Suddenly, the night sky was lit up by the explosion of several tons of aircraft above and directly in front of the Warthog.
Cursing, Jaime jerked his stick to the side and put the A-10 in a slip-sliding dive, trying to avoid the shrapnel-like wreckage of the F-lll.
The windscreen in front of Jaime shattered and his face felt as if it"d been punched by a heavyweight fighter as pieces of the F-Ill"s fuselage punched through the Plexiglas.
Jaime"s head snapped back under the impact and he lost consciousness for a few seconds. When he came to, Julio"s voice was hollering in his ear over the intercom.
"We"re in a spin . . . we"re in a spin! Pull up, Jaime, pull up!"
Groggily, with only his instinct to guide him, Jaime"s hands and feet began a delicate dance together to regain control of the aircraft before it plunged into the desert sands below.
The Warthog leveled out at less than five hundred feet, Julio"s voice saying the Lord"s Prayer in Jaime"s ears as he finally cleared the blood out of his eyes and banked back toward the base for a landing.
278.
There was jubilation in the war room of the Durango Army base when the radar operator reported the F-l 11 from Mexico City had been shot down well short of the base.
While the other men were celebrating the heroism of Jaime Fuentes, who was in the medical ward having the cuts on his face st.i.tched up, Harley stood next to the radar operator and continued to question him closely about what he"d seen.
Harley"s face was glum when he came back to Ben to report. "Something strange about this whole thing, General," he said.
"What"s that, Harley?" Ben asked, putting down the gla.s.s of wine that Guerra had pa.s.sed out on the news of the successful interdiction of the attacker.
"The radar man says it looked like the F-l 11 dropped his bombs before he was blown up."
Ben shrugged. "So what? They evidently fell over land that was spa.r.s.ely populated."
"That"s not what"s bothering me, sir," Harley continued. "The radar man says it looked to him like the bombs exploded at one thousand feet instead of falling all the way to the ground."
"s.h.i.t!" Ben exclaimed. "There"s only one type of bomb designed to detonate in the air like that."
Harley nodded. "Yes, sir. BW bombs.""That means the other two that"re headed toward our southern border are probably filled with the anthrax bug too," Ben 279.
said, "and even if we shoot "em down, the bug is going to be released over northern Mexico or the southern SUSA."
"Yes, sir, my thoughts exactly," Harley said.
Ben leaned back in his chair and ran his hands through his hair. "I guess it"s time to tell the general what"s going on, and to get Dr. Buck to ship as much of the vaccine as he can spare down here p.r.o.nto."
"I"ll have Corrie get on the radio to Mike Post at headquarters immediately, Ben, while you talk to the general," Harley said.
After Ben had explained how Bottger had most probably released a potent biological weapon over General Guerra"s country, they made plans for the quick distribution of the vaccine to all units of the Mexican Army, to be followed as rapidly as possible by the vaccination of as many of the citizens of Mexico as could be gotten to.
"The problem," General Guerra said, a sad look on his face, "is that this part of Mexico is very rural, with the population spread over many thousands of acres. It will be almost impossible to vaccinate everyone before the plague begins to spread."
"You"re right, Jose, but that will work in our favor too. The plague is spread person to person, so if the people are very spread out, fewer of them will come in contact with those afflicted by the plague. We just have to get on the radio and TV and newspapers to tell everyone to stay away from congested areas, like towns and markets."
"I will have my information officers get right on it, Ben, and we will pray that the vaccine gets here in time to prevent the loss of most of my Army to sickness."
"Those that do contract the illness can be treated with antibiotics, which I will also have sent along with the vaccine, Jose."
"Muchas gracias, Ben."
280.
At that moment, Harley returned from Corrie"s side. She"d been talking with Mike Post in Louisiana at Ben"s headquarters.
"Good news, Ben," he said.
"Tell me," Ben said. "I could use some good news right about now."
"Mike says no problem on the vaccine and antibiotics. They"ll be on the way here by midnight, and should arrive in time to start inoculations first thing in the morning. He"s also sending extra teams of medics to help with the shots, both in the Army and in the countryside."
"That is good news," Ben said, a look of relief on his face.
"There"s more. General Striginov"s interceptors were able to shoot downboth of the other bogeys before they reached our border. One went down near Chihuahua and the other over Monterrey."
