He was also widely regarded as the best fighter pilot who had ever lived …
There were many stories about how Hunter had fought so bravely in World War III. But no one was more bitter than he when America was tricked into signing an armistice with the Soviet Union — supposedly to end World War III, a non-nuclear struggle that the US and NATO had won on the battlefield of Western Europe. But no sooner was the ink dry on the treaty — and the traitorous US Vice-President safely transported to Moscow — when the Kremlin ordered a devastating surprise nuclear strike against the center of the American continent. It was the most dastardly sneak attack in the history of mankind.
Mortally wounded, the US had no choice but to accept Russia’s terms. The punishment was called The New Order. Its major demands had the US Armed Forces immediately disarmed and their weapons destroyed. Then the US itself was dismembered — broken up into a mishmash of countries, republics, and free territories. Dividing the continent down the middle was The Badlands, the radioactive netherworld that stretched from Oklahoma to the Dakotas, courtesy of the Soviet ICBMs.
Ever since they were broken up, the many American states and countries had frequently been at war with one another — wars started in large part by Soviet agents and their agitating terrorist allies. The latest battle had pitted the democratic forces of the West against a Soviet-infiltrated, cultish Eastern army known as The Circle. The leader of The Circle had been a Soviet agent named Viktor Robotov. Hunter had successfully led the air forces for the West in defeating The Circle, despite the fact that Viktor’s Russian allies had secretly infiltrated thousands of SAM antiaircraft batteries and troops into the American Badlands.
The victory was a costly one for the West, though. Many major cities as well as small towns had been destroyed in the fighting. The vital air trade routes between Free Canada and Los Angeles — plied by convoys of airliners now turned into cargo carriers — had been disrupted for a long period of time. Shortages of all kinds had been felt on both sides.
What was worse, thousands of Americans on both sides had died in the civil war. And this was the real reason Viktor and the Kremlin had started The Circle War. Their aim was to continue the distablization of America, thus forestalling any notions that the American states and territories might have about reuniting and carrying out their revenge on Mother Russia.
But the fighting aside, The Circle War had had a very personal effect on Hawk Hunter. Before the war broke out, Viktor had kidnapped the pilot’s true love, a stunning Bardot look-alike named Dominique. He had drugged her, forced himself on her, and used her viciously — through a kind of pornographic psychological warfare — to control his Circle troops. Hunter had finally rescued Dominique, literally crashing in on a party being given for Viktor atop one of New York City’s World Trade Center buildings. Once she was safe, Hunter had made arrangements for her to live in the relative security of Free Canada.
But he could not let Viktor get away with his crime. The man had violated the two things that meant the most to Hunter — his country and his woman. Hunter had vowed to track Viktor down.
He was gone the day the war ended. Somehow, he had gotten to New York City and retrieved his F-16 from its hiding place at the abandoned JFK Airport. Then he had set out across the Atlantic in pursuit of Viktor. Crunch and Elvis had no idea how Hunter knew Viktor had headed for the Mediterranean after The Circle War ended. He just knew. The fact was that Hunter had been born with an amazing aptitude for ESP. Hunter’s extraordinary abilities were particularly acute in detecting enemy aircraft. Besides being the ultimate fighter pilot, Hunter was also a kind of human radar. But he also had an astounding sixth sense about many things. Knowing where Viktor fled to after the war was one of them.
Everyone — from the Russians to the PAAC pilots to the air pirates that roamed the North American skies — knew that a man of such intelligence and skill as Hunter was an automatic threat to those who ran The New Order. These Soviet puppets, firmly ensconced in the Bahamas, had put a price of $500 million on Hunter’s head. He was wanted — dead or alive — for “crimes against The New Order.” Crimes such as carrying an American flag. Or espousing reunification of the states. Or even uttering the words “United States of America.”
But Hunter had decided long ago that if these were the kinds of crimes that made The New Order put a price on his head, then he would continue to commit them freely and openly.
Besides, the amount of money a bounty hunter could get for his hide was source of amusement for the pilot. He would tell people that he wasn’t worth even half that much.
He was, however, very valuable to PAAC and all the democratic peoples who wanted to reunite America again. That’s why his overall commander at PAAC, General Dave Jones, had sent Crunch and Elvis after Hunter. Crunch and Elvis made up one half of a free-lance F-4 fighter unit known as the Ace Wrecking Company. They were, in effect, under contract to PAAC. So General Jones was their employer. Jones knew Crunch, a veteran F-4 Phantom pilot from way back, was best suited for the mission. At best he and Elvis could convince Hunter to return to America. At worst, they could give him protection in his search for Viktor.
But they would have to find him first.
“Well, we know he was here in the Azores two and a half days ago,” Crunch said, looking at a large map of the Atlantic and Mediterranean. “He could be in Portugal, Gibraltar, maybe North Africa by now.”
“Well, he had no trouble icing those MiGs,” Crunch said, shaking his head in admiration. “Maybe he doesn’t need any help in tracking down Viktor either.”
“Well, I agree that Hunter is the best to ever fly, and so he’s very valuable to PAAC right now,” Elvis said. “But I also know him pretty well, as you do, captain. And when he gets something set in his mind, it’s impossible to talk him out of it. Viktor fooled with his lady big time. Screwed up the country too. That’s playing with fire as far as Hawk is concerned. I don’t blame him for going after Viktor. And he could probably track down the creep better if he is alone.”
Crunch ran his fingers through his hair, then continued. “Hunter’s a good friend of mine and a good friend to all the guys in PAAC. But Jones is the boss. He says find him and drag him back. So we find him.”
“Well, it’s not the finding him that will be difficult,” Elvis said. “It’s the ‘dragging him back’ part that worries me.”
Chapter 2
The skies over Casablanca were busy the night Hunter arrived.
He had seen the lights of the city from seventy miles out, reflecting off the atmosphere and the nearby Atlantic. Now, as he descended from 55,000 feet, the city’s blue-green glare got brighter, shining out like a beacon on the otherwise pitch-black Moroccan coastline.
Fifty miles out, he brought his F-16 down to wavetop level and throttled back to a 350-mph crawl. The jet fighter’s terrain-radar-acquisition system had painted an infrared picture of the city’s airport onto one of his control panel’s TV screens and he had been studying it with much interest.
He had assumed that the airport — and the city — would be deserted. But just the opposite was true. In fact, there were so many airplanes circling Casablanca, it looked like a typical stack-up over Chicago’s O’Hare in the old days.