“Hungry, as always,” the German smiled faintly, “but otherwise I am prepared.” Ritter had been purposefully underfeeding himself during the last week weeks to lend credibility to the lie that he’d evaded capture and had instead lived on the run in his trip south.
“Good,” Thorne grinned back. He’d grown to quite like the man, and had a great deal of respect for him. It was becoming more and more difficult to ask him to walk so directly into danger on their behalf, important as the mission was.
“On that subject,” Kransky began, gaining the attention of both men, “I should probably get myself ready for action too… when the shit hits the fan, I’ll be more help to the Limeys ‘at the coalface’ than I’ll ever be sittin’ behind some goddamn desk.” That statement was true enough, but it also hid the fact that the American had come to realise he was becoming far too accustomed to working around the people of Hindsight. It didn’t pay to make such close friendships and connections in his line of work, and part of him was now clamouring for a return to the solitude and subsequent ‘freedom’ of being a sniper in the field.
“Much as I hate to lose you, I’d have to agree with you there. Whitehall’s organised resistance cells all over Britain that you can draw on for supplies and to remain hidden, and with a bit of luck you can do some real damage behind the lines.”
“With a bit of luck,” Kransky agreed in a deadpan voice before a new thought occurred to him, and he glanced at his wristwatch. “You’re flying out tonight, aren’t you? Hadn’t you better get some rest or something?”
Thorne stretched and checked the time himself. “Yeah, you’re probably right. A few hours sleep wouldn’t do me any harm at all.” He took a deep breath and shook some tiredness out of his head. “Have to have my wits about me tonight if I want to pull this off!”
“What you’re doing tonight is vitally important… this I’ve gathered already,” Ritter observed softly, and Thorne nodded in reply.
“Yeah… hopefully, if all goes well, this may actually force the ene-!” He halted himself just in time and rephrased, causing Ritter to smile at the obvious tact. “Force Reuters to delay, or maybe even call off the invasion altogether.”
Ritter thought about what Thorne said for quite a few seconds before finally making comment.
“I don’t expect you to tell me what your target is,” he began slowly, “nor do I in truth wish to know, as I do not like the thought of my own countrymen dying…” he lowered his eyes slightly, as if ashamed of what he was about to say, “but if this can stop the Nazis and what they’re doing in Europe… then I wish you God speed and good aim.” The moment that passed between the two men as they locked eyes was palpable, and Thorne nodded once in recognition of the German’s significant support.
Having purposefully stayed up working most of the previous night, it was relatively easy for Thorne to sleep for most of the afternoon as a result. Corporal Thomas knocked at the door to his quarters at 18:00 hours to wake him as requested, and Thorne showered and donned his flight suit quickly, preferring to keep his mind active. At 18:30 he stepped aboard an MTB and began the trip to the Alternate strip on Eday.
The camouflage netting had been completely removed from all the aircraft, and from the entire length of the runway, all packed tightly away in the cargo hold of the KC-10A Extender. Each of the aircraft’s flight crews were on standby, and could get their planes into the air and relative safety within minutes should the alarm be raised. The Extender would in any case be assisting Thorne during the mission that night, and its crew were busily engaged making last-minute pre-flight checks. Their ‘stopover’ airstrip on the sub-continent, ‘Waypoint’, had been alerted and was prepared to receive them in the next few days should they need to evacuate, as was their final destination at ‘Bolthole’.
The area surrounding the southern end of the runway had changed substantially over the last forty-eight hours. As those members of the Hindsight unit who’d been posted all over the country on various assignments (mostly men of the USMC) had arrived back during the last two days, they’d all been transferred by boat to Eday. The rest of Hindsight’s remaining personnel were also there, sheltering beneath the wings of the Galaxy, and numerous surplus oil drums had been put to use as fireplaces to keep them warm. A number of 10-man army tents had been erected around the area and for the next few days, Hindsight would call that tent city their home. Should the enemy reaction to the upcoming strike be immediate and hostile, they’d be in a perfect position to quickly embark and get into the air in relative safety.
While the Extender had been moved out onto the runway in preparation for take off, the Lightning now stood in the open space between the two transports. Its internal tanks were full of fuel, yet it would still require refuelling later over the Irish Sea before commencing its run in to the target. Even with the F-35E’s excellent combat radius, the lengthy detours they were taking as precautions against detection meant there’d be a need for refuelling both before and after the attack if Thorne was to make it back to Scapa Flow.
Each of the aircraft’s two internal weapons bays carried single AIM-120D AMRAAM and AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles. Although only two of the AMRAAMs had survived the August, Thorne was pleased that they still had a good store of the Sidewinders. Barely useful against piston-engined aircraft at best, the state-of-the-art heat-seekers were quite deadly against jets, and with his helmet-mounted targeting system, they could be launched at targets more than ninety degrees off the firing aircraft’s direction of flight. If he did run across the remaining Flankers at any stage, those missiles might give him an invaluable edge over their older-generation weapons and attack systems. It would be an ‘edge’ he’d need desperately, should the situation arise.
As the car carrying Thorne cruised along the runway past the Extender, he could also see the dark shape that now hung beneath the Lightning’s belly. The 25mm gun pod had been removed to allow use of the centreline stores position, and even from that distance he could see that it was a tight squeeze to fit the 3.6m-long bomb and its mounting carriage into the space behind the jet’s front undercarriage. The B83 freefall thermonuclear device had a diameter of slightly less than fifty centimetres, weighed slightly more than a tonne, and had entered service with the United States’ nuclear arsenal in the early 1980s, although the weapon mounted beneath the Lightning had actually been manufactured in the mid-1990s.
The weapon was capable of what was known as ‘Dial-A-Yield’, and could deliver a blast ranging from 120 kilotons to 1.2 megatons — the latter being an explosive force equivalent to 1.2 million tons of TNT. After much discussion and soul-searching on the part of all concerned, particularly Thorne himself, it was the larger yield that had been selected. As they had no specific data on the target area, there was always the possibility they might miss the actual building, or attack another in the area by mistake: as such, it was vitally important that regardless of where ground zero was, the blast would be powerful enough to destroy everything and everyone in the target area. With the weapon yield set to its maximum, the B83 would easily completely vaporise anything within a four kilometre radius and wreak total destruction over a far greater distance.
Ten minutes later, the Extender had lifted off and was circling high in the night sky above as Thorne settled himself into the front cockpit and strapped himself in. At his own request, Alec Trumbull was secure in the seat behind him, and Thorne had been happy to agree. Trumbull was eager to learn more about flying the aircraft and play a significant part in the proceedings, and watching his CO run through an important ground attack mission seemed like an excellent chance to do just that. Thorne was glad the man had asked, and was happy for the company and for the positive effect Trumbull’s presence would have on his courage and spirit. He hadn’t spoken with any of the others before climbing into the jet: they’d all said everything necessary earlier that day, and he wasn’t certain he could bear saying goodbye under such circumstances, particularly to Eileen.