"d.a.m.n," Ben said, some of the elation leaving his face. "That"s good for us but terrible for the Mexicans. There"s going to be tremendous loss of life before we can get the vaccine down there."
"I know, but it could have been worse," Harley said, "if they"d made it over Houston or El Paso."
"You"re right, Harley. Guess we need to count our blessings."
As they spoke, another man entered the room, a worried look on his face.
After Guerra spoke with him, the general approached Ben.
"Our advance scouts report heavy troop movements to the south."
Ben stared at him. "From the east or the west?" he asked.
"Both," Guerra said shortly. "It appears as if Loco has given up on his idea of taking Tampico and has coordinated with Bottger to have both their armies converge on us here at Durango."
"When does it look like they"ll arrive?" Ben asked.
281.
"Our scouts figure they"ll attack at first light tomorrow, or shortly thereafter."
Ben turned to Corrie. "What"s Striginov"s ETA here?" he asked.
"He said if he pushes it, he can be here early in the morning with most of his heavy equipment. The ground troops will be a few hours later."
"Get back on the radio and tell him to push it," Ben said. "Looks like we"re gonna have some visitors by breakfast time."
Claire Osterman called a meeting of her advisory staff for eight o"clock in the evening. When they arrived, she looked like a cat who"d just swallowed a canary.
Harlan Millard, Major General Bradley Stevens, Jr., his a.s.sistant Colonel James King, and Herb Knoff all helped themselves to coffee from a sideboard in her office and took their seats, waiting to see just what Claire had on her mind.
Stevens and King had been very busy for the past week making sure all of her troops were moving back from their stations on the borders with the SUSA, as well as getting medics around to all the battalions to inoculate the troops against Bruno Bottger"s dreaded plague bacteria in case it was launched.
Claire took her time, letting the suspense build for a while as she shuffled papers on her desk and fiddled with her coffee, getting it just right with cream and artificial sweetener. Proud of her new build after her incarceration of the year before, she was still on a strict diet and daily workout regimen.
Finally, Stevens could stand it no longer. "Madame President, you calledus here for a reason?"
"Yes, Brad," she said sweetly. "I have here a collection of reports from my spies in Perro Loco"s army, as well as some news reports from reporters in the SUSA who are ... shall we say, sympathetic to our cause?"
282.
Stevens glanced at Millard and King. He"d heard nothing new in his daily intel reports that would justify such a meeting.
"And?" he asked.
"It seems that Ben Raines and some of his closest a.s.sociates are down in Durango, Mexico, coordinating the fallback and consolidation of the Mexican Army down there."
"So?" Stevens asked, wondering what bee was in Claire"s bonnet now.
"Perro Loco and Bruno Bottger both suffered severe setbacks in their last offensive, both due in part to the interference of Raines in Mexico"s affairs."
Stevens had to force himself to keep his mouth shut about Claire railing against Raines for interfering in Mexico in a war that was the direct result of some meddling of her own.
"Perro Loco and Bottger are now working in concert and are forming a huge offensive against Durango, coming at the city from both sides with everything they have. It"s going to be a do-or-die effort, with maximum effort put forth to crush the Mexican defenders. What they don"t know, but I do, is that Raines has at least two battalions of his own coming to his aid. With that setup, who do you think will emerge victorious in the upcoming battle for Durango?" she asked, staring at Stevens and King.
Stevens shrugged, being careful to choose words that would not set Claire off. He didn"t dare give Raines and his Army too much praise, though he knew Loco"s ill-trained troops and Bottger"s hired mercenaries couldn"t stand against the highly trained and very loyal troops under Raines"s command. "I"d have to give the edge to Raines and the Mexicans," he finally said. "They"re much better equipped and the Mexicans are fighting on their home ground, which always counts for something."
King nodded his agreement. "Me too. I"d be surprised if Loco or Bottger come out of the battle with enough troops to ever be a serious force again."
"My thoughts exactly," Claire said, surprising everyone with 283.
her agreement. "And, evidently, Bruno Bottger knows he doesn"t stand a chance with conventional warfare, because my news sources inform me that three jets bearing BW bombs were launched last evening."
"What?" Stevens said, sitting forward in his chair.
