Whiplash

81

The aborted attempt on the president of Iran had sent the country into high alert. Army troops were moving on Revolutionary Guard installations around the country; half a dozen were already fighting pitched battles. Two Iranian warships were having a gun battle with Guard raiders — essentially speedboats with guns — in the Persian Gulf, and the air force had scrambled all of its aircraft.

The U.S. Air Force strike package tasked to hit the missile base was being held on the ground; the plan now was for the group to follow up and hit the base once the warhead had been removed.

A second group of fighters, along with AWACS, a tanker, and other support units was being readied to act as escorts for the Ospreys. Rather than accompanying the transports, the flight group would operate over the Iraqi border, just close enough to come to the rescue if something happened. The idea was that any activity would alert the Iranians that something was going on. If they didn’t know something was up, the Ospreys would be able to scoot over and back without being detected.

That was the theory anyway.

“Danny, everything’s moving on schedule,” Breanna told him as soon as he called. “We’ll have you out in a few hours.”

“I’m not sure that’s going to be quick enough.” He explained what had happened.

“Get out of there and find a quiet place to hide,” Breanna told him. “Change the rendezvous with Nuri.”

“If we do that, they’ll end up with the warhead,” Danny said. “I have a better idea. You’re in an MC-17, right?”

“Yeah?”

“I think you can land on the strip here. It’s hard-packed.”

Breanna brought it up on the screen and looked at the specs. It was just long enough for the C-17.

And it was less than an hour away. They could land and be back over the Iraq border as the sun was rising.

She turned to the pilot. “Do you think we could get in and out of Iraq in one piece?”

“Colonel, I thought you’d never ask.”

“Danny,” said Breanna, “We’ll be there in forty-five minutes.”