James Huston - Fallout

“Affirmative. We’ll get someone over there. State your position.”

“We’re near a road, about thirty miles west of position Lima on our charts.”

“Roger. On the way.”

Luke felt horrible. Vlad had fought bravely, valiantly. He’d shown what he was made of. Luke set the parking brake. He shut down the engines and opened the canopy. He realized he didn’t have a ladder to get down. He didn’t care. He undid his harness and stood on the seat. He threw his left leg over the side, then his right, and held on to the canopy rail with his hands. He lowered himself as far as he could, then dropped the last four feet to the ground. He stumbled and fell but stood again, uninjured. He removed his helmet and his other flight gear and began running toward the burning hulk of Vlad’s MiG a half mile away. As he closed on the fire, he saw a figure walking toward him, dragging a parachute behind him.

“Vlad!” Luke exclaimed.

Vlad stopped and sat on the soft green ground. Luke knelt next to him. “Vlad, you all right?”

“Yes, I am fine.” He tried to stand again.

Luke unfastened the parachute from his harness and helped him remove his flight gear. “What happened?”

Vlad stretched his back, then straightened up. “Nothing happened, really. The airplane was fine. Nothing wrong.”

“Did you run out of gas?”

“No, it had gas.”

“Why’d you punch out?” Luke asked, perplexed, then looked up to see if another fighter was around, someone who had shot Vlad down.

“I had to.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You have been very kind to me, Luke. You have given me everything. Another chance. It is the happiest I have ever been in my life. But I have to tell you: I was not completely honest with you. I was dismissed from the Russian Air Force because I had a drinking problem. I think I have it under control, but it is a constant battle.”

“Don’t worry about it. We can—”

Vlad put up his hand. “The way I got out of Russia got me tied up with some very bad people. They owned me. They were helping Khan, and they tried to force me to join them by allowing Khan to succeed.”

“Are you—”

“Let me finish, please.” He sighed. “I did not help him. I would rather die. But now they know I helped defeat them. I have no chance against them. They have threatened my sister, her children, my mother—whatever I have, they will destroy.”

“Vlad. I’ll help you…” Luke protested.

“No. This is my battle. I ejected because you are going to go back to the United States and tell everyone that I was killed. I crashed in landing. Very tragic. Horrible accident, but my name is to be honored. And my Indian friends will tell everyone here that I was killed. Those in Russia who want to kill me will think I am dead.”

“What are you going to do?”

“You called for help when you saw me go down, I assume.”

“Sure.”

“Good. And you sounded distressed and upset?”

“Probably.”

“Good. The Indians will send a helicopter, and you will get in it. They have already sent another one to pick me up.”

“How did they know to do that?”

“I had a chat with Sunil. I told him what I was doing. He said he had some scores to settle with these Russians, too. He offered his assistance.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I am going back to Russia. I have some things I have to attend to.”

“Then what?”

“I don’t know.”

“Come back to Nevada. Build the school with me.”

“Who knows? If I make it out again, who knows?” He extended his hand. They shook hands as the sounds of a helicopter came from the horizon behind them.

Luke tried to sleep aboard the Air Force transport plane. He was completely exhausted, but his mind couldn’t stop going over everything that had happened. The more he thought about it, the more he felt as if he’d been operating in the dark. Others had known things he’d only glimpsed.

On orders from the U.S. government, the transport flew straight in to Tonopah—no customs, no international flight terminal, just a gray Air Force airplane landing in the desert so far away from any population center that no one would know it had even arrived.

Every instructor waited with Brian and Katherine in the ready room. Even Thud’s father was there. Bill Morrissey, George Lane, Helen Li, and some other government officials sat in the back of the room. They had arrived unannounced, looking concerned and out of sorts. Katherine had to convince Dr. Thurmond that they could come in. They all stared at the television tuned to CNN.

The President of India was holding a press conference to comment on what had already been reported, that Pakistan had attempted to attack an Indian nuclear power plant but was driven back and defeated by the Indian Air Force. There had been footage of the four downed F-16s, including shots of the Pakistani tail markings and helmets from the dead pilots. The President of India was outraged, telling the world that Pakistan’s claim of a runaway pilot attacking the United States might have been believed, but no one could possibly believe that a strike from Pakistani territory with Pakistani jets and pilots into Indian territory was done without the backing of the government of Pakistan, especially the same week as the attack on the United States. It was impossible. Outrageous. But India was going to resist responding to such an aggressive attack, calling instead for international condemnation of Pakistan, including dismissal from the UN and universal economic sanctions until the government resigned and was replaced by an elected group of what he called “rational” people. Pakistan was obviously beholden to the Islamists and other irrational forces, and India wasn’t going to let them plunge South Asia into a war, he said.

Finally, Luke walked into the ready room. He was smiling, but it wasn’t the smile of a conquering fighter ace returning from the war. It was the smile of someone who was glad to be home, and not in a body bag. Katherine got up slowly and walked to the back of the room. They embraced silently. He kissed her.

Katherine looked behind him. “Where’s Vlad?”

Luke shook his head. “He didn’t make it.”

“What?” Crumb asked.

Luke tossed his flight jacket onto the back of one of the ready-room chairs. “We found Khan. He tried to get the nuclear plant. Vlad had the whole thing figured.”

“What happened?” Stamp demanded.

“We staged off a road. Just Vlad and me, with an entire squadron circling low over the plant in case Khan got through.”

“And you got them?”

“Big night fight. Unbelievable. We ultimately got all of them.”

“How’d they get Vlad?” Crumb wondered.

“They didn’t. We were about out of gas, so we landed on a road in the middle of nowhere. I was rolling out, and before I know it, Vlad’s pitched over, inverted, and hits the ground a half mile from where I am.”

“He just flew into the ground?”

“There was something wrong. He had to have had a mechanical failure.”

“He didn’t get out? What about the magical ejection seat?” Stamp asked.

Luke looked at Stamp and could tell that only Katherine and Stamp were able to see his face. He gave Stamp a quick wink, then said, “You’ve got to eject for it to work.”

Stamp got it. “That’s too damned bad. He was a great guy.”

“How many of them did you get?” Crumb asked.

“We each got two of them.”

“You got Khan? You sure?”

“Yeah. I’m sure.”

“Archer?”

“Nope. Ended up having to gun him.”

“You ever fired a MiG gun before?”

“Nope.”

Crumb smiled. “Wish I could have seen that.”