“Anyone here? Steve? Dan?”
There were feet visible through the bedroom door, one pair at the end of a bunk, and an arm hanging lifelessly toward the floor from the side of the bed. Kat felt her heart sink as she moved in that direction, knowing instinctively what she was about to find. They were too late. Schoen had found them after all.
“Who’re you, Darlin’?”
Kat whirled around to see the source of the familiar throaty voice, her mind in confusion. Dallas Nielson was standing on the porch, a load of firewood in her arms, questioning the young ranger, as Robert raced back out through the door to grab her in a big hug.
“Whoa! Robert! Robert, my man!” Dallas yelped, hugging him back.
Kat glanced back at the bedroom in confusion. The feet and arm were gone, and in their place a sleepy Steve Delaney was standing in the door, blinking at her as Graham Tash and Dan Wade followed. “Kat?”
She felt the tears welling up and struggled to control them, but it was no use.
EPILOGUE
The managing editor’s secretary leaned into his office and pointed at his computer screen. “MacCabe’s teaser is in. He says to tell you he likes the idea of a six-part run for the story, he’s ready with final copy for the copyright, and he says to tell you he’s been asked to do Face the Nation and Meet the Press on Sunday as the first installment kicks off, and wants to know which one you’d recommend.”
“Face the Nation. I’ve always loved Leslie Stahl.”
“Leslie’s not doing that show anymore.”
“In her honor, then. CBS needs the help.”
The editor turned to his terminal and called up the copy Robert MacCabe had written for a teaser introducing a series that everyone expected would put him in the running for another Pulitzer.
THE ANATOMY OF A TOP SECRET DISASTER
Somewhere along the way,
Project Brilliant Lance became a monster worthy
of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
Washington, D.C. — Amid a firestorm of public outrage this week stemming from the Signet Electrosystems scandal, the President announced yesterday that he is making virtually everyone in his administration available, including himself, in the growing investigation of how a United States “black” defense project could metastasize into a terrorist group. “Nuremberg,” as the security force-cum-pseudoterrorist organization called itself, ultimately caused the deaths of hundreds of airline passengers in two separate crashes (an airline accident in Chicago around the same time was found to be unrelated). The revelation that Nuremberg was the creation of the security forces protecting a black project called Brilliant Lance has triggered the resignation of the Secretary of Defense, who technically controlled such projects; the resignation of the director of Central Intelligence, whose agency may have unwittingly protected the effort; and the discovery that over $2 billion of taxpayer funds were spent in the past four years to sustain a project specifically prohibited by executive order.
While it will take months, if not years, to sort out the full extent of this seismic scandal, much is known already, including the background of Project Brilliant Lance, up through the terrifying flight and subsequent crash of Meridian Flight 5 in the jungles of Vietnam, an atrocity that killed over two hundred passengers, but somehow spared this reporter’s life.
This six-part series (starting in Sunday’s edition) comprises reporting both from a personal, participatory point of view, and an overview of the anatomy of an American crisis — a crisis now propelling a further erosion of confidence in government.
The fact that Americans could be murdered, an entire industry imperiled, and the ability of the U.S. to respond to genuine terrorist threats seriously undermined is compounded by the fact that many of those involved — and now indicted — apparently believed they were serving the best interests of their country.
In this case, the alleged criminality of those trying to protect Project Brilliant Lance led to the deaths of innocent civilians, dedicated FBI agents, and a beloved figure in American government, perpetual statesman Jordan James (acting Secretary of State at the time he was killed). But these are merely the black-ink statistics in a crisis whose details begin with a single, horrific idea: A military adversary whose eyes have been destroyed cannot fight effectively. That premise, and the horrors it could spawn in future wars, are earning the U.S. cynical condemnation internationally from many countries frantically working on similar capabilities.
How it started, what happened, and where it will lead are the sinews of a tragic story of murderous misconduct veiled in official secrecy — a story every American needs to know, lest it happen again.
(Robert MacCabe’s exclusive six-part series begins on Sunday.)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The history of this work would fill a book in itself, and there are far too many people across the miles to thank, including a cadre of law enforcement, legal, aviation, and communications compatriots arrayed over a half-dozen continents.
Some specific thank-you’s, however, are appropriate.
First, my great appreciation to my editor at Putnam, David Highfill, and to my publisher, Leslie Gelbman, for all their help and enthusiasm, and to my agents, George and Olga Wieser of the Wieser and Wieser Agency in New York.
Thanks also to Dr. Gary Cowart of Seattle, now an outstanding dentist and fellow author, but thirty years ago a Marine stationed near Da Nang, Vietnam. Gary helped immensely in checking and refining my personal memories of Vietnam in getting the terrain, flora, and fauna right. And thanks also to Dr. Cowart’s brother, Randy, who added insight to a delightful afternoon of maps and memories.
My specific thanks as well to retired FBI Agent Larry Montague, who once again lent his expertise to make sure Kat Bronsky’s world squares with the real thing.
There are some folks I’ve got to thank anonymously for obvious reasons: the individual inside the U.S. State Department who helped with a myriad of information from Vietnam to the way a Secretary of State uses communications; the unnamed source who helped with the capabilities of the National Reconnaissance Office; and a supervisor at Hong Kong Approach who sidestepped the normal political worries late one night to talk to me.
And thanks as well to the uncounted Kat Bronskys out there who are truly Kat’s prototype: capable, professional, dedicated women who refuse to surrender their femininity or their sense of humor in the face of the indefensible career barriers raised by the clueless among my gender.
John J. Nance
University Place, WA
October 15, 1999
About the Author
John J. Nance is the author of thirteen novels whose suspenseful storylines and authentic aviation details have led Publishers Weekly to call him the “king of the modern-day aviation thriller.” Two of his novels, Pandora’s Clock and Medusa’s Child, were made into television miniseries. He is well known to television viewers as the aviation analyst for ABC News. As a decorated air force pilot who served in Vietnam and Operation Desert Storm and a veteran commercial airline pilot, he has logged over fourteen thousand hours of flight time and piloted a wide variety of jet, turboprop, and private aircraft. Nance is also a licensed attorney and the author of seven nonfiction books, including On Shaky Ground: America’s Earthquake Alert and Why Hospitals Should Fly