by Dale Brown
By the time he got the Flighthawk turned back around, the headless Airbus was down to 2,000 feet. Its left wingtip hit the ground first, skittering along for a hundred feet or so before collapsing. The rest of the plane spun in toward the missing wing, tumbling into a rising cloud of smoke and dust.
“It’s down! It’s down!” said Starship.
Then he braced himself.
* * *
Englehardt closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable flash of light. He pushed himself against the back of his seat, expecting the air burst that would follow a nuclear explosion.
It didn’t come. After a minute he swung the aircraft back toward the site. Nothing.
They were a little more than twenty miles away, climbing back through 25,000 feet. He moved into a figure eight, intending to climb as high as possible.
“Sully, you with me?”
“With you, Mike.”
“No explosion.”
“Yeah, nothing.”
“Maybe coming. We high enough?”
“Yeah, just about.”
“You got the engines.”
“Yeah, I’m on it, bro,” answered Sullivan.
* * *
Dog stared at the image on the screen, waiting for the massive white cloud — the famous mushroom cloud — to rise above the desert mountainside.
But it didn’t. Their missile had prevented it.
“Dreamland is sending a response team,” reported Sullivan.
“I have a helicopter en route,” reported Rager at the airborne radar, “and two Ospreys.”
Dog waited, listening. He knew every man aboard those aircraft, had brought most of them to Dreamland, or had at least approved their assignments.
Somehow, the fact that he was no longer their commander didn’t enter into his thoughts.
Minutes passed that seemed like days. He began to feel numb.
“Neutralized,” said Sullivan finally. “The bomb’s trigger section is off. It’s inert.”
“Take us to Dreamland,” Dog told Englehardt. “Take us home.”
About the Authors
DALE BROWN is a former U.S. Air Force captain and the author of numerous previous bestsellers, including Strike Force and Edge of Battle; Brown lives in Nevada, where he can often be found in the skies, piloting his own plane.
JIM DEFELICE’S recent thrillers include Leopard’s Kill (2007) and Threat Level Black (2005). Jim has also written more than a dozen works of fiction and nonfiction for young people. He lives with his wife and son in upstate New York.
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