Primary Target (1999) (45 page)

An eerie quiet pervaded the Oval Office.

"We do not have a dispute with the citizens of the countries that support terrorism. However, if your leaders allow these deliberate and murderous acts of terrorism to continue, lives will be lost on your side, innocent lives."

The president paused to swallow.

"My fellow citizens, the United States of America is under siege. As long as I reside in the White House, your country will remain safe and secure. Our military, the finest and best-equipped military in the world, stands by to protect each and every one of you. These contemptible acts of violence have shattered our peaceful lives for the moment, but we're Americans, and, we will rise to the challenge of vanquishing the terrorists and their backers."

Macklin's jaw hardened.

"Before I close my remarks, I must make one thing crystal clear to the terrorists and to their sponsors. We know who you are, and we have you in our crosshairs. If this cowardly assault on our country continues, I promise you that I will punish you round-the-clock. I will punish you until you have no military assets or infrastructure left. You will rue the day you attacked the citizens of the United States of America." The president clenched his jaw muscles. Easy, nothing dramatic.

"My fellow citizens, I pledge to you that I will stop this reign of terror. Good night, and godspeed."

Whiteman Air Force Base, Missour
i
Nine minutes after the president made his promise, the B-2 Advanced Technology Bomber Spirit of South Carolina lifted off the runway and climbed into the moonlit sky. In the space of six minutes, five more stealth bombers from the 509th Bombardment Wing were on their way to the "rogue" nations that supported international terrorism.

The $2.3-billion warplanes were carrying assorted bomb loads, including the Joint Direct Attack Munition, 4,500-pound deep-penetrating bombs, and the B61 "bunker buster" hydrogen bombs. Two of the front-line aircraft, call signs Darth 66 and Darth 63, were configured to carry eighty 500-pound bombs in the two weapons bays.

The most survivable U
. S
. aircraft in the fleet, the sinister-looking "batplane" is virtually undetectable to acoustic signatures, infrared and radar. With the assistance of KC-10 advanced tanker/cargo aircraft from the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base and the 305th AMW at McGuire AFB, the B-2 bombers can take part in a battle mission anywhere in the world within twenty-four hours, then return safely to their base at Whiteman.

Holleman Air Force Base, New Mexic
o
Eight F-117A Nighthawks from the 9th Fighter Squadron of the 49th Fighter Wing were in the process of taking off for the long flight to the Middle East. Another eight warplanes from the "Black Sheep" of the 8th Fighter Squadron wer
e
preparing to take off. With a radar cross section of one one-hundredth of a square yard--the size of a small bird--the "Wobblin' Goblin" is an invisible bomber that can hit a target the size of a coffee table.

The unique design of the single-seat stealth airplane provides incredible combat capabilities. Loaded with laser-guided weapons, the sleek strike fighter can destroy hardened targets with devastating accuracy. The pilots had been given extremely high-resolution KHl 1 spacecraft images of their target areas and specific objectives. Like the B-2s, the Nighthawk aviators would use KC-10 and KC-135 tanker aircraft to complete their mission.

Dyess Air Force Base, Texa
s
Oh Hard Luck and seven other supersonic B-1B bombers from the 28th Bomb Squadron roared into the star-studded sky and set course for targets that included terrorist training camps, logistics centers, chemical and biological weapons plants, underground command and control centers, and safe houses for international terrorists.

While the strategic warplanes climbed to altitude, six additional B-1B Lancers from the "Bones" of the 77th Bomb Squadron at Ellsworth Air Force Base lifted into the night and began their long flight to the Middle East. All of the intercontinental planes contained conventional 500-pound and 1,000-pound bombs.

Four additional B-1B bombers based in Thumrait, Oman, would fly multiple missions to destroy terrorist training centers and weapons-storage facilities.

Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisian
a
After one of the B-52 pilots aborted his takeoff because of a faltering engine, five other long-range strategic bombers from the 2nd Bombardment Wing departed for a thirty-six-hour, nonstop combat mission to the Gulf region. With an unrefueled range in excess of 8,800 statute miles, aerial refueling gives the eight-engined "Stratofortress" a range limited only by crew endurance.

Although the airplane can carry a significant array o
f
weapons, the heavy bombers from the 20th Bomb Squadron were configured with revolver-type launcher systems to carry eight subsonic Conventional Air Launched Cruise Missiles. This arrangement, coupled with worldwide precision navigation equipment, gives the B-52H an incredibly accurate "drive-by shooting" capability.

Melbourne International Airport, Florid
a
The sun was barely above the horizon when Jackie and Scott donned their life vests and boarded the LongRanger. She quickly brought the ship to life and 'contacted the control tower while he arranged the charts and energized the handheld VHF marine radio.

Seconds later Jackie lifted the helo into the air and headed straight toward the beach. Scott checked his Sig Sauer before he picked up the binoculars and began scanning the vast ocean. Since few pleasure boats were out at this time of the morning, he was looking forward to covering a lot of water in the next hour or two.

Jackie gave him a fleeting glance. "Let's try about ten miles out at a thousand feet. That way we'll have a wider reference."

"That sounds fine."

"What does your intuition tell you?" she asked with a faint smile. "Will we locate them today?"

"According to my calculations," Scott said while he searched for large yachts, "we should catch up to them later this afternoon."

"I hope you're right."

`Trust me," he said confidently, then smiled broadly. Jackie rolled her eyes as she leveled the helo at 1,000 feet.

Boeing 99HP

The first officer of the corporate-owned Boeing 737 listened to the ATIS information for the Chicago-O'Hare International Airport, then contacted the Air Route Traffic Control Center. The controller cleared the flight to descend and maintain 11,000 feet. He cautioned the crew about reported turbulence below 10,000 feet.

Nearing their assigned altitude, the captain advised the two flight attendants to secure the cabin due to turbulent conditions. One of the young ladies entered the cockpit to collect the pilots' lunch trays, then quickly returned to the plush passenger cabin.

After the en route controller handed the flight to approach control, the first officer contacted the controller and requested a visual approach to Runway 14 Right.

"Boeing Nine-Nine Hotel Papa," the controller replied, "expect visual Runway One-Four Right, continue your descent to four thouSand feet. Winds one six zero at two two, gusts two nine."

"Visual one-four right, down to four thousand, Ninety-Nine Hotel Pop."

The first officer turned to the captain. "It's kind of spooky, you know, coming in here with no traffic to worry about." "Yeah, it's gotta be killing the 'cattle car' shareholders."

The faded blue-and-gray Chevrolet Suburban parked adjacent to Landmeier Road looked innocent enough. Up front, the driver and passenger nervously watched for any sign of trouble. Along with the local and state police vehicles and the military Humvees patrolling O'Hare, groups of local citizens were banding together to keep an eye out for suspicious people.

In the back of the big Suburban, the leader of the terrorist cell used an aviation receiver/scanner to eavesdrop on the O'Hare Control Tower. After hearing the tower controller give Boeing 99HP clearance to land, the the wiry man uncovered a portable antiaircraft missile and opened his side door.

"Make it good," the driver encouraged as he adjusted an air-conditioning vent. "It's the last one we have."

The Islamic militant lifted the Swedish Bofors RBS-70 from the floor and stepped outside. Because the airlines had grounded themselves, the civilian 737 became a juicy target. The man took a breath and held it while he watched the airplane approach. As it passed over the Suburban, he patiently waited until the missile was tracking, then gently squeezed the trigger. With a smile on his smooth-shave
n
face, he watched the missile accelerate toward its innocent prey.

"Go," he said to the driver, then tossed the missile launcher on the floor. "Let's get on the freeway."

With the 737 configured for landing, the first officer was about to ask the tower controller for a wind check when both pilots felt a tremendous impact accompanied by a loud report.

