"Pop flares!" His RIO would have to handle the countermeasures. He was busy.
His last dive and roll had carried him well to the northwest of the city and into the fringes of the combat area. He was down on the deck, altitude less than three hundred feet, and the roads, buildings, and power-lines whipped past him almost too quickly to be perceived.
"It's still coming', Tombstone!"
"Hang on!" He pulled up sharply and broke right. Something streaked past his canopy on a trail of fire. He whipped the F-14 into a scissors and saw a second MiG roll away. Tombstone brought his stick over; he was tempted to try for a shot at the second MiG, but he knew there was a third one back there somewhere.
"Where's number three?" he yelled.
"Still there, Tombstone. Right on our six!"
"Good night, Snowy!" He kicked in his afterburner.
Batman pulled out of the loop. The escort MiGs had scattered, unable to follow his high-G pull-out, and he was in the clear once more.
The Fantans… where were they? He spotted them eight miles ahead, riding their own shadows across the rugged ground as they streaked toward the outskirts of Wonsan. He slid back into the formation's wake, much farther astern now, but still too close for a decent Phoenix shot. The three Q-5s were still dead on course for the fleet, flashing across Wonsan's western suburbs, the sprawl of industrial plants and refineries. The taller buildings of the city rose ahead, snatching at the low-flying aircraft.
"Hey, dude, this is turnin' into an obstacle course!" They were down to five hundred feet. Batman remained intent on the three target symbols on his HUD.
"Hold on, Malibu! Just a little more." The pipper crawled across the display. The Q-5s were jinking, swinging back and forth in an attempt to avoid buildings as well as Batman's lock. He could see the ships of the American task force clearly now, less than fifteen miles away. The Korean pilots would be arming their missiles now.
ACQ flashed on his display, and the targeting box over the left-hand Q-5 became a circle. A tone sounded in his headset.
"I got lock! Fox two!"
A second Sidewinder slid clear of the Tomcat's rails and arrowed toward the Fantans. Two of the Q-5s broke then, swinging left and right to avoid the missile. The Sidewinder, locked onto the plane to port, swept off to the left.
Batman stayed with the remaining Q-5, which was maintaining its dead-level course. He switched his missile system back to Search Mode. A warning came up on his HUD. "Damn!" He'd forgotten his combat load included only two Sidewinders, and both were gone now.
"You want to go for Phoenix?" Malibu asked.
His Tomcat was riding now with six of the heavy, long-range killers under his wings. They could destroy MiGs in the sky over P'yongyang a hundred miles away, but he was too close to deal with the Fantan lumbering less than two miles ahead.
"Negative!" he snapped. His left hand rammed the throttle forward as he went to burner. "I'm going' to guns!"
The Q-5 raced across the city's waterfront and thundered out over the bay. Batman followed. He had an instant's glimpse of Chimera less than five hundred feet below… and the sinister gray shape of the Soviet cruiser.
The Marines and the Russians had stood there for an eternity, it seemed like, neither side willing to move, neither side willing to retreat. Peters had dispatched one of his men with a tense, urgent whisper to back off and radio Lieutenant Adams, who was leading the squad on board Chimera. It might be a while before help came, though. Peters could still hear shooting on board Chimera, occasional ragged bursts of autofire.
One Russian had departed as well, running toward the boarding ladder on the Soviet ship's side. Peters didn't know if he was going to report or to bring help. "Do you speak English?" Peters called. The Russian who seemed to be in charge had shaken his head. "Nyeh panemayu. Gavareeti tee vih parooski?" Impasse.
Very, very slowly, Peters lowered his M-16. It did not look as though the Russians were looking for a confrontation. If they were, they could have fired from ambush and killed every Marine on the dock… could have opened up on the Huey while they were still out over the harbor. But disengaging from this eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation was going to be tricky.
The Russian, eyes narrowed, lowered the muzzle of his AKM in response.
BOOM!
Peters dove forward, landing on the concrete facedown. Every man on the dock, Russian and American, was on the ground at the same moment, scrabbling for cover, certain that a bomb had just gone off.
Kolmo Peninsula swelled larger just ahead as the two aircraft flashed low across Wonsan Harbor. Batman had a glimpse of the airport, of a multitude of vehicles, of helicopters on the runways, rotors turning. He crossed the landing beaches and hurtled on over the open ocean. Chosin was ten miles away.
The gunsight reticle on his HUD tracked the Nanchang Q-5, his LCOS showing minimum target lead. At this range, he could actually see the enemy pilot, turning in his cockpit for a view aft at his pursuer. Batman could imagine the man's fear.
Chosin was eight miles away.
Tombstone held his F-14 under control as he twisted away from the enemy MiG. Whoever this guy was, he was good!
The Tomcat lashed into a scissors… then another, as Tombstone tried to sucker the Korean into an overshoot which would put him in the American's sight, but the MiG driver was having none of it. He was staying tucked in tight.
"Still with me, Snowball?" Rugged cliffs reached for the F-14 to left and right. They were dropping into a narrow valley.
"Right behind you! Hey, how about shakin' this guy? He's getting' on my nerves!"
"Mine too, partner. Time to get out of Dodge!"
The Tomcat stood on its tail, clawing for altitude. The MiG, anticipating the maneuver, rose with it, cannons thundering.
Hammer blows smashed into the Tomcat's hull, walking up the fuselage between the upright stabilizers. Warning lights flashed across Tombstone's console.
Tombstone twisted away from the deadly fire. This guy was definitely first string on the Korean team. He leveled out at eight thousand feet, turning hard to port.
"Stoney!" Snowball called. "Watch it! He's-"
Then the cockpit exploded in flame and smoke and the F-14 was falling, falling, the wind shrieking through a pair of holes punched through the Plexiglas inches above Tombstone's head. The MiG thundered past yards off Tombstone's left wing.
"Close one, Snowball!" Tombstone yelled. He fought for control, feeling the flaps bite air. The F-14 shuddered as he pulled up the nose. "Are you okay? Snowy? Snowy!"
A small rearview mirror was mounted on his console, positioned so he could see into the backseat. He could not see his RIO, but he could see a ragged tear in the rear part of the canopy where cannon shells had passed through the cockpit. Snowball must be slumped over, out of sight.
There was blood on the canopy, a spray of crimson.
He checked his indicator. The ship's AWG-9 was out… no data on the scope. The missile systems were out… as were electronic countermeasures.
Another shudder wracked the stricken Tomcat, and they began losing altitude.
CHAPTER 31
Water raced past hunter and hunted as the Fantan arrowed toward the U.S. fleet, the F-14 closing from behind. Batman's finger squeezed the trigger and his Vulcan cannon howled, hurling a stream of 20-mm slugs into the Nanchang.