"I have been ordered to block the jet until the police arrive." The Chinese man spoke English very well.
"Who are you?" Dalton asked.
"I'm the airport manager."
"Why are you blocking our plane?"
"Apparently there is some doubt about your reason for being in Chengdu."
"We've been here on business."
The manager eyed Dalton from head to toe. "Dressed like that?"
"Yes, of course."
"What kind of business are you in?"
"Research and restoration." That was lame.
"And you do this on rainy nights?"
Scott heard the sounds of sirens approaching. In the distance, he could see flashing lights on the street leading toward the airport. "Well, let me shut down the helicopter before we talk to the authorities."
"Go ahead, but don't try anything — I won't hesitate to use this."
Jackie wondered why the fuel truck driver was following Scott, and then she saw the weapon. No, this can't be happening.
She drew her 9mm Glock at the same time Scott reached the helicopter. In one swift movement, he swept his H & K 9mm off the seat, spun around, and shot the airport manager twice in the chest. "Cut the engines — let's go!"
They carried their gear to the jet and flung it into the passenger compartment. Scott glanced at the left engine. "Is the other engine cover off?"
"Yes."
While Jackie moved the fuel truck, Scott piled into the left seat and initiated the engine start procedure.
She ran to the plane, jumped in, and quickly locked the door. "Chocks are clear — let's hit it."
With their lights and transponder turned off, Scott started taxiing to the nearest runway. Lights along each side of the taxiway and runway made it simple to stay on the pavement.
He was fastening his seat belt and shoulder straps when more than a dozen police cars and military vehicles converged on the airport parking ramp.
"We have company," Scott said as he added power to taxi faster. Jackie strapped in and tuned the radio to the tower frequency.
Some of the police cars raced down the taxiway after the Lear, while the other cars and military vehicles headed for the midpoint of the runway.
Scott made a wide sweeping turn onto the runway and shoved the throttles forward.
Jackie could not believe what he was doing. "Scott, there's an airliner on short final — cleared to land!"
"I know."
"They can't see us!"
"Jackie," Scott said in a calm, even voice, "the police won't block the runway with an airliner about to touch down."
She shook her head. "It'll be academic if they land on top of us."
The China Airlines Boeing 737 was just touching down when the captain saw the Lear in his landing lights. He started to go around and instantly rejected the idea. The risk of having a midair collision was too high. He went into full reverse on the engines and commenced heavy braking.
The police and military personnel were astounded when the Learjet appeared out of the glaring lights of the airliner. The Boeing's engines were howling in reverse and the tires were screeching as the plane almost overran the small jet. The Lear rotated at the same moment the 737 blew a smoking tire and veered slightly to the right. The authorities stared in frustration as the darkened corporate jet hugged the ground and disappeared into the rainy night.
Scott adjusted the power and began a shallow climb. "We'll have to expose ourselves to radar to get over the ridge."
"I don't think it'll make much difference — too much clutter if we hug the ridge like a crop duster."
"We better stay low and head straight for Hong Kong."
The Chinese authorities had a visual identification on the Learjet that had taken flight. They had associated it with the helicopter that had recently landed at the secretive Mianyang complex. In the eyes of the senior officers in the military, the people in the jet were spies and they had to be stopped at all costs. The powers that be already knew the Americans in the corporate jet had the hard drives to one of China's most sensitive weapons systems.
President Liu Fan-ding, who understood what was at risk, had ordered the military to use whatever resources they needed to find and destroy the Learjet and its occupants. The plan was to put an aerial net out in every direction for a thousand miles and slowly pull it in. The jet wasn't going to disappear.
"On second thought," Scott said dryly, "there are a couple of problems with going straight to Hong Kong. Every asset the Chicoms can get airborne is going to be looking for this jet, plus the airports are going to be saturated with police and military personnel — including Hong Kong."
"Oh, yeah — they have the color and the tail number."
"Absolutely." Scott concentrated on flying as low as he dared at night. "It isn't like we kidnapped the night manager of some fast-food restaurant. We have the blueprint to China's highly sophisticated laser weapons system."
"I still can't believe it."
"They know the Lear came from Hong Kong, so that route is probably going to be swarming with search planes and fighters."
"What do you suggest?" she asked.
Scott checked their fuel. They were burning it rapidly at low altitude. "We don't have the fuel to reach any sovereign U.S. territory, and we can't take a chance on landing anywhere in China or any neighboring countries."
"Where we could be arrested?"
"Right." Scott altered his course to a more easterly heading. "Jackie, we need to get offshore in the East China Sea and ditch the Lear next to a carrier battle group."
"At night?"
"Well, we don't have enough fuel to stay airborne until it gets light outside — plus the longer we're up here, the better chance the Chinese will find us."
"True."
"The other option would be a night approach to a barricade arrestment on a carrier."
"Ditching sounds like a better deal." Jackie reached for the satellite phone. "We might even get a fighter escort."
"Let's hope so."
She tried to contact Hartwell Prost, but the signal kept breaking off.
The weather continued to improve as they flew east over the expansive rice fields and the small rural communities and villages. Minutes later, they were flying under a moonlit sky splashed with stars.
Jackie studied the city of Changsha as it flashed past on their left. "The moon is so bright it's like daylight."
"That's what worries me."
When the launch orders were received, the East Wind crews quickly but thoroughly went through their checklists. This was not a rehearsal, and their spirits were high. There was no room for mistakes. Unlike all the practice sessions and redundant game playing, the teams were about to deliver a major blow to their primary adversary.
At three-minute intervals the powerful DF-31 ICBMs ignited and lifted off on their history-making flights. The plumes of flame and smoke were mesmerizing to the launch crews. The missiles accelerated out of sight in a thunderous roar. Rocketing toward their targets in the gravity-free near vacuum of space, the lethal weapons were precisely tracking their programmed courses.
Staffed around the clock seven days a week by Russian and American personnel, the Joint Data Exchange Center (JDEC) was humming with activity. The multilateral warning center for information on missiles and space launches was fully manned. The senior American and Russian officers were trying to deal with the ambiguous situations arising from the launch of the Chinese ICBMs.
Although the United States and Russia provided each other launch information that was near real time, the Chinese ballistic-missile strike had caused a glitch in the computers. Instead of data relating to the time of the Chinese launch, the launch azimuth, the generic missile class, the geographic area, and estimated time of impact, the information indicated missile launches from the Great Plains of the United States and the interior of Russia.