Long Shot: A Sniper Novel by Coughlin Jack & Davis Donald A

Author:Coughlin, Jack & Davis, Donald A. [Coughlin, Jack & Davis, Donald A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: thriller
ISBN: 9781466884908
Goodreads: 28696538
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2016-08-16T07:00:00+00:00

ABOVE LAPLAND

The Russian MiG-29 fighter jet, an aerodynamic dream, whisked all alone through the darkening sky above Lapland, teasing the Finnish air defense radars that tracked it. The pilot, Captain Ildus Polnykov, knew they were watching him zip across the vast emptiness of the northwestern border. With Operation Hermitage still in progress, everybody was watching everybody.

One of his two assignments tonight was to force the Finns to scramble some F-18 Hornets up on an intercept course so the response could be timed. Once they arrived, Polnykov would peel away and fly back to Murmansk, where technicians would analyze the data collected by his electronics package. That they would come was never in doubt. He would make it happen with his second task, that of sparking a real confrontation.

He was about thirty miles across the international border into Finland and had come in so fast that no interceptors had yet shown up on his own radar. Normally, that was what these test flights were all about, he thought. To probe. See how far he could push it. See if he could pick a fight. This mission was going to be a lot different. He let the powerful MiG-29, known to NATO as the “Fulcrum,” slide down several thousand feet in altitude and bled off some speed to become an even bigger target.

At times like this, Polnykov felt a strange sense of peace, alone in a place of beautiful fantasy. The sky was purpling as the last ridge of the late-setting sun went down before him, while below were untracked snowy miles and great primeval forests. The only sounds were his own breathing into his oxygen mask and the periodic low voice of a controller far back in Russia. He would love to mix it up with a Hornet tonight, to dance in the heavens in playful menace, but that was not the main job. True air-to-air combat was something he had never experienced, and that absence was a hollow place inside of him. He checked his full load of armaments. Pure power lay right at his fingertips

Suddenly Captain Polnykov was snapped back into reality. The sensors were screaming warnings that he was being painted by radar, and the pinging was loud and strong, showing the threat was nearby. They had just turned it on, and it caught him by surprise.

Finland had put some new mobile antiaircraft missile batteries into the field, and the vehicles were secluded in the thick forests and hard to pinpoint because they changed position every day. In the past few weeks, the batteries appeared to be snuggling closer to the Russian border. Captain Polnykov and other pilots had been ordered to find and destroy one and show the Finns the cost of such folly.

Ah. He had done it. A missile radar truck was on line. Good. Make the run. He slid down to an even lower altitude, went to full throttle and the Klimov turbofan engines kicked into afterburner. The pilot was pushed back in his seat by that mighty thrust.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.