Patrick returned to the briefing room downstairs. "There's something else going on here," he told everyone assembled there. "I think Salaam and Baris are either dead or under arrest, and Vice Marshal Ouda sounded to me like he thought they were already dead, or soon would be."
"Maybe part of the deal to release the captives was to eliminate Salaam and Baris," Hal Briggs said.
"Or maybe Khan found out that she's been helping us, and he's convinced the military that they're traitors," David Luger said.
"In any case, I think our days remaining here are down to hours-maybe only minutes," Patrick said. Just then, Chris Wohl, in full battle armor and exoskeleton, entered the room with one of the Night Stalkers. "Did you check the emergency tunnel and exit, Master Sergeant?"
"Yes, sir," Wohl replied. "No guards on the other side. The closest Egyptian forces are about two hundred meters away, facing toward the compound-we'll exit behind them. More units are inbound-I think they have another armored company almost in place."
"It's hard for me to believe they've forgotten about that tunnel," Hal Briggs said. "Not guarding that exit could be a ruse. If they catch us sneaking out, it could give them an excuse to attack us."
"They don't need an excuse," Patrick said. "If we've lost our patrons and if they want us, they'll go in and get us. We need to be gone by then." To Wohl, Patrick said, "Get your men together and evacuate the compound, Sarge." He referred to a map on the wall of the base. "Assemble here, at this oil well complex south; then we'll disperse and go to exfiltration points. If the oil well complex is not secure, we'll head southwest toward these oil well complexes and disperse. Avoid contact with the Egyptian military if possible, but avoid capture at all costs. Questions?"
"Are you coming with us, sir?"
"I'll stay here, just in case Ouda wants to talk-I want him to think we're still here," Patrick said.
"How many men do you want here with you?"
"Zero," Patrick said. "Everyone else will depart and go to the exfiltration points."
"I don't think that's wise, sir."
"Chris, I think the Egyptians are no longer our friends," Patrick said. "I think they'll come for us first thing in the morning, when they've built up their forces to maximum. But I still don't want to get into a firefight with the Egyptians. I can stall them until you are safe." Wohl nodded. "Get moving." Wohl barked an order, and the Night Stalkers got on their feet and headed out to get their gear and evacuate.
Hal Briggs and David Luger stayed behind. "What are you thinking about, Muck?" Luger asked. "Why stay?"
"I'm afraid that if Khan or Ouda have Wendy and the others, they'll use them to get to us," Patrick said. "If we bug out completely, they'll hold them hostage to get us back."
"So you intend on staying here and getting captured?"
"It's the only thing I can think of to keep all our bases covered," Patrick said. "But I need you guys out so we can organize a rescue. When they realize you guys have disappeared, they'll be less likely to hurt us-they know what you can do."
Hal Briggs shook his head. "I sure hope you know what you're doin', Muck," he said. He held out a hand, and Patrick shook it. "We'll stay in touch. Keep your head down."
"That's what I do best."
"Since when?" Luger asked with a smile. He shook hands with his long-time partner. "I don't want to lose another McLanahan, my friend. When it's time to get out, give us a call, and we'll come in and help get you out."
"I'll be right behind you. Now get moving." He and Briggs headed for the tunnel. "Hal?"
"Yeah?"
"Set some mines on that emergency exit after you get clear," Patrick ordered. "If the Egyptians try to come in that way, I want it sealed."
"You got it. Be careful."
Director of Central Intelligence Douglas Morgan entered Secretary of Defense Goff's office, holding a thin imagery file marked "CONFIDENTIAL." He held it up, a questioning look in his eyes. "Here's the data you asked for," he said. "What's up?"
"Our friends might be at it again," Goff said, waving him to a seat. Already seated at the meeting area in front of Goff's desk was Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Richard Venti. "The general has some data to show us, but he needed your latest overheads to nail it down. What did you find?"
"Satellite imagery from over north Africa," Morgan explained. "Infrared detectors picked up four large blasts in eastern Libya last night. They were first classified as oil derrick fires. But their location was right over a small Libyan military base called Jaghbub, mostly used as a border security outpost and a security base for one of the Libyan president's retreats-sort of Libya's answer to Camp David."
"I'm familiar with Jaghbub, General," Goff said. "What happened there?"
"We got some overhead shots of the area, and analysts say there was an air strike against that base," Morgan responded. "Precision guided attacks against air defense sites, communications, security, and even pinpoint attacks against armor."
"Interesting."
"This is even more interesting-the Libyan president, Zuwayy, was there at the time."
"Really? Did they get him?"
"Doesn't appear so," Morgan said. "We have been tracking aircraft coming and going from there ever since the attack, and we think we tracked a helicopter convoy leave there for Tripoli shortly after the attack. Shortly thereafter, Libyan state television announces a terrorist attack on Jaghbub, accusing the Egyptians and Israelis of attacking a Muslim holy place. The reports claim Zuwayy is safe, but we haven't seen him yet. Our guess is he got out but may be injured."
Goff shook his head, then nodded to Venti. '"Bell him what your boys found, Richard."
"About an hour after those fires broke out," Venti said, "a Navy Hawkeye over the Med is tracking a flight that took off from Athens bound for Shannon, Ireland. Pretty routine stuff, except the plane's not exactly on course for Shannon-he's flying basically westbound, over the Med, instead of getting a clearance direct. But he's following his filed international flight plan, he's on time and on courseno problem. The Navy is watching him. Soon, he's slowing down-way down. He's lost about a hundred knots. We call up the guy and ask if there's a problem, and he says no, they're just doing some engine performance data checks where they have to retard throttles. It's weird, doing stuff like that over water far from home-the aircraft is based in North Las Vegas, Nevada-but it's no big deal.
"We happened to have a couple Tomcats on patrol nearby, so we vector them over and do a silent join-up on the guy to make sure he's okay. They got a picture of the plane with the F-14's telescopic FLIR." Venti opened another briefing folder and showed it to Morgan.
It was a very fine, detailed picture of an EB-52 Megafortress bomber being refueled behind a DC-10 aircraft.
"Oh, shit," Morgan muttered. "Is that one of Sky Masters Inc.'s modified B-52s?"
"That's it," Venti said. "And we checked the N-number of the DC-10-it's a Sky Masters launch aircraft also, modified for aerial refueling." He handed Morgan another photo, this one an even more extreme close-up. "Look under the wings."
"Weapon pylons?"
Venti handed him a magnifying glass. "What else do you see?"
Morgan studied the photo, then whistled. "Missiles on rails on the sides of the pylons." He studied another photograph, shaking his head. "One missing on the right pylon."
"Presumably expended," Secretary Goff said perturbedly. "Libya claims in its broadcast that some of their aircraft were shot down during the attack too."