’s in the backseat of his Tomcat.” She
turned to Tombstone and shot him a withering glare. With all due
respect Admiral, this is the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard you come up
with. Sir.”
“You’re not going,” Tombstone said. “End of discussion.”
“Why?” she shot back. “Because I’m your wife? Damn it, Admiral
Tombstone I was a helluva fine RIO before I ever met you, and I’ll be a
damned fine one after you retire.
But there’s one thing I won’t be, not at this age a widow.
So if you’ve got good reasons for taking this flight yourself, you can
just count me in. You got that? Sir?” She made a visible effort to
rein in the temper that went with her fiery red hair.
The two admirals looked at each other, each slightly surprised to find
that he’d been outflanked by the diminutive commander. Finally,
acceding to the inevitable. Tombstone shrugged. Batman scowled.
“Well?” Tombstone asked.
“Do I get my aircraft?”
Batman nodded. “And my favorite RIO, as well. Take care of her, you
old son of a bitch. I’ll kill you myself if she gets hurt.”
Tomboy snorted. “If you’ve both just about run the gamut of your
testosterone-laden self-recriminations, could we get on with it? I’ve
got a mission to brief.” She turned smartly, then looked back. “I’ll
be in the Ready Room when you’re ready to go. Admiral. I suppose you
can still find the way by yourself?”
“And I thought the Cubans were getting good at outmaneuvering me,”
Tombstone said wonderingly.
“I need to talk to you alone,” Batman said abruptly. He pointedly
looked away from Tomboy, who shrugged and left immediately.
“What was that about?” Tombstone asked.
“Just something she doesn’t need to know about-hell, I wouldn’t tell you
except that you outrank me and you’re going to be on the front lines
out there. It’s about Arsenal.
She’s carrying UAVs unmanned aerial vehicles.”
Tombstone was stunned. “Since when?”
“Since my last tour in D.C. I’ve still got sources there, Stoney. I
heard about it from a shipmate who took the time to hunt me down last
time I was there. They’re playing this Arsenal program so close to the
chest that need-to-know evidently doesn’t even include me. But you can
count on itshe’s got them on board.”
UAVs one of the cheapest, most cost-effective assets in development.
Tombstone had seen a few test films, had been impressed by the
weaponeering and intelligence potential in them. Yet sadly, the
program languished. Despite its tremendous benefits to all the
services, there simply wasn’t enough money involved to garner the
political support to keep it funded.
At least not most of it. Evidently someone in Washington drew enough
water to get them put on board the USS Arsenal.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Tombstone said. “Though I don’t know that
it’ll make any difference right now.”
0508 Local (+5 GMT) Tomcat 201
Bird Dog was only two hundred feet above the ground, screaming across
the landscape at 450 knots. The pucker factor involved in low-level
operations was second only to trapping on the carrier at night, and
particularly so when dawn had not even started to make its first
appearance over in the east. Luckily he knew from studying the maps
that there were no obstructions on their ingress route, and as long as
he stayed on course and at altitude, he should be over his target
without encountering a hard, immovable object. Like a mountain. Or a
building. Either one of those was guaranteed to ruin an aviator’s day,
along with the more minor hazards, less visible but equally deadly, of
electrical lines and television antennas.
“Ten seconds,” Gator said. “On course, on altitude steady, steady.”
The comments were unnecessary but reassuring. Bird Dog glanced down at
the target track indicator on his heads-up display, followed the red
pip displayed there. He could see himself that he was making a perfect
approach on the target. The only problem, as far as he could see, was
the inbound raid of MiG-29s. And those wouldn’t be much of a problem