The other Tomcat had flashed past almost faster than Coyote could react,
right through the gap between pursued and pursuer. The sudden appearance of
Tyrone’s plane must have startled the Russian pilot even more. The Sukhoi
rolled left, losing its radar lock as he tried to dodge the crazy American.
Coyote banked sharply, trying to turn and line up a quick shot on the
enemy plane. But by the time he finished the maneuver the Sukhoi was already
chasing new prey.
It was Powers.
The Tomcat juked and weaved like a mad thing, but the Soviet pilot
matched Powers move for move. “I can’t shake him! I can’t shake him!” the
young lieutenant was shouting.
Coyote switched to Sidewinders and accelerated. It seemed to take
forever to get the tone in his earphones that announced a lock-on. Finally he
heard it, and his finger tightened convulsively. “Fox two! Fox two!” he
called. “Hang in there, kid. You can-”
At that moment a missile jumped from the Russian’s wing. Tomcat and
Sukhoi exploded at almost the same instant.
0017 hours Zulu (0017 hours Zone)
Fulcrum Leader, Escort Mission Osa
Over the Norwegian Sea
“Khrahneetyehly, Khrahneetyehly, this is Osa. Guardian, this is Wasp.
Do you copy?” Terekhov bit off a curse. What was happening? The An-74
wasn’t responding to his calls, and radio communications in general were
suffering from heavy jamming.
“Osa, Gnyezdo.” Glushko was hard to make out against the interference.
“Guardian is out of action. The Americans shot it down. What is your ETA?”
Terekhov didn’t respond. Pieces of a puzzle were falling into place.
The Americans had launched their attack without taking even the most basic
precautions against detection, flying with their Electronic Warfare aircraft
hardly functioning and not even taking advantage of radar distortion at low
altitudes. They had wanted their approach to be detected.
And now they no longer wanted the Soviets to track them. Otherwise why
waste time pursuing the An-74 when there were many more valuable targets
available? And their jamming was suddenly more efficient.
An observant American would have noted Glushko’s caution in covering
Soyuz from attack. Would the enemy feint toward the carrier as a prelude to
striking the amphibious force?
“Wasp, Wasp, this is Nest,” Glushko said urgently. Wasp, what is your
ETA? The American bombers are not pressing their attack yet, and we can crush
them if you can just get here and join the fighting.”
The American bombers were not pressing their attack …
“Wasp Flight, this is Wasp Leader,” Terekhov said crisply. “The attack
on Soyuz is a fake. The real attack will be against the invasion fleet. We
will return there.”
Banking sharply, Terekhov set his new course. The diversion had very
nearly worked. But he still had time to get back and join the land-based
planes in defending the transports.
Glushko would demand his head for this disobedience, but that didn’t
matter any more. Terekhov knew right from wrong, knew what he had to do to
save the campaign in the face of the American trickery.
0019 hours Zulu (0019 hours Zone)
CIC Air Ops module, U.S.S. Thomas Jefferson
In the Norwegian Sea
“No doubt about it, Commander,” Owens said glumly, pointing to the
plotting board. “Those Russkie bastards have turned around. They didn’t take
the bait after all.”
Magruder stared at the flashing symbols, a sinking feeling taking hold of
his guts. This had always been possible, of course. But the Russians had
seemed to fall for the trap. This sudden change of course could only mean
that some Russian squadron leader was showing an unaccustomed amount of
individual initiative. He should have expected something like that after
seeing the reports on the well-conceived operation that had nearly wiped out
the Vipers. There was at least one Russian out there who was too smart to be
taken in.
It was down to a simple matter of mathematics. Strike Group Thor,
heading for the invasion fleet, was slow, too slow. The MiGs had double their
effective speed, and a lot less distance to travel to get back into position
over their transports. And the planes in Thor wouldn’t be able to make much
of a showing against determined opposition. True, the Hornets carried some