dropped his nose and started diving. The high yo-yo was one of the classic
fighter moves, and this time it went off with textbook precision. The Tomcat
settled in squarely on the MiG’s six. The reticule centered on the enemy
plane. “Tone! I’ve got tone!” He fired his second Sidewinder. “Fox two!
Fox two!” It raced toward its target trailing smoke and fire.
0919 hours Zulu (0819 hours Zone)
CIC, U.S.S. Thomas Jefferson
Northwest of the Outer Hebrides
“Goddamn them!” CAG Stramaglia exploded. “What the hell is happening up
there?”
He had listened to the radio traffic in disbelieving horror as the
situation had unfolded. From that first call of “I’m hit!” it had taken
almost no time at all for a full-fledged aerial battle to erupt.
“Sir?” A young crewman was looking up from one of the consoles at him.
“Sir … it’s the admiral.”
He picked up a handset. “Admiral. Stramaglia here.”
“What’s the situation, CAG?” Tarrant’s voice was level but strained.
“We don’t know what started it, Admiral,” Stramaglia said carefully.
“But the Bear and one of our planes are both out of action, and the rest are
in a furball.”
“Goddamn,” the admiral said, echoing Stramaglia’s feelings. There was a
pause. “All right, CAG. Pull those Tomcats out of there. Fast. There’s
going to be hell to pay for this one.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” he answered slowly.
He replaced the handset and reached for the radio microphone.
0919 hours Zulu (0819 hours Zone)
Tomcat 201 Redwing Flight
The Russian tried to evade again, but this time the Sidewinder got a
piece of him. Coyote watched as the MiG started coming apart. Somehow the
pilot had time to eject.
“Splash one!” John-Boy said.
“Good chute! I’ve got a good chute from the Soviet!” Coyote added.
His threat warning buzzed. “The other guy’s coming down on us,” Nichols
announced. “He’s at five o’clock!”
“Fox two! Fox two!” That was Batman’s voice, announcing another
Sidewinder attack. Coyote threw his plane into a sharp right turn, hoping
that even if the missile didn’t tag his opponent it would at least keep the
Russian busy enough to allow him to turn the tables.
“No good! Missed the bastard!” That was Malibu, sounding distinctly
unlike a laid-back surfer now.
“Where is he, John-Boy?” Coyote asked. He scanned the sky through the
canopy, searching for the MiG. “I’ve lost him.”
“One o’clock! One o’clock high!” Nichols shot back.
Coyote spotted the MiG. “All right, Ivan, I’m tired of this game.” He
pulled back on the stick and went to full afterburner. “Batman, let’s nail
this sucker so we can go home!”
“Ninety-nine aircraft! Ninety-nine aircraft!” That was CAG’s voice
giving the code that signaled the message was for all planes. “Break off and
RTB. Repeat, return to base!”
“Is he kidding?” Lieutenant Baird asked. “Five to one odds and he wants
us to run?”
“I think there was an up gripe about my radio in the last maintenance
log,” Sheridan added rebelliously. “I’m having a lot of trouble reading them
back at home plate.”
“All aircraft return to base. Acknowledge.” Stramaglia sounded
insistent … angry. But whether it was at the grumbling or at the orders he
was required to give, Coyote couldn’t be sure.
“You heard the man,” Coyote said. “Break off! Break off! Herd them out
of here, Batman! I’ll stay on him until you’re clear.”
“Roger, Two-oh-one.” Even Batman, who should have known better, sounded
like he was plotting mutiny. But the dots representing Ajax Flight on his VDI
were turning away, heading back toward the carrier. That left only the MiG to
worry about.
He almost hoped the Russian would give him an excuse to finish the job.
0920 hours Zulu (0820 hours Zone)
Misho Leader
South of the Faeroe Islands
Captain Second Rank Terekhov gaped at his radar display, unable,
unwilling to believe what it showed. Why were the Americans breaking off?
They’d outnumbered him, out gunned him. Yet at the moment when they could
have destroyed his aircraft four of them had turned away, and the fifth was
doing nothing to close in for a kill.
“Cossack, this is Misha,” he said on the carrier control frequency.
“Enemy has discontinued action. Request instructions. Over.” Part of him