Wings Of Fire

by Dale Brown

  "I thought she was killed in that attack at the mosque a couple weeks ago."

  "So did the rest of the world, Mr. President," Kercheval said. "She suddenly turned up at a National Assembly meeting to announce her candidacy for president before being refused by the Assembly on technical grounds. She was injured but not seriously."

  "She's an American, I believe?" Thorn asked.

  "Yes, sir. Ex-Air Force. Dual citizenship."

  "She'd better hightail it back here where she belongs before her husband's assassins catch up with her," Vice President Busick idly commented. Thorn glanced at the veteran politician but said nothing.

  "Recommended course of action, sir?" General Venti asked.

  Thorn thought for a few moments. The "Kitchen Cabinet" was accustomed to Thorn's seemingly disconnected way of pondering an issue-he would adopt a faraway expression, as if searching through space, for an answer. Former military men called it the "thousand-yard stare," but even though Thorn was ex-Army Special Forces, no one gave him that kind of credit.

  Thomas Nathaniel Thorn was the first third-party candi-

  date since Abraham Lincoln to be elected to the White House. To be elected president of the United States without a massive, well-organized political machine behind you was unusual enough-but Thorn was odder still. He was a loner, a politician who seemingly shunned crowds and the spotlight. He was rarely seen in public, although now into the third year of his term he was seen more and more on the reelection campaign trail. He worked long hours in his private study or in the Oval Office in a very hands-on but decentralized management structure. The executive branch of government was the smallest in sixty years, all carefully orchestrated by a man who used to kill for a living but was now perceived as one of the gentlest, nonconfrontational, and nonconformist commanders-in-chief ever to occupy the White House.

  As was his custom, Thorn glanced up with an unspoken request in his eyes, first to his vice president. "Park a carrier battle group off the Libyan coast," Busick said.

  "I agree, sir," Secretary of Defense Goff chimed in. "One carrier battle group would just about equal the entire Libyan military's strength." Left unspoken was the fact that an aircraft carrier battle group was just about the only option open to them-since one of Thomas Thorn's first acts as commander-in-chief was to bring most troops stationed overseas home. Although the United States still had basing rights in all of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries and still deployed overseas often for joint military exercises, no U.S. combat forces were permanently stationed anywhere in Europe or the Middle East.

  "Of course, we would condemn the attack in the United Nations, in the media, and in every appearance we made for the next few weeks," Secretary of State Kercheval said. "I think it would be easy to swing world public opinion against Libya. But I think moving an aircraft carrier off Libya's coast would send a pretty strong message as well-the United States thinks it is definitely in our best interests to defend Egypt."

  Thorn turned to General Venti. "General? Who's over there?"

  "The Stennis carrier group is cruising in the Med right now, sir," Venti responded. "The Reagan group is scheduled to join them in four days. They have a week of joint exercises planned in the Med, and then the Stennis was scheduled to come home. The groups have canceled their exercises and are at threat condition Delta. The Reagan sails with an amphibious squadron assigned-three to five ships, two thousand Marines. We also have an amphibious group assigned to the Med attached to the Stennis with twenty-one ships and approximately fifteen thousand Marines."

  "How far out are other forces?" Thorn asked. "If we did have to go into Libya or Egypt in the next twenty-four hours, what other forces would we have to draw on?"

  "Primary strike forces would be ship- or sub-launched cruise missiles, followed by carrier-based bombers," Venti replied. "Those strikes could be launched within six hours if needed and would be focusing on neutralizing air defense, surveillance, and antiship forces, softening up the beachhead in preparation for an amphibious landing. Bombers from the CONUS would then follow up and strike larger targets deeper inside Libya-infantry bases, ports, warehouses, docks, and supply lines, as well as defensive positions-concurrently with a Marine beach landing, well within twenty-four hours.

  "I need a decision on whether or not to generate the nuclear forces to alert status, sir, and what targets you would like loaded up," Venti added. "The Peacekeepers can be reprogrammed for Libya-Sudan-Syria-Iraq target set in about two hours. The naval forces in the Med will take about a day to reprogram targets after they receive thenmessages-the subs take a little longer to decode valid messages. The B-2 stealth bomber fleet needs seventy-two hours to generate both squadrons, eighteen planes, to full nuclear alert status."

