Wraith by Hannibal James R

Author:Hannibal, James R. [Hannibal, James R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: thriller
ISBN: 9780698196780
Goodreads: 23550297
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Published: 2010-05-04T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 38

Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama

15 March 2003

Nick impatiently shifted the weight of his duffel bag from one shoulder to the other. He tried to look as inconspicuous as possible, despite the sweat circles forming at the armpits of his blue uniform. The Alabama heat was just reaching its afternoon peak. His instructor had told him to show up on the flight-line side of Base Operations at exactly 5:00 P.M., but he was desperate to get out of there and had arrived ten minutes early. He checked his watch. Two minutes to the hour.

Walker had sent Nick to Alabama to hone his Arabic skills, specifically in the Iraqi dialect. He’d spent the last ten weeks in isolation, living in the neglected Air University overflow dorms, a pair of buildings at the end of the flight line that hadn’t been used since Congress started shrinking the military in the late nineties.

Nick checked his watch again. Less than a minute had passed. Where was his ride? “My room didn’t even have cable,” he grumbled to himself. “What are we, the U.S. Army?”

Ten weeks.

He’d been allowed no human contact, except for his language coach, who refused to speak anything but Iraqi Arabic. For all Nick knew, the man didn’t speak English at all. The only other voice he’d heard was Katy’s during his allotted phone calls—one per week—and those felt cold and distant because he was lying to her about the purpose of his absence.

Two nights after the accident at Romeo Seven, Walker had put Nick on the Learjet. “Walk in like you own the place and nobody will question your presence,” the colonel had said, “but talk to no one. Don’t go to the gym and for goodness’ sake don’t leave the base. Get groceries at the commissary. This is Covert Ops 101. You have to be seen as little as possible and never noticed at all, part of the background.”

“And how does this relate to Cerberus?” Nick had asked. “How do I fit in?”

“You’re the stone that kills two birds. That’s why you were singled out for this assignment. The Arabic language note in your personnel file got you noticed—along with a solid flying record as a night vision qualified pilot—and your little report on Al-Majid’s relationship with Baghdad shifted you to the top of the candidate pile. All we had to do was line you up to gain proficiency as a T-38 chase pilot.”

“You set me up for this. You trained me for a year without even telling me. And all this time I thought Drag had just recognized my superior skills as a covert operative.”

“It doesn’t work that way, Baron. Uncle Sam doesn’t single out renegade supermen to do his dirty work like he does in the movies. It’s all a numbers game. Your skill sets lined up with most of our search criteria. We gave you a boost in the chase department, set you up with an Arabic refresher to complete the qualifications, and here you are.”

At the time, Nick had wondered at the randomness of it all.

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