Hawx (2009) by Clancy Tom

Author:Clancy, Tom [Tom, Clancy,]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2011-03-17T20:23:56+00:00

Chapter 30

Flight Level 220, over the South China Sea

TROY WAS TAKING THE LONG WAY AROUND. FROM THE Firehawk Compound at Kota Bharu, Malaysia, he had flown due east, rather than south to Kuantan. Over the South China Sea, he leveled out at twenty-two thousand feet and snuggled into the flight path, the highway in the sky that was traveled by commercial flights between Manila and Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. The odds that Sandringham was tracking Firehawk flights on radar was remote, but Raymond Harris was taking no chances.

Troy might have climbed up to a commercial altitude above thirty thousand feet, but he didn't want to be seen visually by the airliners on their highway, and he wanted to be closer to his operational altitude when it came time to turn on his camera pod. He would cross the Sandringham base at around ten thousand because a low-level pass would seem too deliberate. At ten thousand, he'd be high enough to be just another plane in the fairly busy airspace, but low enough to get good resolution on the digital images that he would be transmitting back to Kota Bharu.

As he approached the Malay Peninsula and began his descent, Troy could look off to the left and see the sprawl of red roofs and occasional ivory-colored skyscrapers that marked the city of Kuantan, Malaysia's ninth largest.

Turning north, he could soon make out the Sandringham base. It was larger than he expected, dwarfing the nearby village of Kemasek. He saw the black stripe of a recently paved runway. He also saw--and did a double take when he did--what looked to be a pair of F-16 fighters, just like his.

How could this be?

Harris had insisted that Sandringham airpower consisted of helicopters and executive jets.

It's a good thing we're doing this recon flight, Troy thought to himself as he imagined Harris reacting to pictures of the F-16s that were streaming back to Kota Bharu from his camera pods.

"HOW THE HELL DID THEY GET THOSE?" HARRIS ASKED rhetorically and angrily as Troy climbed out of the cockpit. It was almost as though he were mad at Troy for them being there--blaming the messenger for the bad news.

"Good thing we know about them," Troy said. Maintenance people were already pumping fuel into his F-16.

"We had the rest of the crews watching the feed from your pods live. They're loaded and just about ready to go."

"Just let me drop the camera pod and I'm ready to load some JDAMs myself."

"Change of plans," Harris said. "Loading bombs would take time. I want to launch the strike ASAP. I'm going to have you fly CAP for the strike package. The aircraft carrying bombs won't be able to maneuver as well as they enter the target area. They'll be at a disadvantage if they're challenged. If you come in with just your Sidewinders, you'll be ready to engage immediately."

"Sounds like a plan," Troy said. He was no stranger to air-to-air combat, and the idea of going into a dogfight without a ton or so of bombs under his wings was appealing.

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