“That’s cool. OK, what do we do then?” Ford asked.
“Hang on, that’s not all. She and Mr. Burns have something big. Remember our friend General Chen?”
“What about him?” Emily asked, looking at Mark with a smirk.
“Well, he’s… dead. Jeanie just got done briefing Mr. Burns. She picked up the social media on Weibo by the maintenance crew in the hangar. Seems he had a heart attack in Shanghai after he was told the jet was missing due to the emitting ejection seat locators. Beijing got the seat signals, sent out a worldwide email to all general and flag officers.”
“Wow! Dead, huh?” Robert asked.
“Dead?” Ford asked, smiling. “Based upon what Wu told us, the second missing jet must have crushed him.”
“Yup. Dead,” Mark answered.
Emily smiled and raised her glass. “To Wu Lee.”
“To Wu,” they all said in unison, clinking glasses and toasting.
Pinky took a sip of her Merlot, then spoke up. “Who is General Chen?” she asked.
The entire team broke out laughing.
The old, rusted-out post — World War II fuel truck they saw earlier was back, fueling up the Black Scorpion on the dark ramp. It was sometimes used for water, sometimes used for jet fueclass="underline" the local Bangalore people were innovative in their business dealings. Ravi’s ground crew, along with Robert, did everything they could for an ops-normal launch of the peculiar aircraft.
Robert’s installation of the seats seemed to fit in nicely and allowed the seat positions to be adjusted back and forth on the vertical portion, as well as forward and rearward for reaching the rudder pedals. The only thing they were missing were ejection seat rockets and survival kits with beacons, but it was a mitigated risk they took for a one-hop administrative flight home.
Pinky and Ford were in the flight planning room discussing their route of flight to the US, based upon winds, weather, and destination.
“Ford, I’m ready for a quick brief. Route is complete. You ready?”
“Shoot.”
“OK, out of Bangalore to the north past New Delhi; northwest bound to Middle East Balad, Iraq, then Incirlik, Turkey; across Europe to Scotland; across the North Atlantic to St. Johns, Newfoundland; down to Pease Air National Guard Base in New Hampshire. I’ve got the route calculated at all sorts of airspeeds, so it depends on the missing roof and the noise I would guess. I’ll put into it the flight management software.
Ford smiled, thinking it was similar to a B-1 flight, with long legs, fuel in the air, and tight cockpits.
Pinky waived her hands around at the wrist. “Lastly, no flight plan filed. Not talking to anyone, no radar, no flight following, and no lights. Black. Right?”
“Yes. Yes, Mark?” Ford answered, then asked Mark to confirm. “Right?”
Mark nodded his head. “Absolutely. Can’t talk to a soul. Don’t let anyone see you. Silent.”
“Weeiiirrddd,” Pinky told them in a high-pitched voice.
Ravi, Mark, Emily, and Robert all sat in the couch area listening in and barely said anything during their flight-related discussions.
“Based upon the performance of Devil Dragon, we can fly pretty fast. Total flight is about 8,100 miles. I’d say about six to nine hours total flight time. We can talk airspeeds while we’re inbound. Should beat these guys home,” Ford replied, smirking, pointing with his thumb to the motley crew on the couch.
Walking out to Black Scorpion now, Ford shook hands with Ravi and thanked him, and said good-byes to the team with some hugs. In front of the aircraft on the line, Ford squeezed and kissed Emily privately. He handed her his cell phone and wallet.
Ford whispered in her ear. “Soon, you’ll be Mrs. Ford Stevens. We’ll be engaged. I love you. See you tomorrow.”
Ford was immediately quiet. He was scared shitless again, as the jet reminded him of his flight on Devil Dragon and Wu’s passing. He teared up thinking of it, squeezing Emily hard. He had flown thousands of flight hours, yet this flight felt different.
“Are you OK? You scared, Ford?” Emily asked him warmly. “It’s all right, Ford. I’m here.”
“Yes. Yes, I am. But I can do this. I’ll focus, and I’ll get through it. I can do it.”
Ford did his special breathing. In through my nose for a four count, out my mouth, he said to himself. I can do this. I can do this.
A tear ran down Emily’s cheek. “Fly safe, Ford. I love you, too,” she whispered into his ear.
He pulled away from her, smiling. Ford turned to talk away a few steps and stopped. “Emily.”
She looked up at him, eyes glassy and red. “Yes?”
“We get engaged. Tomorrow. OK?”
She nodded.
Ford climbed in, joining Pinky, who was already strapped into the cockpit. Robert was up there too, helping and observing, just to see if they needed anything. Wearing full cold-weather gear and oxygen masks, and carrying paper flight charts as a backup, they were ready for takeoff.
Ravi and Robert stashed two backpack bags of prepared food for their meals while airborne, along with some water and toilet paper and an extra set of hand warmers. They also had their overnight bags from the hotel full of dirty laundry, complete with the complimentary Ritz-Carlton shave kit.
The glass cockpit came alive from the ground power cart, and her two outboard engines were quickly started. Stunning glass components, all computer generated, appeared on the displays. The primary flight instruments were state of the art and modern, displaying everything from oil pressures to the attitude indicators to airspeed and navigational aids. It was an attractive cockpit and layout, impressive to any pilot.
“Ford, I’m not up on my Chinese. I took French at the academy. But I can see in these Devil Dragon checklists where you translated it into English. Just keep me honest here,” Pinky told him, laughing.
“You got it, Pinky. Pre-taxi checklist next,” Ford replied.
The two engines were loud to both ground observers, as well as inside the cockpit, and Robert ensured he used double hearing protection. The remaining two engines would be auto ignited after getting some air down the intakes.
Robert tapped Ford on the shoulder, since he had no way of talking with him, and shook his hand. Robert did the same for Pinky, and they said their good-byes.
Ford and Pinky ran through their checklists as best they could, with most components being in the same location as Devil Dragon. The standard instruments were in the same location, and they were able to pull up all the navigational aids for departure.
“Ford, confirm for me internal nav position,” Pinky asked.
“Yup, good to go. What, no satellites?”
“Not yet. I’ll get a good sweep airborne. I’ll figure it out once we level off,” Pinky replied. “Wait, we can’t do that. Internal Nav System only. Operational security, right? No transmitting of data, Mark told us…”
The ground crew, along with the entire DIA team, stood on the far side of the flight line as Ford taxied the Chinese jet for departure. Everyone saluted, and Ford flashed the landing light one time. Ford and Pinky then saw everyone wave.
Ford got one last glance at Emily. Bye, babe. See you soon, he said silently.
“Pinky, takeoff checklist,” announced Ford.
PART 10
MOUNTAINS
The clear, dark sky at this altitude only showed the stars and moon, while down below was mostly obscure black. Nearly zero flickers of illuminated light lay ahead, signifying the approach of the Himalayan Mountains with very limited urban areas or people. Every so often they would get a glisten of the bright moonlight off a tall, snow-covered peak, but most times there was nothing for light to reflect off of.