Over the Kola Inlet
The radar homer sliced past to the right, seduced by Tombstone’s chaff
and Tomboy’s vigorous ECM jamming. Now tracer rounds slashed past their
canopy, high and leading the Tomcat by a good hundred yards. Tombstone
hit the F-14’s air brakes and pulled the nose up sharply. Floating at
the ragged edge of a stall, the Tomcat slewed to the right just as the
Fulcrum, surprised by Tombstone’s maneuver, flashed past, so close that
Tombstone could read the regimental markings on the other plane’s
fuselage.
“Guns!” he snapped, and the HUD shifted to gun mode just as the MiG
started a hard, climbing turn to port. The maneuver spoiled Tombstone’s
shot.
He was now in what was called a lag pursuit, behind his opponent but
with his nose aiming to the rear of the other aircraft instead of
leading it. As the MiG continued his left-hand turn, Tombstone decided
to counter with a low yo-yo, going briefly to afterburners and diving to
the left, picking up speed as he cut beneath the Fulcrum’s track, then
pulling up hard, coming out of his dive just after the MiG passed
overhead. He kept his eyes on the other plane as it passed overhead; a
sharp opponent would ease his turn, then plunge on the other plane from
above–the preferred counter to a low yo-yo–but it looked like the
MiG’s pilot had lost sight of the Tomcat. Yes! He was holding his
turn, angling back toward the Intruders. Tombstone brought the Tomcat
up, using gravity to kill his speed, sliding neatly onto the MiG’s tail
at point-blank range, less than four hundred feet behind him.
Tombstone squeezed the trigger and the Tomcat’s M61 cannon thundered,
yellow tracers floating across the gap between MiG and F-14. For a
moment, the MiG absorbed those globes of light, holding course, lining
up with an Intruder just ahead and below … and then Tombstone saw
bits of metal flaking off and a shimmering haze spilling from the
Fulcrum.
Then they were past, the MiG sliding off to the left.
“He’s smoking,” Tomboy told him as he brought the F-14’s nose up. “He’s
going down. He’s ejected!”
“Tomcat Two-oh-oh, this is Shotgun One-one. Nice shooting, Stoney!”
“Coyote! It’s about time you got here!”
“Thought you would hog all the fun for yourself, did you?” Batman’s
voice chimed in.
“Just like these superCAG types,” a woman’s voice added. “Always
grabbing the glory for himself!”
“Roger that, Brewer. Heads up! Bandits at two o’clock high!”
“tombstone!” Coyote called. “Watch it! You’ve got two coming around on
your six!”
“Never mind us,” Tombstone replied. “Just help me keep those MiGs off
the Intruders!”
1323 hours
Intruder 504
Over the Kola Inlet
“There! Target acquired,” Sunshine said. “Come left two degrees.
Range one mile.”
Another seven seconds. Excitement pounded in his breast, and he could
hear the mingled rasps of both his and Sunshine’s breathing over the
ICS.
Damn, they were using the O. His own pucker factor was damned high,
fifty psi at least; he figured the lip-lock he had on his seat right now
would keep him anchored against a minus-five G outside loop. Sunshine
sounded as cool and as hard as the ice clinging to the hillsides
flashing past either side of the hurtling A-6. On his VDI, his
bomb-release marker slid rapidly down his course line.
Five hundred feet …
1324 hours
Tretyevo Peschera
Near Polyamyy, Russia
Leninskiy Nesokrushimyy Pravda was well clear of the submarine docking
area outside of the cavern, slipping easily through oily water into the
main Polyamyy channel.
“Helm,” Chelyag said. “Come left five degrees. Make revolutions for
ten knots.”
“Comrade Captain!” the radar officer called from his console. “Enemy
aircraft, approaching from the north!”
So much for Karelin’s promises. “Maintain course,” he said, keeping his
voice as calm as ice. “Weapons officer, stand by to fire missile number
one.”
“Missile one ready, Comrade Captain.”
“Fire number one!”
1324 hours
Intruder 504
Over the Kola Inlet
Willis could see the target now, a Typhoon ballistic-missile sub just
sliding clear of the moles sheltering a Russian submarine base. It had
turned its huge, blunt nose toward the north, toward him, giving him a