Shadow Flight

Levchenko, shivering slightly in the brisk morning air, followed the takeoff and initial climb. He lowered the binoculars, zipped his jacket, and got back inside the warm, idling automobile. The KGB Stealth project officer was feeling more confident by the minute. After waiting eight months and enduring many arduous trips to Moscow, Levchenko had received permission straight from Golodnikov, chief of the KGB, to commandeer a Stealth bomber.

The crowd returned to their vehicles, and as the cars in front of him began to move, Levchenko placed the Lincoln in gear. He had a meeting in San Bernardino with the two KGB agents who were responsible for initiating the B-2 hijacking.

Irina Rykhov, astrikingly beautiful young woman with sensuous hazel eyes, and Aleksey Pankyev, a dashing and experienced agent, had spent the previous six months systematically organizing the operation. They were both distinguished graduates in military intelligence from the prestigious Bukharin Academy, and had worked as a team for more than three years. They had been directly responsible for obtaining the classified Trident D-5 missile specifications.

Now, Levchenko thought as he adjusted the radio volume, Rykhov can execute the final step to carry the hijacking to completion. The Motherland would have an American B-2 Stealth bomber in a matter of weeks.

Chapter One

ON BOARD SHADOW 37

The Northrop B-2 banked gently to the left, then returned to level flight, as U. S. Air Force Lt. Col. Charles E. Matthews scanned the clouds below his "invisible" bomber. A tall, ruggedly handsome man of thirty-six, Matthews unzipped the top of his flight suit, stretched the underlying turtleneck, and rubbed his irritated skin.

"Shadow Three Seven, Mystic," drawled a deep voice with a southern twang.

"Three Seven," replied the Stealth's copilot, Maj. Paul Tyler Evans.

"Ghost Two Five is closing from your eight o'clock, three miles," responded the airborne controller in the orbiting Boeing E-3C AWACS. The four-engine warning and control aircraft, operating from the 552d AWAC Wing at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, was 115 miles southwest of the B-2.

Evans keyed his radio mike, heard the voice scrambler hum, then spoke. "We've got a radar lock."

The copilot, a recently qualified B-2 aircraft commander, watched the radar display for a few seconds, then keyed his mike again. "Should have a visual shortly."

"Concur, Three Seven," the airborne warning and control officer replied. "Ghost Two Five will be up your frequency in fifteen seconds."

Chuck Matthews glanced at his copilot, then back to the civilian tech-rep occupying the cramped third seat. The new bomber, after final air force testing, would be configured for a two-man flight crew.

Shadow 37, the sixth B-2 off the Northrop assemblyie, was undergoing a series of technical evaluations before final acceptance by the Strategic Air Command (SAC). For the present, the aircraft had been fitted with three crew seats.

The subcontractor-supplied electronics specialist was responsible for certification of a half-dozen electronic warfare systems. He checked the laser radar and the infrared detectors, then adjusted the covert strike radar.

"Ready, Larry?" Matthews asked the slight, bespectacled man in the aft seat.

"All set, colonel. Avionics automation up," Lawrence M. Simmons answered nervously, trying to quell his anxiety. He could feel his pulse racing as he contemplated executing his mission. The dimmed cockpit lights masked the tension on his face. Frail, prematurely gray at thirty-two, Simmons knew instinctively that after today his life would never be the same. He would finally receive the respect he deserved. He hoped that the other two crew members had not noticed his shaking hands.

Chuck Matthews, aircraft commander of the advanced technology bomber, checked the bright radar screen, then keyed his mike. "Ghost Two Five," Matthews paused, glancing over his left shoulder through the cockpit side window, "we have a radar lock at our eight o'clock, two and a half miles."

The radio scrambler hummed as a new voice, crisp and articulate, sounded in the helmets of the Stealth crew. "That's us, Shadow," responded the aircraft commander of the Rockwell B-1 B strategic bomber. "Are you on top?"

"That's affirm, Ghost Two Five," Matthews answered quietly, searching visually for their teammate. "We show you out of thirty-three point two. You should break out in a couple hundred feet."

"Roger," the B-1B pilot radioed, still flying in instrument conditions.

Both air force aircraft, although different in appearance, size, and mission capability, would be operating as a team during the joint United States/Canadian forces Operation Veil. The purpose of the operation was to evaluate each bomber's ability to penetrate random radar defenses, survive the simulated bombing raid, then safely egress from the target area.