The supertanker would have to be towed to a dry dock large enough to accommodate a ship of her size. Unfortunately for Shayhidi, there was not an abundance of those facilities available. In addition, shipyard work of this magnitude generally needed to be scheduled well in advance. Another of Shayhidis revenue spigots was now turned off. The money-draining liability would be idle for an extended period of time.
After a great dinner and a relaxing drive to Idaho Falls and back, Scott and Jackie were turning into the Best Western motel when the satellite phone rang. Jackie answered the call. From the sound of the conversation, Scott could tell it was Frank Wakefield. She told the special agent about the sabotaged helicopter, the subsequent crash landing, and the Cessna Caravan floatplane.
When she hung up, Scott reached for the door handle. "Farkas?"
"Yes. He was in the shack next to the hangar," she said, and opened her car door. "Let's go inside and I'll fill you in on the details."
"Sounds good." Scott picked up the fresh botde of Merlot on the seat and followed her to their room. He shut the door and headed toward the bathroom. "I'll get the wine glasses."
They kicked off their shoes, pulled two straight-back chairs up to the bed, and propped their feet on the bedspread.
Jackie reached for a pillow and shoved it behind her back. "Following the raid on the hangar compound, Wakefield conducted an interview with the charming couple. When they began hedging their answers, he showed them a picture of Farkas. The couple identified him as the person who negotiated the hangar deal and ran the show."
"Did Wakefield tell them who Farkas is?"
"Yes, and after they came out of shock they were singing their hearts out. They thought Farkas was just an eccentric, wealthy recluse who restored old warbirds."
Jackie glanced at Scott. "Farkas and his crew, the two who worked on our LongRanger, had one heck of an operation going and two unwitting stooges for cover."
"Did they acknowledge the presence of a B-25 bomber?"
She smiled and stretched her long, shapely legs like a contented cat. "Oh, yes. And Farkas was flying the plane by himself."
"I don t suppose they knew where he was going?"
"No, but they did mention the two mechanics and their Ford pickup and the fact that they disappeared shortly after Farkas departed."
Scott rolled his head toward Jackie. "Any chance they remembered anything about the bomber, paint scheme, numbers, et cetera?"
She smiled serenely. "What do you think?"
"I know, a stupid question."
"At any rate, the good news is we know who we're dealing with and we flushed Farkas out of his base of operation."
Scott looked at her from the corner of his eye. "Ah, we just happened to stumble over it, not like we solved some age-old mystery."
"Hey, I'll take a win any way we can get it."
Scott reached for the remote and turned on the television. "What's Wakefield going to do about Farkas?"
"He said the FBI and local law-enforcement agencies are going to search every airport west of a line from Chicago to New Orleans. He said the Washington brass — read Jim Ebersole — put a major priority on finding the bomber and Farkas, like right now."
"Did he have any advice for us?"
"No, but he wants an update if we discover anything else of interest."
"Well," Scott said, "I think we follow our instincts, see what happens."
"I'm with you."
He thought for a moment. "I dont think Farkas went very far. The bomber would attract too much interest, especially when so many people are looking for it."
"Yeah, he has to have a hangar not too far from here."
"Or the bomber could be camouflaged," Scott replied. Their conversation came to a halt when a breaking-news logo appeared on the television screen. Seconds later, a tired Pentagon correspondent faced the camera. The anchor welcomed her.
Christine.
Bob, senior Pentagon officials and a spokesperson for the ATF have confirmed new intelligence that indicates Islamic terrorists have smuggled surface-to-air missiles into the United States. The weapons have been identified as shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles. They are believed to be Russian-made SA-7S with a range of approximately three miles. Our experts tell us they can hit aircraft flying as high as thirteen thousand five hundred feet.
The other missiles are reported to be U. S.-made Stingers with a range of five miles and the ability to destroy aircraft up to ten thousand feet. The missiles, approximately four hundred of them, were obtained covertly in Afghanistan and Pakistan, said a senior Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
She glanced at her notes.
The missiles, which Im told are fairly lightweight, are easy to obtain on what the official called the gray market. According to our source, a senior al-Qaeda commander has admitted the missiles were sent to the United States in shipping containers from Hong Kong and Shanghai. As of now, the port or ports of arrival are still classified and the hunt for the missiles continues. Bob.
Thank you, Christine. In related news, U. S. customs inspectors found three Iranian and two Saudi Arabian stowaways inside a shipping container at the port of Charleston, South Carolina, today. The stowaways had thin foam-rubber mats to sleep on, food, water, a makeshift toilet, counterfeit documentation, and seven AK-47 assault rifles. They have been taken into custody for questioning.
Scott hit the mute button. "That's comforting news. Hundreds of portable surface-to-air missiles inside our country, and we don't have a clue where they are."
Jackie's gaze was fixed on the silent television. "Well, if we don't find the missing nukes, we're gonna have bigger problems than the SAMS."
Two hours before sunrise, a Lockheed C-5B Galaxy slowly descended out of low gloomy clouds on an instrument approach. With the glaring landing lights on, the U. S. Air Force strategic airlift transport looked like a huge prehistoric archaeopteryx, a flying reptile from the Jurassic period. The "aluminum overcast" came to earth in a surprisingly soft touchdown on its sturdy twenty-eight-wheel landing gear. The aircraft rolled most of the way down the runway while the aircraft commander spared the brakes and tires.
After the Galaxy taxied to a remote area at the home of Headquarters, U. S. Air Forces in Europe, members of the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta, or Delta Force, met the transport plane. The Delta Force contingent had arrived on a C-17A Globemaster only minutes before the Galaxy landed.
Stationed in a secluded site at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the 1st SFOD-Delta is made up of recruits from the U. S. Army's Special Forces Green Berets and Rangers. Delta Force is one of the Federal Government's CT, or counterterrorist, groups and performs a wide variety of covert missions, including hostage rescue, seizure and retrieval of hostile personnel, and direct action.
When the C-5BS huge nose was fully open, the soldiers from Delta Force greeted the helicopter pilots and support personnel from the army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR). Along with the helicopters inside the Galaxy, additional helicopters from the 160th Nightstalkers had arrived earlier that morning.
Based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and Hunter Army Airfield, Savannah, Georgia, the 160th uses specially modified helicopters and skilled pilots to fly special warfare teams to the mission through inclement weather or hostile environments, day or night.
The Nightstalkers fly the versatile MH-60K/L Blackhawk, the AH-6 Little Bird, and the MH-47D/E Chinook tailored for clandestine operations. Classified as medium transport helicopters, the big Chinooks are configured for in-flight refueling, thermal/night imaging, and crew armor, and they are equipped with 7.62mm Gatling miniguns.