Dreamland by Dale Brown & Jim DeFelice

Author:Dale Brown & Jim DeFelice
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3, epub
Tags: Proving Grounds, Proving Grounds - Nevada, United States. Air Force, War & Military, Fiction, Espionage, Technological, United States - Weapons Systems, Spy Stories
ISBN: 9780425181201
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2001-06-01T04:00:00+00:00

IV

Whiplash

Dreamland

21 October, 2000 local

COLONEL BASTIAN WALKED THE TWO MILES FROM HIS office to the base commander’s “hut,” the wind chilling his face. He’d shipped the summary of his report via the secure e-mail link and packed off the full package, committing himself before he could change his mind. You were supposed to feel good when you followed your conscience, but he felt as if he’d just stabbed a friend.

A lot of friends. Not to mention himself.

Dog paused near the entrance to the low-slung adobe structure that was his temporary home at Dreamland. The guard assigned to his premises had taken shelter in a blue government Lumina parked a few yards away; Dog nodded in his direction, then turned his eyes toward the old boneyard that began twenty or thirty yards away. Surplused aircraft and failed experiments sulked in the darkness, watching him with steely eyes. Among the planes were craft once considered the nation’s finest—a B-58 Hustler, some ancient B-50 Superfortress upgrades, three or four F-86 Sabres. They were indistinguishable in the shadows, tarped and in various stages of disrepair. But Dog felt their presence like living things, animals driven to cover.

Time moves on, he thought to himself.

He waited for something more profound before finally shaking his head, realizing he was freezing out here. The desert turned cold once the sun was gone. He trotted toward his front door, deciding to throw himself into bed and rest up for the inevitable storm tomorrow.

The phone was ringing inside as he opened the fiberglass faux-wood door. He picked up the handset, bracing himself for an angry blast from one of the many generals and government officials connected with the F-119 project.

But the caller was his own Sergeant Gibbs.

“Colonel, we need you back at the office,” said Ax. “What’s going on?”

“You need to make a secure call back to D.C.,” said the sergeant. “Whiplash has been activated.”

“Does Danny know?”

“Captain Freah is on his way here,” said the sergeant. “He had to round up his men.”

“Send a car.”

“It should be there in about ten seconds,” said Ax.

Dog put down the phone. While in theory the team could be headed anywhere, even a training mission, Dog realized it must mean things had popped in Somalia. More than likely, that was why Washington wanted to talk to him.

Better that than the JSF.

He took a moment to pull on his old leather flight jacket, then went back outside, where a Humvee was waiting for him.

Danny Freah was at the wheel.

“Whiplash has been activated,” said Freah as Dog pulled himself into the seat.

“Ax just told me. You have transport?”

“I was hoping you could expedite something. They want us in Africa yesterday. There’s a C-5 en route from back East.”

“A C-5?”

Freah smiled and shrugged. His team consisted of only six men; they carried their forty pounds of equipment on their backs. The big Lockheed transport planes could move the better part of a company.

Freah quickly lost his smile. “Word is, two of our pilots went down in Somalia. And two or three Marines stayed back to help them.

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