other representatives’ faces. “And what evidence do you have to
support this conclusion?”
“You position an armed battle group in our waters and ask my
justification?”
“This from the nation that let thousands of refugees die at sea between
our two countries?”
He shook his head angrily. “No, Madame Ambassador, this time the
United States has gone too far. The attack on a civilian aircraft was
your doing.” He placed his hands flat on the table and leaned forward
toward her. “Effective immediately, Cuba is declaring a no-fly zone
fifty miles around her coastline. Tell your pilots, Madame, that they
violate our sovereign airspace at their own risk. They may find that
our MiGs are not quite so easy to shoot down as an unarmed civilian
aircraft.”
1155 Local (+5 GMT) Hornet 301
30 Miles North of Cuba Thor yanked back hard on the yoke, shoving the
throttles forward to full afterburners in the same moment. The Hornet
responded almost before he’d completed the move, pitching nose up in
the sky and standing on her tail. Gravity worked with the force of the
afterburners to shove him back in his seat, pinning him against the
lumbar support panel with five Gs of force. Thor felt the flesh pull
back from his face, try to creep around back to his neck, and smiled.
God, there was nothing like it! Open sky, plenty of fuel, and a Hornet
strapped to your as sit didn’t get any better than this.
He shut his eyes for the briefest second, letting the thundering waves
of noise wash over him. The afterburners were fully engaged now,
adding the peculiar, deep-throated roar of their fire to the normal,
solid, reassuring howl of the engines. He enjoyed the brief sensation
of danger with his eyes shut, then looked quickly back down at the
altimeter.
“Bet that’ll make them sit up and take notice,” he said out loud,
noting that his instruments indicated an SOG-speed over ground of
zero.
“You check that altitude, boys, and you’ll see what a Hornet can do.
Straight up, no forward movement. Now that’s a fighter.”
Sure enough, the voice of the operations specialist from Jefferson
sounded anxious in his left ear. “Hornet Threezero-one, say state?”
The routine inquiry into his fuel status masked the real question: Now,
just what the hell are you doing. Hornet 301 ?
“Eight thousand pounds,” Thor said, forcing the words out of his
throat. He grunted and tensed his abdominal muscles, driving blood
from his extremities back up into his brain. “I’m fine. Flasher,” he
said, using the air intercept controller’s nickname. “Don’t worry
about me just puttin’ her through her paces.”
“It’s a post maintenance check flight,” Flasher noted calmly, “not a
tryout for the shuttle program, sir.” The enlisted technician’s voice
was just barely tart.
Thor toggled his mike and let the OS hear him laughing.
“I know, I know. Someday I’m going to strap a backseat on this baby
and let you see what you’ve been missing, Flasher.”
“I’d like that just fine,” the AIC said immediately. “Just fine.” The
words were slow, and rich with a southern drawl.
“But you keep this up, sir, somebody’s gonna be noticing.
You know?”
“Okay, okay,” Thor muttered. He shoved the yoke forward slightly,
dropping the Hornet’s nose down from straight vertical. “That
better?”
“Almost, sir. Now you just look like a helicopter on the scope,
instead of a balloon.”
“You find me a balloon with this much armament on it and I’ll ride
backseat on you.” He eased the Hornet forward farther, into level
flight. “Okay, Flasher, I’m heading back to the pattern. You happy
now that you’ve destroyed my fun?”
“Fun’s not over yet, sir.” The operations specialist sounded amused.
“Your tower flower just called down and said you’re short one formation
flight this month. He’d like you to get it over with now.”
Thor groaned. “With who?” Flying close formation with another Hornet
was a routine qualification for all pilots, but it was not his idea of
fun. Traveling a little under Mach 1 that close to another airplane
required a pilot’s constant attention, not only on his instruments, but
on the eight thousand pounds of flying metal just yards away. No