Claire nodded. "That"s correct. Bottger has finally launched a BW attack against both Mexico and the SUSA, though his bombers only got as far as Chihuahua and Monterrey before they were forced to drop their plaguebombs prematurely."
"Jesus," Harlan Millard said as he took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his face. "It"s a good thing Raines shared their vaccine with us, or we"d be facing death and destruction on a major scale."
"Yes, it is," Claire said, still smiling for an unknown reason. "Which brings me to the point of tonight"s meeting. Now that the plague is afoot, Mexico is going to be devastated. Even if the SUSA manages to get the vaccine down there, it"s going to take a couple of weeks before it"s effective. In the meantime, thousands, perhaps millions of Mexicans are going to be infected."
"Do you want us to send some of our medical teams down there?" Millard asked.
Claire looked at him as if he had suddenly gone crazy. "Not exactly,"
she said. "It appears to me that Ben Raines is going to be extremely busy for the next few weeks, perhaps even months. Even if he wins the upcoming battle for Durango, he"s then going to be forced to help the Mexicans treat all their plague-infected peons."
Stevens leaned back in his chair and bit his lip. He had a feeling he knew where this was going.
Claire didn"t disappoint him. "I think this would be a perfect time to rea.s.sess our decision to pull our troops back from the borders with the SUSA. Raines has already pulled his battalions back, and even sent some of them south to help out on the Mexican border. If we reversed our troop movements and pressed on past the borders, I think it would take Raines by 284.
surprise and by the time he could react, we"d have taken control of quite a bit of his territory."
"But, Claire," Millard said, "we can"t do that. You said yourself, you gave Raines your word you would pull our troops back and cease the hostilities if he provided us with the anthrax vaccine against Bottger"s biological weapons."
"Harlan, you"re such a wimp!" Claire said with sudden fervor. "Do you really think I consider myself bound by a promise given under duress?
That son of a b.i.t.c.h Raines blackmailed me into promising to pull our troops back, and I don"t consider blackmail an honorable way to conduct affairs of state."
Stevens glanced at King and took a deep breath. "Madame President, may I remind you we are rather far along in the pullback process? Our troops are already loaded up, and most have already started to move away from the borders."
"All the better," Claire said, slamming her hand down on her desktop.
"If the troops are already loaded up, then all it will take is an order from you for them to turn around and head them back the way they came.
The only difference this time is that they won"t stop at the borders, but will continue on as far as they can, smashing the token resistance along the way.""But, Madame President . . ." Stevens began.
"General Stevens," Claire interrupted, her voice as harsh and as hard as he"d ever heard it, "if you are unwilling to give the order, or to support it with all your heart, I am sure I can find another officer who is not afraid to do as I say."
Stevens was defeated and he knew it. "No, ma"am. I"ll give the orders immediately."
"And I can count on the full support of you and your other commanding officers in this offensive?" she asked, her eyes dangerously dark.
"Yes, ma"am. You have my word on it, as an officer and a gentleman."
She smiled for the first time in several minutes. "And if 285.
you fail me, Brad, I promise you I"ll have your head on it. Understand?"
"Yes, ma"am," he said, putting his hat on and standing up. He gave her a quick salute and left the room, followed closely by Colonel King.
Harlan Millard stood up too. "Claire, once again, I must register my protest. I think you are making a mistake."
"Harlan," Claire said softly, "get your candy a.s.s out of here. I"ll deal with you later."
Harlan quickly exited the room without looking back.
Claire turned to Herb, who hadn"t said a word during the entire meeting.
"Well, what do you think, Herb?" she asked.
"I think you"re a h.e.l.l of a lady, and that you"re gonna kick a.s.s and take names this time," he said.
She stared into his eyes and slowly began to unb.u.t.ton her blouse. "I love it when you talk like that," she said, letting her glance slide toward her bedroom door.
Herb stood up and walked over to stand behind her desk chair. He leaned over and let both his hands slide over her shoulders and down her chest to cup her b.r.e.a.s.t.s under her bra.s.siere.
"Why don"t you show me how much you love it?" he said in a low, husky voice, kneading her b.r.e.a.s.t.s with his hands until they ached and made her heart race and her mouth turn dry.
She stood up and walked toward the door, glancing back over her shoulder at him seductively.