  Most of the President's advisers were surprised by the swiftness of the President's decision: "I want a flight of B-2 bombers loaded up for nuclear strike sorties against Libyan, Sudanese, Syrian, and Iraqi targets," he said.

  "Then I want them launched to positive control orbits over the Med."

  "The subs and surface forces in the Med can be ready to fly nuclear sorties in half the time," Secretary of Defense Goff pointed out.

  "But then the whole world will think I'm ready to go to war," Thorn said evenly. "I want the carriers and subs on full alert, but I don't want them going nuclear unless this situation gets completely out of hand."

  "The rest of the strategic force, sir?"

  "Get them warmed up and ready to go," the President said. "Russian and Chinese target sets-I think we'll have enough forces ready in the Med if it goes nuclear without the ICBMs." General Venti nodded as he made notes to himself. "What kind of reconnaissance do we have in place over the theater, General?"

  "Strategic and theater recon is by satellite," Venti replied. "We usually fill in with U-2 spy planes and carrierbased unmanned reconnaissance aircraft when requested."

  "You said 'usually'?" Thorn asked. "I take it in this current political climate that Egypt is not allowing us to use their bases or fly freely through then- airspace?"

  "Yes, sir," Secretary of State Kercheval said. "Egypt has currently suspended overflight privileges for American military aircraft. Because of the upcoming elections and because of the confusing situation over the area now, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry says that no overflights by military aircraft or landing privileges by combat-coded aircraft of any kind will be allowed-only civil transport and humanitarian missions permitted."

  "When did this happen?" Busick asked.

  "Just last night our time," Kercheval said. "Shortly after it was announced that those prisoners would be taken to Egypt. Their ministry claims they don't want to accidentally shoot down any of our aircraft."

  "Bullshit," Busick snarled. "It's that Muslim Brotherhood thing. Khalid Khan wanted to be elected and align Egypt with the Muslim Brotherhood, so he cut oi» military access in Egypt. Whole lot of good that did him."

  "Egypt is an important friend of the United States, a moderate Arab nation, and one of the most powerful nations on the African continent," Robert Goff said emphatically. "It's also one of the most geopolitically and strategically important countries on the planet, for reasons almost too numerous to list. Whatever affects Egypt will eventually affect Europe and North America. I feel it's important to defend Egypt with everything we've got."

  "I agree, Mr. President," Kercheval chimed in. "Quite frankly, sir, the Libyan action, although horrific in the loss of life and the use of nuclear weapons, was relatively minor. We still have a chance to prevent them from attempting an invasion of Egypt or widening the conflict."

  "I agree with Secretaries Goff and Kercheval, sir," General Venti said. "The Libyan attack hasn't destabilized the situation in north Africa-yet. We need to get in there and tell the world that we won't tolerate any more actions like this."

  Vice President Busick waited for the President to respond; when he didn't, he turned to him and said in a low voice, "I'm afraid I agree with your
advisers here, Thomas. I know you don't go for things like this, but I'd like to slap Libya down hard. If you don't want to go in after Zuwayy and kick his ass for using nuclear weapons, at least park the Sixth Fleet right outside his front door and make our displeasure clear." He paused, then added, "And I know you're thinking of a second term. This would be a good time to exercise your military muscle. Libya is a pushover. If there's a shooting war, it'll be over quickly."

  The President nodded that he understood the veteran politician's view, then quizzically glanced at Doug Morgan. "I have a feeling you have something else that might influence my decision, Doug," he said.

  Morgan produced another briefing folder, sighed, then opened it. "I'm afraid I do, sir," he began. "I think our friends the Night Stalkers might be involved in this Libya-Egypt conflict."

  "Oh, for chrissakes ...," Busick moaned. "Those bastards are going to get their butts kicked one of these days."

