The Kremlin Phoenix Read Free Page A

never heard while flying a Nighthawk.
    Missile
tracking? he realized. They must be firing blind.
    Jack knew he wasn’t invisible,
but he was certain the Serbs had nothing that could track him well enough to
get a lock. What he didn’t know was that the Serbs had discovered they could detect
an F117 if they operated their radars at unusually long wavelengths. They didn’t
have a perfect fix on his Nighthawk, but they knew where he was and where he
was heading. With his bomb bay doors open, his observability increased enough
for them to fire.
    He completed the cruise missile’s
pre-launch check, then released the weapon. The missile alarm was blaring in
his ears now, so he threw the Nighthawk into a sharp turn, hoping to break away
from the missile, but the Russian SA-3 Goa was closer than he realized. For a
fraction of second, it sensed his bomb bay doors and glimpsed the interior of his
bomb bay. Almost immediately, the missile’s onboard computer realized the
target was close enough for a proximity detonation. The missile exploded more
than thirty meters from the F117, sending shrapnel flying outwards at
supersonic speeds. One piece tore through his wing, striking his starboard
engine. Fire alarms sounded in the cockpit as electrical systems failed. Jack
tried to kill the starboard engine, hoping to limp home on one engine, but the
fire was already out of control.
    She’s not
going to make it , he realized as the aircraft
began a death roll.
    He braced and ejected, for a
moment feeling as if he’d been fired out of a cannon, then his chute opened and
he hung in the air, watching flames snake along the starboard side of his stealth
bomber as it rolled over and nosed into the soft ground ten kilometers away.
There was no explosion, but fires burned all around the crash site, starkly
illuminating the blacked-out landscape.
    Jack watched expectantly, knowing
as soon as the air force realized the stealth plane was down in enemy
territory, they’d destroy it to prevent its precious technology falling into enemy
hands. He saw the ground coming up fast, but kept his eyes fixed on the fire in
the distance, marking where his stricken plane had gone down. He hoped to see
the explosion that would signal the destruction of the remains of his aircraft,
but no flash appeared in the distance.
    He hit the ground hard, and was
dragged over damp tilled soil as the breeze caught his chute. Jack clawed at
the release catches, then shrugged off his harness and stood up. After quickly checking
his pistol, radio and survival rations, he got his bearings. A small collection
of stone buildings with thatched roofs perched at the edge of the field.
Already, several men had gathered in the middle of the village and were yelling
and pointing toward him. Others began emerging from nearby houses, curious at
the commotion outside.
    Jack turned and started to run
away from the village as a bullet whizzed past his shoulder. Angry voices yelled
at him, then another bullet struck the soil beside him. He considered drawing
his pistol and returning fire, but at that range, he knew he wouldn’t hit
anything. He took another step, then his leg screamed in pain and gave way. It
took him a moment to realize he’d been shot. He tried to stand but his leg
wouldn’t obey. When he pressed his hand over the wound, he felt a warm wetness
seeping through his fingers.
    The thump of heavy boots on muddy
soil sounded from the dark as Serb peasants rushed toward him. Soon he was
surrounded by farmers holding shovels and brooms. They began beating him
angrily until an old veteran wielding an AK-47 barked an order, forcing the enraged
peasants to back away. They continued hurling abuse at him as the old veteran
sent a teenage boy back to the village to call the authorities.
    Jack sighed, raising one hand in
surrender while his other hand pressed on his wound. Ignoring the angry
peasants, he gazed towards where his F117 had crashed, unable to understand why
he hadn’t