"Shit," the captain swore as the nose of the airplane began dropping. "I can't control this thing," he said as he hauled back on the control yoke.

"We've lost the right engine," the first officer exclaimed as a "sink rate" warning sounded.

"Get the nose up!" the copilot pleaded. "Get it up!"

The ground-proximity warning system activated. "Whoop Whoop, pull up! Pull up!"

"Get the nose up," the first officer yelled.

"I can't," the captain exclaimed. "What the hell is goin' on?"

The copilot was frantic. "Power!"

The captain firewalled the throttles and pulled the control yoke back as far as it would go. "We're goin' around! Clean it up!"

As the first officer reached for the landing-gear handle, the nose began to rise, but not enough. They were staring death in the face.

"Oh, shit," the captain exclaimed, fighting the onset of panic. "We're goin' down, tell 'em we're going in!" "Ninety-nine Hotel Papa is goin' in short of the runway!" "Say again," the tower controller said.

"Oh, God, no-no-no!" The captain agonized a second before the Boeing slammed into the ground and exploded, killing everybody onboard.

Darth 68

After the long flight from Whiteman Air Force Base, the B-2 mission commander and the pilot were tired as they approached their primary target in Libya. Using specific combinations of food, drink, and sleep, the stealth-bomber crew
s
could fly forty-eight-hour missions. It was not an ideal situation, but the pilots were trained and conditioned to operate in that type of environment.

"You ready to go, Frank?" Lieutenant Colonel John Otterman asked from the right seat of the Spirit of California. The pilot, Major Frank Korecky, took one last look at his four color multifunction displays. The B61 "bunker busters" were ready to go to work. "All set."

"Here we go," Otterrnan said as they initiated the attack on the camouflaged chemical weapons plant located in a hollowed-out mountain forty miles southwest of Tripoli. With the bomber's master mode switch in the "Go to War" setting, the radio emitters were turned off, the quadruple-redundant flight controls now operated in a "stealth" mode, and the weapons systems were readied.

Six minutes later the huge nerve-gas plant near Tarhuna ceased to exist. A short time later a major underground command post was completely flattened. Only a trace of radiation reached the surface.

At the same time, Darth 66 destroyed two of Libya's reactivated terrorist training facilities and a weapons-storage facility. Their secondary targets included a radar site and two military installations used by nuclear scientists and technicians from the Ukraine.

Darth 63 bombed two terrorist camps in Sudan while Darth 65 dropped earth-penetrating B61 hydrogen bombs on Iranian "hardened" underground targets, including the Hemat Missile Industries production facility.

Ten minutes later, Darth 70 flattened a severely damaged terrorist support camp and logistics center southeast of Tani, Afghanistan, then bombed a terrorist base camp and weapons storage facility near the border of Pakistan.

Suffering from an electrical anomaly, Darth 60 successfully bombed terrorist facilities in Lebanon and Syria. When the B-2s completed their missions, they headed for three KC-10 tankers loitering over the Bay of Bengal and the Nicobar Islands. After a top-off, both the Spirit of Texas and the Spirit of Missouri would fly directly to Guam while the other B-2s returned to Whiteman AFB.

Only minutes after the stealthy F-117 Nighthawks dropped the last of their precision-guided bombs on their targets, including the Shahid Hemat rocket research facility on the outskirts of Tehran, the B-1B Lancers hit other targets with devastating accuracy. Following the newer strategic bombers, the venerable Vietnam-era B-52 Stratofortresses put the finishing touches on the hourlong, wide-ranging air raid. Staggered at different intervals, more U
. S
. bombers were en route to the Middle East. At Minot Air Force Base, Ellsworth AFB, and other Air Combat Command bases, numerous aircraft were taking off to continue the saturation bombing.

Mosco
w
President Nikolai Shumenko was staring morosely out his window when Yegor Pavlinsky was ushered into the dacha. "Have a seat," Shumenko said in a tired voice.