Shadow Flight

"Cancun tower, Tailback One is ready to roll," Spidel radioed as he pressed on the brakes and walked the throttles forward, checking his engines and propellers.

"Taxi into position and hold," the controller instructed with a pronounced accent.

"Posit and hold," Spidel radioed, taxiing to the center of the active runway.

"Tailback One, wind one-three-zero at seven, cleared for takeoff," the tower operator replied, then added a cheerful send-off. "Tell 'em hello in Pensacola."

"Will do," Spidel replied into his lip microphone as he rechecked his engine instruments. His visual flight rules (VFR) flight plan showed his destination to be Pensacola Naval Air Station. After Wickham parachuted out of the Bronco, Spidel would return to Cancun from the north with a purported engine problem.

"Tailback One rolling," Spidel radioed as he shoved the twin throttles forward. Both Garrett T-76 turboprop engines, producing a collective 2,080-shaft horsepower, howled in unison as the camouflaged Bronco accelerated rapidly down the 11,483-foot runway.

Spidel, feeling the composite propellers clawing the air, watched the airspeed indicator race past his takeoff speed as he eased back smoothly on the stick.

Wickham watched the runway drop away, then felt the landing gear bang into the wheel wells. He could see the last purple and gold rays of the shimmering tropical sun sinking below the horizon.

Spidel leveled the OV-10D at 300 feet above the dark Yucatan Channel and rechecked his global navigation display. The readout corresponded precisely with the manual navigation plot he had completed before his passenger had arrived.

He turned north and remained on course to Pensacola, Florida, until he was out of sight. At that point, he dropped to 100 feet over the smooth water and turned east toward Cuba. The Bronco would not be visible to radar at their transition altitude.

Spidel cast a quick glance at his vertical tape engine instruments, then concentrated on keeping the OV-10D at the prescribed altitude. He could tell he would have good moonlight for low-level flying.

Wickham sat with his arms folded on top of his equipment pack and thought about his mission. He had checked and rechecked his gear a half-dozen times. He adjusted his camouflage parachute and felt again for the static line snap. Hooked properly and free to slide.

The waterproof equipment bag connected to Wickham's chest straps contained his extraction harness and balloon. It also contained worn-looking dark khaki trousers and a soiled green peasant shirt. A tattered straw hat and scuffed work boots completed the outfit. Wickham also carried a 9-mm Excam with a clip containing fifteen rounds, along with a Burbour tactical knife.

Cushioned inside the clothing were two very important items-a small transmitter to signal for his extraction, and a compact Sony television camera. The lightweight camera, a fraction of the size of the Sony Betacam, had a built-in power pack capable of generating a continuous picture for eight to ten minutes. Provided he could locate the Stealth bomber, Wickham would be able to send real-time photos of the B-2, via satellite. The picture would go to a Transat-16 satellite receiver before being flashed to a monitor in the National Reconnaissance Office.

The last piece of equipment Wickham had attached to his harness was a small hydrogen-powered tow vehicle. The underwater tow conveyance had been designed for covert operations by Ingenieurkontor Lubeck. Small fuel cells produced electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen in a quiet electrochemical reaction. The energy turned a shielded propeller, which supplied the swimmer or scuba diver with an effortless ride. Wickham knew that the tow vehicle would take him to the beach from one mile offshore. Returning to his extraction point would expend the limited fuel and require him to swim most of the way.

Wickham keyed his intercom. "Spider, let me know when we're five minutes from the drop."

"Will do," Spidel replied from the darkened cockpit.

The pilot could see a half-dozen aircraft navigation and recognition lights traveling north and south over the channel. The diversionary aircraft flew at staggered altitudes ranging from 4,500 to 16,500 feet. He knew that there were at least another ten aircraft crisscrossing over the Bronco's flight path with their lights extinguished.

Cuban radar hopefully would not be able to pick out the low-flying OV-10 in the mass of airborne traffic. The string of small prop and turboprop aircraft provided a screen to fully occupy the Cuban radar operators. The CIA pilots would make their trips every night while Wickham was in Cuba.

Spidel carefully reset his specially mounted Collins AL-101 radio altimeter at seventy-five feet and lowered the OV-10's nose. The precision instrument provided the pilot with altitude accuracy within plus or minus two feet, or 2 percent accuracy, below 500 feet.