“Full facial profiles for every one of our people on the ground.”
It was an unusual, even unnerving request to prepare a weapon for launch.
She said, “I’ll have that for you in two minutes.”
Central Mediterranean
While most Americans were sitting down to dinner, four U.S. Navy pilots guided their F/A-18 Hornets across the deck of the USSGerald R. Fordin the dead of a Mediterranean night. With the ship turned into the wind, they taxied toward the catapults. The deck crew checked each jet one final time as the battle group around them maneuvered with symphony-like precision.
One by one, the Hornets shot into the night sky like they’d beenfired from a gun. Which, in effect, they had been. TheFord’s advanced EMALS catapult didn’t operate using steam but rather electromagnetic force—an aviator’s rail gun.
The jets were loaded for bear, each carrying two tons of guided munitions and a full load of four hundred and twelve rounds in their internal gun. They joined up quickly in loose tactical formation and took up a southeasterly course.
With the rush of launch behind them, Commander Dale “Lava” Harrison pushed the throttles to the first detent and then squeaked them back a fraction. Maximum thrust without afterburner, but with a small margin for his wingmen to hold formation.
Harrison had earned his call sign early on in his career when he’d landed a Hornet at Navy North Island, in San Diego, with a serious flap problem. The high-speed stop after landing had ended with hot brakes and a wheel fire. The fire department handled it like the professionals they were, but for Harrison a new call sign was born: Lava Man.
“Check silent,” Lava said.
The other three jets acknowledged.
Once clear of theFord, electronic emissions would be kept to a minimum. All transponders were turned off and radars went to standby. Only essential radio calls would be made until reaching the target area.
The pilots knew little about the mission ahead of them. They hadn’t been told the exact nature of their target, nor what threats could be expected. Time was critical, and more details would be forwarded en route. None of the four pilots had ever operated under such orders.
As they would soon find out, however, tonight would be a night of many firsts.
62
The Maghreb
Al-Jaghbub Airfield
0112 Local Time
“How is he?” Clark called out, taking his eye away from his scope momentarily.
Sesniak remained hunkered down next to his captain. “Not good. BP is dropping, pulse irregular.”
The copilot had done his best to treat Hooper, placing combat gauze and a pressure dressing on the wound, but he was still bleeding badly. Clark knew there was little more they could do under the present circumstances. The inbound fire remained steady and dealing with that was paramount.
He went back to his glass and scanned the buildings near the hangar. His reticle settled on the thermal image of a vehicle. It was a small pickup truck, probably a Toyota. Clark had seen a muzzle flash earlier from the area, but at that moment he saw no shooters. Beneath the truck’s high-slung chassis, however, he saw a slight movement. If he wasn’t mistaken, one knee and a boot.
As soon as the blob went still, Clark sighted and fired. He scored a hit, and a body flopped to the tarmac, writhing like a boated fish. Clark’s center-of-mass follow-up, also delivered beneath the truck’s frame, finished the job.
Ding scrambled next to him and dropped to the dirt.
“I used my best optic to scope the hangar,” he said. “I was hoping to get a look inside, but the doors are buttoned up tight.”
“I’m okay with them being shut. Time is on our side. If we can keep those drones bottled up inside, they aren’t a threat. And in roughly half an hour, that storm is going to hit. No way they can launch at that point.”
“That’s all good and fine, boss. But I gotta say, it’d be nice to have a little backup. Any word?”
Clark checked his handset for messages—in such a remote area, they had no voice comm, only burst messaging via satellite. He saw one new line.
“Looks like they’ve launched some Hornets for close air support, but their ETA isn’t for almost an hour.”
“An hour?That’s a fail! And if this storm hits, they won’t be much help anyway.”
