Patriots by Steve Sohmer

Author:Steve Sohmer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2022-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-five miles south of Miami—in a low cinder-block building a few steps from the alert pad at the western end of Homestead Air Force Base—Lieutenant Julie Kerner, a trim blond Intel officer, stood behind the desk at the front of the briefing room. In the two rows of chairs that faced her, the six pilots of Bravo flight sat in their G-suits, chewing gum, chewing tobacco, taking notes.

“Five remaining Phoenix and two Sidewinders,” Kerner said. “Plus twenty-millimeter cannon. That’s about it.”

“That’s enough,” Captain Bret Foster said from the back row. “What about ECM?” Colonel Harvey Miller said. He was wing commander of the 325th TFW, but he was leading this intercept personally.

Kerner checked her notes. “Unfortunately, this Tomcat is a high-class trainer. It’s got the latest and greatest jamming gear: barrage, deception, noise, scan-rate, track-breaker, spot, group simulation. He’s going to throw everything under the sun at you.”

Foster said, “What is this, a loyalty test? Boss, we really going after a Phoenix-shooter with Sparrows?”

The other pilots stirred uneasily. Sparrow was the air force’s long-range missile; it could be fired from thirty miles against a fighter-sized target, well beyond visual range but fifty miles short of the deadly reach of the Phoenix.

“Let’s hope not,” Miller said.

Captain Billy Crowder raised his hand. He was a good ol’ boy from Tuscaloosa and the best flier in the wing.

“Yes, Captain?” Kerner said.

“L’tenant, y’all know why this motherfucker is going to Cuba?”

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