Still, his uncle had promised him that it would be a good deal more
exciting than he thought. He sighed, staring out the window at the thick
white clouds now racing past the double-paned plastic. Surely his uncle
had something in mind besides a touchy landing in strong crosswinds on a
remote island.
Not only was this assignment operationally uninteresting, but it also
put a crimp in his personal life. During his time on Jefferson, he’d
finally broken off his long-term engagement to ACN reporter Pamela Drake.
It had been partly due to the realization that neither one was willing to
give and take enough with their career priorities to make it work.
Additionally, Pamela had been increasingly uncomfortable with the more
dangerous aspects of his chosen career. It was all right for her to go
flitting off to the most dangerous combat areas of the world to report her
stories, but the idea of Tombstone launching off the carrier to take on
adversary air over the Spratly Islands was more than she could take.
They’d ended it just as Tombstone was realizing his attraction to one of
the hottest female aviators in the Navy.
He felt his mouth curl up in a smile, an expression that would have
surprised most of the officers who’d worked with him in the last twenty
years. Lieutenant Commander Joyce Flynn, “Tomboy” to the rest of the
squadron. The name suited her, although it didn’t adequately describe the
more delicious aspects of the petite, redheaded female naval flight
officer. While they had both been assigned to the Jefferson, a
relationship had been impossible. Tombstone had been in command of Carrier
Battle Group 14, while Tomboy was a RIO (radar intercept officer) in VF-95,
a Tomcat squadron on board. Faced with the possibility that his tactical
decisions would put her in danger, and knowing the Navy’s strict policy
against fraternization, they had finally come to an agreement to put
everything on hold until they’d both transferred off the ship. The
possibility of Washington, D.C., tours for both of them had been exciting.
But now Tombstone took a deep breath. A lousy operational assignment and
separation from Tomboy seemed to be in his future. Last month, Tomboy had
received notification that she had been selected for the test pilot program
in Patuxent, Maryland. Pax River–the big brass ring for every naval
aviator, flying the latest in tactical and surveillance aircraft, getting
to see the future of naval aviation up close and personal. As much as it
hurt, he knew he couldn’t have asked Tomboy to pass up that opportunity.
He wouldn’t have himself, had it been offered.
Knowing it was the right thing to do didn’t make it any easier,
though. They’d carved out two weeks together, and spent them in Puerto
Vallarta, on the Pacific coast of southern Mexico. He smirked, thinking
about the comments his colleagues had made when he’d come back from
vacation with hardly a sunburn. If they only knew how much of their
lovemaking had been at Tomboy’s instigation!
The speaker crackled to life again. “If you look out the port window,
you might be able to see that we’ve got company,” the pilot’s voice said, a
determined casualness masking what must be mounting tension in the cockpit.
“It doesn’t happen often anymore, but the Soviets–excuse me, the
Russians–still decide to send their Bears out to play with us from time to
time. One joined on us about twenty miles back. He’s edging in a little
closer than I’d like under the circumstances, but there’s not a whole
helluva lot we can do about it right now. I’ll keep you posted.”
Tombstone craned his neck and stared out into the thick cotton-candy
cloud cover. Slightly behind the C-130, he could make out an occasional
silvery flash of light, behind them and above them. The Bear, solidly in
place behind the C-130 in a perfect killing position.
Why would a Russian Bear aircraft find tracking a C-130 transport down
to an almost deserted naval base of such critical interest? Tombstone felt
his gut tighten and the hair on the back of his neck stand up, his
instinctive reaction to the possibility of airborne danger. Something