hands were trembling and his guts were aching cold from the spill-over
of his hatred that not even the enemy's death could expunge.
Again he pressed the button to open the flight net. Joe, that's one
more for Hannah, he said, but for once there was no reply, and after he
had listened in vain to the throb of the carrier beam for a few seconds
he closed it, and activated his doppler gear for a homing signal, and
silently followed him back to base.
Debra had been a steadying and maturing influence, but now David reacted
so wildly to her going that Joe had to continue his role of wing man,
even when they were off base.
They spent much of their leisure time together, for although they seldom
mentioned their loss, yet the sharing of it drew them closer.
Often Joe slept over at Malik Street, for his own home was a sad and
depressing place now. The Brig was seldom there in these troubled
times, Debra gone and his mother was so altered by her terrible
experience that she was grey and broken, aged beyond her years. The
bullet wound in her body had closed, but there was other damage that
would never heal.
David's wildness was a craving for the forgetfulness of constant action.
He was only truly at peace when he was in the air, and on the ground he
was restless and mercurial. Joe moved, big and calm beside him,
steering him tactfully out of trouble with a slow grin and an easy word.
As a consequence of the downed spy plane, the Syrians began a policy of
provocative patrols, calculated infringement of Israeli air space, which
was discontinued as soon as retaliation was drawn. As the interceptors
raced to engage they would swing away, declining combat, and move back
within their own borders.
Twice David saw the greenish luminous blur of these hostile patrols on
the screen of his scanning radar, and each time he had surprised himself
with the icy feeling of anger and hatred that had lain heavy as a rock
upon his heart and lungs as he led Joe in on the interception.
Each time, however, the Syrians had been warned by their own radar and
they had turned away, increasing speed, and withdrawn discreetly and
mockingly.
Bright Lance, this is Desert Flower. Target is no longer hostile.
Discontinue attack pattern. The Syrian MIG 2i's bad crossed their own
frontier, and each time David had answered quietly, Two, this is leader.
Discontinuing attack pattern and resuming scan.
The tactics were designed to wear on the q& of the defenders, and in all
the interceptor squadrons the tension was becoming explosive. The
provocation was pushing them to the edge of restraint. Incidents were
only narrowly being averted, as the hot-bloods crowded their
interceptions to the very frontiers of war. Finally, however, there had
to come intervention from above as Desert Flower tried to hold them on a
tighter leash.
They sent the Brig to talk to his crews and as he stood on the dais and
looked about the crowded briefing room, he realized that it was unfair
to train the hawk and then keep the hood over his eyes and the thong
upon his leg, to hold him upon the wrist, when the wild duck were
flighting overhead.
He started at a philosophical level, taking advantage of the regard that
he knew his young pilots had for him.
the object of war is peace, the ultimate strategy of any commander is
peace -'There was no response from his audience. The Brig caught the
level scrutiny of his own son. How could he talk of placation to a
trained warrior who had just buried the mutilated body of his ! bride?
The Brig ploughed on manfully.
Only a fool allows himself to be drawn on to a field of the enemy's
choosing, he was reaching them now, I won't have one of you young pups
pushing us into something we are not ready for. I don't want to give
them an excuse. That is what they want, They were thawing now, he saw a
head nod thoughtfully and heard a murmur of agreement.
Any of you looking for big trouble, you don't have to go to Damascus,
you know my address, he tried for his first laugh, and got it. They
were chuckling now. All right, then. We don't want trouble. We are
going to lean right over backwards to prevent it, but we are not going
to fall on our arses. When the time comes, I'll give you the word and
it won't be the soft word, or the other cheek, they growled then, a
fierce little sound, and he ended it, - but you wait for that word. Le
Dauphin stood up and took over from the Brig.
All right, while I've got you all together, I've a little news for you
that may help to cool the hot-heads who want to follow the MIGs over the
border. He motioned to the projection box at the end of the
briefing-room, the lights went down and there was a shuffling of feet,
and an outburst of coughing. A voice protested resignedly.
Not another film show! Yes, the colonel took it up. Another film show
Then as the images began to flash upon the screen he went on, This is a
military intelligence film, and the subject is a new ground-to-air
missile system that has been delivered by the Soviet Army to the armies
of the Arab Union. The code name for the system is "Serpent" and it
updates the existing "Sam IIP system. As far as we know, the system has
been installed and is operative in the Syrian defensive perimeter, and
will shortly be installed by the Egyptians. It is manned at present by
Russian instructors. As the colonel went on talking, the Brig sat back
in his chair and watched their faces in the silver reflection from the
screen. They were intent and serious, men looking for the first time on
the terrible machines that might be the instrument of their own deaths.
The missile is fired from a tracked vehicle. Here you see aerial
reconnaissance shots of a mobile column.
Notice that each vehicle carries a pair of missiles, and you will
realize that they constitute an enormous threat - The Brig picked out
the marvellously pure profile of David Morgan as he leaned forward to
study the screen, and he felt a pang of sympathy and sorrow for him and
yet this was underlined by a new respect, a realignment of judgement.
The boy had proved himself to be constant, capable of embracing an ideal
and remaining loyal to it.
The improvements in design of the "Serpent" are not certain, but it is
believed that the missile is capable of greater speeds, probably in the
order of mach 2. 5, and that the guidance system is a combination of
both infrared heat seeker and computerized radar control. Watching the
handsome young face, he wondered if Debra had not misjudged his
reserves. It was possible that he would have been capable of, no, the
Brig shook his head and groped for a cigarette. He was too young, too
greedy for life, spoiled by good looks and riches. He would not be
capable of it. Debra was right, as so often was the case. She had
chosen the correct course. She could never hold him, she must set him
free.
It is expected that the "Serpent" is capable of engaging targets at
altitudes between 1500 it. and 75, 000 it. There was a stir amongst
the listeners, as they assessed the threat of this new weapon.
The warhead delivers a quarter of a ton of explosive and it is armed
with a proximity fuse which is set to fire if the target is passed at
range less than 150 feet.
Within these limits the "Serpent" is lethal. The Brig was still
watching David. Ruth and he had not seen the boy at their home for many
months. He had come with Joe to spend the Sabbath evening with them