But as he watched through his night-vision goggles, a Predator unmanned aerial vehicle glided effortlessly off the deck of the Fong Hou, and he became a believer. The curious events of the past week were culminating, not necessarily here, but perhaps primarily from this location. He was still thinking about how it would all play out when the voice came back to him through his headset.
“Delta six, this is Tomcat one six.”
Rampert shook his head. The pilot of the Navy F-14 Tomcat didn’t sound a day over twenty, and here he was flying an aircraft launched out of Oceana Naval Air Station. There were no flight wings present at the station as they were all on carriers around the world fighting the War on Terror. But two F-14s had been returned to Oceana for significant repairs in the last two months. When Rampert got the call from Matt, he ordered the commander at Oceana to launch what he had.
And this was it. One F-14 with four Maverick missiles and five hundred 20mm rounds. Pitiful.
“Tomcat, this is Delta. I’ve got visual on one Predator flying east over the bay toward Fort Story. We believe it is armed with a crude nuclear device and is preprogrammed for detonation at a high payoff target somewhere on the East Coast. I need you to shoot it down, avoiding the nose of the airplane and making sure it lands in the water.”
Rampert knew that he sounded like an over-controlling bureaucrat, but they had to get this one right. “And I think you’ve probably got about one minute before you lose the capability to destroy it over the water.”
“I don’t even see it yet, Colonel,” the pilot shot back.
“Well, find it, son, or lots of people are going to die.”
That was more like it. Mission orders were always best. Just give people a mission and let them do their job.
“Roger.”
Rampert continued to circle in his Blackhawk, wondering how many Predators had been launched. He called back to Oceana on his headset.
“Radar control, this is Delta six, over.”
“This is radar control, over.”
“Do you have any indications of aircraft flying anywhere in the area?”
“We have your aircraft and Tomcat one six. Nothing else. We do not, say again, do not observe on radar the Predator you see.”
“Okay, I need you to start searching a three-hundred-mile radius around this point and tweak your radar so that you can find slow-moving aircraft.”
“We can lower the resolution, but we’ll start to pick up birds and other ground clutter.”
“There will be a lot more ground clutter to pick up if you don’t find these Predators. Do what you have to do.”
“Roger.”
“Sir, Tomcat one six is calling you,” Hobart said. His most trusted operator was listening to the other radio net, tracking the F-14.
“This is Delta six,” Rampert said into the mouthpiece.
“This is Tomcat one six. I think I’ve got visual on a Predator. It’s actually banking to the north over the mouth of the bay. It’s heading up to the peninsula there. I’ve got a clean shot and just want you to confirm your authorization to shoot.”
“Guidance stands. Shoot it down. Avoid the nose. Observe its impact into the water and laser a grid coordinate. We have boat teams heading into the bay right now.”
“Roger. Be back in a second.”
“Roger. Just shoot it down. Now. Out.”
Rampart switched his intercom to internal. “Mike, can we get this thing turned so my window is facing the east by northeast?” he asked to his helicopter pilot, Mike Jamison.
The pilot turned the aircraft so that Rampert could observe the action. He slipped on his night-vision goggles again and peered through the large square window. He could see the afterburners of the F-14 glowing brightly in his goggles. He watched the jet aircraft maneuver as it pitched forward and leveled its nose at the target.
Rampert felt a surge of adrenaline as he watched bright green streaks of light cut across the black sky. He saw burst of 20mm chain-gun fire. Suddenly he could see the Predator, highlighted by a small fire on what he hoped was the tail section.
He watched as the Predator first angled toward the ocean and then began a slow spiral out of control. He saw the F-14 pilot pull up and bank so that he and his navigator could observe the impact. It fell into the ocean with an unceremonious splash. Rampert watched the laser from the F-14 immediately find what remained of the aircraft.
“Delta six, this is Tomcat one six,” the F-14 pilot said.
“Delta six, go ahead. Over.”
“Roger. Target destroyed. Impact observed. No detonation observed. Grid coordinate follows.”
Rampert wrote down the grid the pilot reported and then said, “Continue to loiter and watch the bow of the ship for other Predators.”
He then radioed the patrol boat captain, who had alerted his fleet of six harbor boats to move from Little Creek Amphibious Base into Chesapeake Bay toward the Fong Hou.
“Anchor six, this is Delta six. Precious cargo at the following grid coordinate. Move to that location immediately and recover Predator aircraft with possible rigged nuclear explosive device. Device could have timer.”
“This is Anchor six, wilco.”
Rampert switched his radio set back to the F-14 frequency.
“Tomcat six, this is Delta six. Prepare to destroy the ship, using Maverick missiles on my command.”
“This is Tomcat six, standing by for your command,” came the pilot’s more confident voice.
One battlefield kill against a drone with no pilot or weapons, and he thinks he’s the Red Baron, Rampert mused. But the weight of the task before him quickly took hold.
Rampert knew that Matt Garrett and Zachary Garrett were probably on that ship. It was quite a dilemma he was facing. He could solve a slew of problems with a couple of well-placed Maverick missiles. And he didn’t have much time to make his decision.
CHAPTER 56
Francis “Trip” Hellerman III sat in the command bunker at the guest quarters with Jock Evans, Zeke Jeremiah, Stan Rockfish, and Ralph Smithers, all watching Fox News and monitoring reports coming in from Colonel Rampert. Hellerman was privately concerned about Rampert’s sudden appearance near the Fong Hou, but he watched and waited. This was a game of chess, and his sole drive now was to retain freedom of maneuver to avoid getting pinned.
“They turned a damned commercial ship into an aircraft carrier and used our UAV technology against us,” Jeremiah said, shaking his head at the enemy’s ingenuity. Though having sifted through Hellerman’s ingenious interception of the enemy’s plan, he had special insight into what was happening.
“If you thought someone’s legacy was in trouble before, how about now? With all his China links and the fact that we know China got these Predators at about the same time that administration got millions in campaign contributions, wow,” Evans said.
“Well, children, we can blame whoever we want, but we have a war to fight,” Hellerman said, his voice commanding and reassuring.
“Yes, sir,” Jeremiah said. Hellerman exchanged a knowing glance with him.
“Zeke, we’ve destroyed one Predator. We know he had at least eighteen. That leaves seventeen, and we don’t know if he launched any before this. We think he had one or two at Moncrief. These damn things are impossible to pick up on radar. Make sure we’re tracking what our air traffic controllers are reporting. We’ve got all air traffic shut down, correct?”
Jeremiah nodded. “Roger, sir. That and we’ve alerted the F-15 squadron at Langley, but the Air Force general there said they aren’t prepared to do anything for two hours.”