  "I think that might have already happened, sir," Morgan said. "I already reported on the unexplained attacks on that Libyan missile base where chemical weapons and possibly nuclear materials were detected. We thought it was the Israelis, and then Egyptian special forces-we still have no concrete evidence of either. I also reported that the Libyans attacked several ships in the Mediterranean Sea following that attack, apparently in retaliation or perhaps looking for the commando team's base of operations. The identities of all the ships were verified-two Greek, Italian, French, Moroccan, and a Lithuanian vessel, all sunk or heavily damaged. The Egyptian navy rescued crew members from four of the six ships, including over sixty men and women from the last ship that was attacked-the Lithuanian salvage vessel."

  "Salvage vessel?" the President asked. "Lithuanian salvage vessel?"

  "Yes, sir," Morgan said. He could tell the President had been doing his homework-he recognized the clues immediately.

  "Don't tell me," the President said. "The so-called survivors of the Lithuanian ship captured a helicopter right off the deck of an Egyptian warship and spirit off into the darkness."

  "Worse than that-I think the survivors captured the entire Egyptian warship."

  "What?"

  "We intercepted some interesting radio traffic between one of the Egyptian frigates and their military base at Mersa Matruh," Morgan went on. "At first we thought a little mutiny had broken out between some rival factions on the ship. But then it occurred to us that someone else other than the crew had seized the ship. A couple days later, the vessel returned to port and everything else was back to normal."

  "And you think the guys that seized this frigate were Martindale's crew?" Venti asked.

  "It fits," the President said. "Operating off a salvage ship-just like an Intelligence Support Agency cell, which

  a lot of those Night Stalkers once were. Martindale would certainly have the ability to get one of his ships flagged by Lithuania-he practically saved that country himself when the Russians attacked. And blowing up a Libyan missile base-that's signature Martindale; or, more accurately, McLanahan. Doug, did you ... ?"

  "Ask about McLanahan? Yes, sir. We requested a report from the FBI, who still has Sky Masters under special surveillance." Morgan turned to another page in his report. "General McLanahan, his wife, Colonel Luger, and Colonel Briggs are not at the Sky Masters facility in Arkansas."

  "Doesn't mean they were involved in the Libyan attack," the President said.

  "Mr. President, I'll bet you my Orange Bowl box seats they're involved-up to their eyeballs," Vice President Busick exclaimed heatedly. "They have opportunity, and they certainly have the means. Are any of them traveling overseas?"

  "Yes ..."

  "You see!" Busick exclaimed. "I'm sorry, Mr. President, but I'm getting sick and tired of that bunch of wanna-be heroes creating a mess and then fading off into the sunset, letting someone else clean up their messes afterward."

  Thorn raised a hand to his vice president, silently informing him that his point of view was clearly understood and asking him to tone it down, then turned back to Morgan. "You mentioned something about them getting their butts kicked, Doug," he said. "What else do you have?"

  "Another piece of the puzzle-but a corner piece, I think," Morgan said. "The remains of one Paul McLanahan were reported by customs agents in New Jersey being flown in from Tel Aviv by a funeral director based in Sacramento, California. The FBI's preliminary investigation confirms that Mr. McLanahan was involved in a suicide bomber attack in Rehoval, Israel, ten days ago. He was a guest at the Hilton Tel Aviv Hotel, checked in the day before. Airline tickets, visas, guided tour schedule-all checks. He was there on vacation."

  "Baloney!" Busick exclaimed. "It's either the most incredible coincidence I've ever heard, or it's a lie, a coverup. Paul McLanahan is one of the Night Stalkers-hell, he's their main guy, next to his brother Patrick and former president Martindale himself. Martindale could have easily created the fake hotel registration, airline tickets, even police reports. McLanahan and the Night Stalkers are in Libya. I know it. He got killed in that raid on the Libyan missile base, and I'll bet the Night Stalkers are still in the region, in Egypt or Israel, getting ready to finish the jobor grab some payback."

  "So if the Libyans thought the Egyptians engineered that raid, the attack in Egypt could've been retaliation," Kercheval said. "If this thing goes hot on us, McLanahan and Martindale could be responsible for igniting a major war in the Med."

