Satan's Tail

Aboard the Abner Read

2351

JENNIFER PULLED WEREWOLF ONE TO THE WEST, GLANCING

quickly at the window in the lower left-hand corner of the screen, which showed the aircraft’s vital signs. Everything was in the green.

“Werewolf, keep to the south,” said Zen. “I’m taking a run at the patrol boat off to the east. Remember, they’re still shelling the hulks in the harbor.”

“Negative, Flighthawk leader,” said Eyes, cutting in.

“We’re targeting the patrol craft with Harpoons.”

“Roger that, I see them inbound. This boat isn’t targeted.”

“We don’t have it.”

“Watch where I go and you will.”

“Standing by.”

As Je

And it was a good thing. She saw that the men were moving toward the shore, not away from it. It was the second landing party coming in to try and cut off retreat. She took a deep breath and went back to work.

STORM TURNED TOWARD THE HOLOGRAPHIC DISPLAY AS THE

words cut through the cacophony around him:

“Submarine is out of the pen—moving at twelve or fifteen knots to the east, to get away from the breakwaters and bar-riers,” said Eyes.

328

DALE BROWN’S DREAMLAND

Don’t let the bastards get away. Don’t let the bastards get away!

“Weapons, target the submarine,” he said.

“We don’t have it on the targeting system. The sound is being obscured by the cha

“What’s the status of the bombardment?” Storm asked.

“Another few minutes.”

“As soon as it’s complete, move east with the submarine so he doesn’t get away,” said Storm. “I want that son of a bitch.”

Aboard Baker-Baker Two

2359

STARSHIP FOUND IT DIFFICULT TO CONCENTRATE WITH THE

chatter on the Dreamland circuit, but he didn’t want to completely turn it off. They were flying just outside the territorial limits of Yemen. The usual assortment of ground radars were working, but at the moment they had the skies to themselves.

Flipping back and forth between two aircraft wasn’t as easy as Zen made it seem. Starship found it too easy to confuse which one he was in, since there were no visual cues on the main screen. Granted, part of the problem was that he was flying at night, and there were pretty much no visual cues period, just distant lights and the looming shadow of the Megafortress. But it couldn’t take all that much to program in a line indicating which flight you were looking at, a color-coded bar or number at the top of the screen, say.

“Hawk Three, this is Baker-Baker Two,” said Brea

“We have a flight from the Ark Royal coming south. The Brits are ru

Starship glanced at the sitrep map. The aircraft carrier SATAN’S TAIL

329

was at the very far end of the screen, as were two Harrier aircraft flying patrol nearby. The Harriers were versatile aircraft, though not much of a match for front-line fighters or the tiny Flighthawks, which were invisible to their radar except at very close range.

“We’ve advised them an operation is in progress,” Brea

“Roger that,” said Starship.

He leaned back in his seat. Commander Delaford was working the Piranha controls next to him. He was in his own world, literally miles away.

“I have two MiGs, coming off Aden,” said Spiderman, referring to an airfield in southern Yemen. “They may be interested in the Ark Royal.”

“Let them know,” said Brea

“Doing so.”

The two MiGs were identified as MiG-29UBs, an export model of the front-line Russian lightweight fighter. They were about two hundred miles away from Baker-Baker Two.

“Another pair right behind them,” added Spiderman.

“Must be putting on quite a show for the British,” said Starship, turning Hawk Three back toward the Megafortress.

“Hawk Three, be advised that first flight of MiGs is changing course,” said Spiderman a minute later. “I may be paranoid, but they look like they’re on a direct vector toward the assault area. And they’re moving.”

White House Situation Room

1600

JED FOLDED HIS ARMS TIGHTLY AGAINST HIS CHEST, STARING AT

the sitrep screen from the Wisconsin. It showed the assault team on the ground, moving down the slopes—the positions 330

DALE BROWN’S DREAMLAND

of the Whiplash team members were marked with green triangles—as well as the locations of the aircraft and ships involved in the operation, all superimposed on a satellite photo of the area. The downed Osprey was marked by the computer with a black rectangle.

“Damn it, what the hell is going on down there?” said Balboa.

“The Osprey was struck from the ground,” said Jed.

“I meant that rhetorically,” said Balboa. “Storm should have asked for more support. He’s a good officer, but he goes off half-cocked.”

Jed stared at the screen, trying very hard not to point out that this was a textbook example of the pot calling the kettle black.

“It sounds confused there,” said the Secretary of State.

“Yes, sir. It is a bit,” said Jed.

“This isn’t going as well as I’d hoped,” muttered Hartman.

“It’s not over yet,” said Jed, unsure what else to say.

Northern Somalia,

on the ground

11 November 1997

0002

DANNY REACHED THE CLIFFSIDE JUST AS BOSTON WENT DOWN.

A pair of automatic rifles popped below, but he couldn’t see where the enemy was. A Werewolf screamed along the beach area to the right but didn’t fire.

Da

“Whiplash team, this is Whiplash commander,” he said. “I have a malfunction with the friend-or-foe identifier. It may be common to everyone. Use extreme caution.”

SATAN’S TAIL

331

“Hey, Cap, think I have the same problem,” said Boston,

“ ’cause I’m looking back up at you and can’t see your triangle.”

“Our set’s working,” said Sergeant Liu. “We’ll use caution, however. We have some of the pirates pi

As Da

“Werewolves, this is Whiplash leader,” said Da

“We’re having trouble with the friend-or-foe.”

“I heard,” said Je

“Good,” said Da

“Yeah, we’re copying,” said Dog. “We see your team going down the face of the cliff. There’s some sort of glitch in the programming. My bet is the interface with Xray Pop.”

“Good guess,” said Je

“Heads up!” yelled Boston.

Almost simultaneously a series of explosions rocked the base of the cliff. Da