Shadow Flight

The sound of the search party behind him forced a bold decision. Seeing a Russian staff sergeant at the head of the Cuban column, Wickham ran out in the road. "Mladshiy serzhant," Wickham said in Russian, "I am Kapitan Kuyev, KGB. Get your men back up the road," he ordered, pointing at the open field he had crossed, "and cover that field. We have a foreign agent trapped somewhere in the middle."

"Da, comrade kapitan," the sergeant replied, turning to his patrol. "Move out!"

Wickham hesitated, watching the soldiers hurry back along the road, then turned and sprinted for his life. The weary agent ran until his lungs felt as though they were on fire. He slowed momentarily, checked behind him, and ran into a tobacco field.

The agent yanked out his small watch, noting that he had less than forty-five minutes to make the extraction deadline. Walking rapidly, he replaced the timepiece and pulled out the satellite transmitter. It was time to. Send Spidel the extraction signal.

Greg Spidel cast a glance at his vertical tape engine instruments. The turboprops were humming quietly, producing only 65 percent of their rated power.

The pilot looked at the time again, checked the dwindling fuel supply, then spoke to his volunteer winch operator. "Gunny, you awake back there?"

"Yes, sir… barely."

Spidel was startled when the high-pitched beep-beep, beep-beep, beep-beep sounded in his earphones. "Here we go," Spidel announced, pushing the throttles and stick forward simultaneously. "We're gonna be tight on time and fuel."

The OV-10 Bronco, flying more than 300 miles per hour, descended to 150 feet over the peninsula and raced for the extraction coordinates. Ten minutes later, Spidel reduced power and eased down to 100 feet. He would be on station, off the Gulf of Guanahacabibes, in fifteen minutes.

USS KITTY HAWK

Planning had intensified into the wee hours of the morning before the air strike to Cuba was in hard copy. Senior, highly experienced aircrews had been selected for the combat air patrol/escort, attack, and surface combat air patrol (SUCAP) missions.

The pilots and other aircrew members had begun to gather at 0315 to prepare for the launch thirty minutes before first light. At 0455 the war-at-sea strike would shift into their fifteen-minute alert status, ready to pounce on any invading surface ships.

The A-6F Intruders and F/A-18 Hornets had been armed with Walleyes, Harpoons, Rockeyes, Skippers, and assorted multipurpose bomb loads. The combat air patrol aircraft, F-14Ds, supplemented by four F/A-18s, carried upgraded AIM-9 Sidewinders and Sparrow AIM-7M air-to-air missiles. Both types of CAP fighters held maximum rounds in their 20mm M-61 cannons.

Aerial refueling would be minimal, due to the short flight distances involved in the air strike. Two KA-6Ds would be airborne, with two standing by on deck.

The Air Force would supply three KC-10 refueling aircraft — one per aircraft carrier — as standoff safety tankers. Each of the three-engine behemoths carried more than 350,000 pounds of total fuel. They could give away 270,000 pounds and still have the reserve fuel to fly to an inland U. S. base.

Two E-2C Hawkeye early warning aircraft, working as a team, would sweep the entire gulf area around Cuba. A third Hawkeye would orbit sixty miles closer to the U. S. coast, acting as a spare warning platform. The E-2Cs would be critical in providing the big picture for aircrews and the battle staff.

The amphibious assault carriers Essex and Nassau, carrying the two marine expeditionary units, would be held in reserve. After the initial air strike, including the Air Force B-1 Bs, the joint task force commander would evaluate the need for a second strike before landing the Marines.

Two of the four Los Angeles — class attack submarines operating in the Gulf had been tasked to launch BGM-109C Tomahawk cruise missiles at Cuban shore installations and inland targets. USS Jacksonville (SSN 699) would concentrate her missiles at military sites along the shore west of Havana. USS Albuquerque (SSN 706) would direct her ordnance at targets east of the capital city. All four of the nuclear-powered submarines had been cleared to attack unidentified submarines and fire MK-48 torpedoes at Cuban surface combatants.

The Kitty Hawk — based flight crews were in the final stages of preparing their aircraft for combat. The effort was being duplicated aboard the supercarriers America and Abraham Lincoln.

BOSSIER CITY, LOUISIANA

At Barksdale Air Force Base, final preparations were in progress to launch the Rockwell' International B-1B strategic bombers. The eighteen aircraft had been loaded with a variety of conventional bombs and air-launched cruise missiles (ALCM).