  "You know what it is, don't you?" Busick asked angrily. "It's Sky Masters Inc. and Jon Masters. He's supplying the Night Stalkers with the weapons they need to do these damned secret missions. Those are weapons we funded. That high-tech combat armor, the aircraft, the weaponshe's supplying them all for this private little mercenary army of Martindale's."

  "We should slap Sky Masters with sanctions for their support of those nutcases," Kercheval exclaimed. "We should just shut them down, once and for all. And the Justice Department needs to conduct an investigation of Kevin Martindale. He can't be allowed to continue organizing private military operations all over the world. If Justice can't do anything, maybe the press should be told about this "

  "That's already in the works," Robert Goff said. "Some of our Navy interceptors caught up with one of Masters's research aircraft-refueling a modified B-52 bomber over the Mediterranean Sea."

  "What?"

  "I'm afraid we have photos-positive proof," Goff said. "It appears they had expended weapons too. Ite still circumstantial evidence, but it's pretty convincing to me. We

  have Masters's refueling plane in Greece right now, questioning the crew, after we think they had rendezvoused again with a Megafortress bomber last night. The bomber got away both times-it's too stealthy to track except up very close, and it doesn't let us get close enough."

  "Are those guys crazy?" Busick exclaimed. "Are they trying to start a war?"

  "Martindale is not doing anything illegal, at least not in the United States," General Venti interjected.

  "But we can refuse to shield him against foreign indictments," Kercheval shot back. "Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and a half-dozen other nations have all pressed criminal charges against Martindale for his activities-"

  "Alleged activities."

  "Call it what you want, General-you and I both know he's involved," Kercheval said. "We can threaten to not block extradition."

  "We are not going to turn over a former president of the United States to any foreign country," Busick said. "That's crazy. Martindale will never believe our threat. But we can sure as hell bust McLanahan and his men."

  "Let's stick with the problem at hand, shall we?" Kercheval asked. "We need some kind of consensus about what in the hell to do about Libya."

  All eyes turned toward Thomas Thorn. He considered it for a few more moments; then: "Have the Reagan and Stennis groups proceed with their planned exercises," he said. "No changes whatsoever in their plans-in fact, I want Pentagon briefers to start including a few details of the exercise to the press
, just so everyone knows we're not adjusting the exercise to threaten Libya."

  "Sir, are you sure don't want to put any additional military pressure on Libya?" Goff asked incredulously. He was accustomed to the various surprises served up by this very new and certainly different commander-in-chief, but he still couldn't control his reaction when he made such unexpected decisions. "Mr. President, I'd like to prepare a briefing regarding Egypt's importance to-"

  "Save it for now, Robert," Thorn said. "Gentlemen, I need to hear just one thing before I make the decision to commit American troops against Libya: that the people of Egypt want the help of the United States. From what you've said, that hasn't happened."

  "That's not true, Mr. President," Kercheval said. "We've had calls from the prime minister, from major opposition groups, from leaders in the Pan-African Leadership Council ..."

  "That's not good enough," the President said. "You say that Khan, the chief justice of their supreme court, might have been involved in the Salaam assassination-and then you tell me that he was the front-runner in the national election? This tells me that the people of Egypt condone and even embrace these actions."

  "Maybe they were too scared of Khan to resist him, sir."

  "I don't believe that's possible," the President said. "We've seen too many cases of common people toppling dictatorships, and we've seen too many cases of common people embracing dictatorships-not because they were coerced into doing so, but because they liked having a strongman in charge. If that's what the people choose, they can have it-and everything that goes along with it. Egypt is a progressive country. It currently has a free press, allows free expression of ideas, and easy immigration."

  "Mr. President, certainly, you can't believe-?"

  "I most certainly do, Edward," the President said. "If Egypt wants our help, they need to prove to me that they really want our help-we will not impose our ideals on them, no matter how much we distrust Libya." He turned to Goff and Venti and went on: "I want the theater and naval commanders fully briefed on the situation in Libya, I want our forces in the Med, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Persian Gulf on the highest state of alert, and I want contingency plans drawn up for air strikes against Libyan forces that move against Egypt. But I am not going to threaten Libya or come to the aid of Egypt unless the people of Egypt elect a president that wants to ooperate and work with us."