Shadow Flight (1990) (47 page)

His next assignment involved finding a knowledgeable F-1 17A crewmember to join the fold. The Kremlin had given the operation a high priority.

Relations with Cuba remained extremely volatile. Moscow, embarrassed and bewildered by the fiery strong man, in agreement with the United States, penalized Castro for his country's participation in the hijacking by cutting off further subsidies unless Cuba could compensate in some measure for the loss of the B-2 bomber.

However, in weekly broadcasts Castro continually threatened to sink the American aircraft carriers if the United States should provoke him again. The threat was not taken too seriously though President Jarrett kept two carrier groups in the Gulf of Mexico. The carrier air wings had remained on five-minute alert, with an airborne two-fighter BARCAP, for three weeks. At that point, having had only one uneventful MiG encounter, the president had elected to stand down from the alert five status and operate at normal tempo.

Fidel Castro stubbornly refused to agree to any restitution agreement. He renewed his pledge to perfect a single Leninist party in the Western hemisphere based on the principles of centralism. The last chapter in his reign of terror was only pages away.