A God in Ruins - Leon Uris [55]
A Hardvard failure, Todd Wetmore IV, a super talent with something to prove to his family, came in as copilot and navigator.
A weirdo, Captain Novinski, without whom nothing electronic was purchased by the Corps, found and installed and tested every system now in use or on the planning boards.
Dogbreath got his titanium wing. It was six feet longer than the production wing of aluminum composite. Stronger and more rigid, the black wing made the craft faster, lighter, and able to carry more weight.
The Allison turbo-prop engines were pushed, then pushed again.
Marine Gunner Quinn O’Connell wore many hats: backup on the electronic board, bombardier, Mayday pilot, and mostly logistics expert. He was given twenty potential worldwide targets to prepare for a counterinsurgency attack.
All the members of RAM Company doubled as medical corpsmen.
Jeremiah attached bomb racks to carry a mix of sixteen missiles, ultra-light, laser-guided, with explosive capacity not yet seen in combat.
What was created was a dual-capacity roto-tiller that could fly as a helicopter and convert in seconds to a standard turbo jet aircraft. She had a decent subsonic speed of 500 knots and, with spare fuel tanks, a range of two thousand miles. She could carry two dozen men plus pilots and topped out at an altitude of twenty thousand feet.
Every square inch and every pound allowable held a basket of systems, from laser-targeted lockons to ground-view.
She carried her own ordnance, crafted to fit her limited space and weight capacities. Her demonstrations were awesome, a lethal bombardment followed by a landing or ground hovering as twenty Marines debarked out of a rear ramp.
Nearly a year passed. The SCARAB was worked into higher levels of performance, as were the men of the RAM team.
In Europe in particular, terrorists kept upping the level of violence with increasing daring. Outside America, her buildings, businesses, and citizens were targeted even though the nation itself had not undergone an attack. This, everyone agreed, was only a matter of time.
The inevitable happened. An Air Force Lear jet crossing the Atlantic from Germany and carrying an American ambassador and an American NATO general blew up in midair.
A series of incredible breaks linked together…
In Frankfurt, an Israeli Mossad agent identified Iranians entering Germany and followed them to a rundown hotel in the foreign workers’ part of town. The Mossad informed the CIA.
Air Force Lieutenant Sumner Smith was officer on duty at the small-craft section of the Rhein-Mein air base. Contacted by the terrorists, Smith had agreed to plant a briefcase bomb for a hundred thousand dollars.
The pilot of the Lear jet was able to send a Mayday call at the time of the explosion.
In a heightened state of alert, German police were able to catch the terrorists, six Iranians, at the airport and the autobahn hastening to leave Frankfurt.
Lieutenant Smith’s wife, a German national named Helga, discovered the hundred thousand dollars. In a nasty marriage, she took the money to the police.
Four of the Iranians confessed, as did Lieutenant Smith.
The president of the United States clamped on a lid of secrecy. There would be no public announcement. If pressed, they would say an aircraft was missing and they were investigating.
With confessions in their pockets and further confirmation, the President saw a window of opportunity to strike back!
Chapter 15
“Jeremiah Duncan here,” Duncan growled.
“Hold up one minute, sir, for the President.”
“General?”
“Sir.”
“One of our Lear jets carrying Ambassador August and NATO General Marplade blew up over the Atlantic about five hours ago. We scored the biggest break in the world by unbelievable apprehensions and confessions. Double and triple verifications are coming in. It was Iranian terrorists.”
“Yes, sir.”
“With this news in our pockets,” the President said, “and the Iranians in the dark, we feel we might pull