Executive Intent

“You are trying to think of a way to escape,” the Russian fighter pilot radioed. “We noted you shot down one of our brothers, so you have defensive weapons, but the fact that we have come well within missile range of you undetected means that your defensive weapons are unusable, at least right at the present moment. We are in firing position now on both yourselves and your aerial refueling aircraft. We applaud your courage and exceptional fighting and flying skills on your high-speed pass through our task force. We have a proposal for you, warrior to warrior.”

“Armstrong, Fracture.”

“Go ahead.”

“We got intercepted by Russian fighters from that carrier,” Boxer said.

“Oh God,” Gonzo said. “We have limited sensor coverage of you for the next three minutes, Fracture, and you’re out of range of Salalah radar. We’re almost blind right now.”

“Pass our situation along to Central Command,” Boxer said.

“Ask if there are any Omani fighters at Salalah that can chase these Russians away.”

“Roger. Stand by.”

“Our proposal is this, American bomber: Eject out of your damaged bomber and let us have our fun with it,” the Russian pilot radioed. “If you do this, we will let your tanker aircraft stay in the area to assist in recovering you from the ocean. If you do not respond, or if we see you make any turns or see your bomb bays open, we will open fire on both of you. You have sixty seconds to reply.”

Boxer angrily flipped over to the GUARD channel: “Hey, bastard, you would be a cowardly chickenshit if you downed an unarmed tanker!” she shouted.

“Ah, the woman bomber pilot,” the Russian pilot said. “Greetings, madam. That unfortunately is the spoils of war, my dear. You have fifty seconds to eject.”

“Let us get closer to shore, closer to Yemen.”

“You are much closer to shore now than our comrade was when you shot him down,” the Russian said. “Forty seconds.”

“Frodo…”

“There’s nothing I can do as long as they’re directly behind us,” Frodo said. “I can jam their radar side lobes with the lateral emitters, but I can’t touch the main beams. Besides, they’re well within heater-missile range, and even if we could decoy them with flares, they can close into gun range in seconds.”

“We can turn into them, lock them up, and shoot.”

“The second we turn, they’ll fire. We might be able to get one before they launch, but the other three will nail us and the tanker.”

“Thirty seconds, madam.”

“Can the jammers protect the tanker?” Boxer asked on intercom.

“Not against heat-seekers or guns,” Frodo said. He started to tighten his ejection-seat straps in preparation for bailout. “Dammit, Boxer, this is all your fault! If you hadn’t gone down after that task force, we’d all be safe! Now we have no choice but to punch out to save the tanker!”

The Russian fighter pilot radioed, “Twenty…” But at that instant Boxer saw an incredibly bright streak of light shoot across the sky coming from directly above, and the transmission was cut off. Another streak of light erupted seconds later, this one seemingly aimed directly at them but passing behind them, missing by what seemed bare inches.

“What just happened? What were those things? It looked like they came in from above us!”

“The lead fighter in the first formation disappeared!” Frodo said. “The wingman isn’t transmitting yet.”

“Nail those bastards, Frodo!” Boxer shouted, and she threw the Vampire bomber into a tight left turn, flying between the fighters and the tanker. As soon as she did so, the lateral laser radar emitters locked onto all three Russian fighters, the forward bomb-bay doors opened, and in fifteen seconds three AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles were in the air. At the same time Boxer popped chaff and flares to decoy any missile launches that might be aimed at the tanker.

Two of the Vampire’s AMRAAMs hit their targets…but the third missed. The surviving Su-33 fighter accelerated and fired two missiles at the KC-767 tanker. Both radar-guided missiles were decoyed away from the tanker by the cloud of chaff billowing through the sky and by the Vampire’s heavy jamming…

…but when they detected the jamming and the chaff, they automatically switched to infrared guidance and locked onto the biggest heat source in their line of sight: the EB-1C Vampire bomber. The two missiles exploded above the exhaust nozzles of the number one and two engines, blowing the left wing completely apart. The stricken bomber cartwheeled several times vertically through the sky, flipped upside down, then spiraled into the sea.

NINE

Half the failures of this world in life arise from pulling in one’s horse as he is leaping.

– JULIUS AND AUGUSTUS HARE, “GUESSES AT TRUTH”

THE WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM, WASHINGTON, D.C.

LATER THAT EVENING, EASTERN TIME