Read Online Jack Ryan 11 - Bear And The Dragon by Tom Clancy - Free Book Online
Authors: Tom Clancy
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same way...it was just that he was totally correct in his self-assessment.
There were the usual hands to shake coming off the platform, guided by his Secret Service detail in their dark, forbidding shades, then down the steps and out the back door to his car, where another squad of armed men waited, their vigilant eyes looking ever outward, like the gunners on a B-17 over Schweinfurt must have done, the Vice President thought. One of them held open the car door, and Robby slid in.
“TOMCAT is rolling,” the chief of the VP detail told his microphone as the car headed off.
Robby picked up his briefing folder as the car got onto the highway for the airport. “Anything important happening in D.C.?”
“Not that they've told me about,” the Secret Service agent answered.
Jackson nodded. These were good people looking after him. The detail chief, he figured, was a medium-to-senior captain, and the rest of his troops j.g.'s to lieutenant commanders, which was how Robby treated them. They were underlings, but good ones, well-trained pros who merited the smile and the nod when they did things right, which they nearly always did. They would have made good aviators, most of them -- and the rest probably good Marines. The car finally pulled up to the VC-20B jet in an isolated corner of the general-aviation part of the airport, surrounded by yet more security troops. The driver stopped the car just twenty feet from the foot of the self-extending stairs.
“You going to drive us home, sir?” the detail chief asked, suspecting the answer.
“Bet your ass, Sam” was the smiling reply.
That didn't please the USAF captain detailed to be co-pilot on the aircraft, and it wasn't all that great for the lieutenant colonel supposed to be the pilot-in-command of the modified Gulfstream III. The Vice President liked to have the stick -- in his case the yoke -- in his hands at all times, while the colonel worked the radio and monitored the instruments. The aircraft spent most of its time on autopilot, of course, but Jackson, right seat or not, was determined to be the command pilot on the flight, and you couldn't very well say no to him. As a result, the captain would sit in the back and the colonel would be in the left seat, but jerking off. What the hell, the latter thought, the Vice President told good stories, and was a fairly competent stick for a Navy puke.
“Clear right,” Jackson said, a few minutes later.
“Clear left,” the pilot replied, confirming the fact from the plane-walker in front of the Gulfstream.
“Starting One,” Jackson said next, followed thirty seconds later by “Starting Two.”
The ribbon gauges came up nicely. “Looking good, sir,” the USAF lieutenant colonel reported. The G had Rolls-Royce Spey engines, the same that had once been used on the U.K. versions of the F-4 Phantom fighter, but somewhat more reliable.
“Tower, this is Air Force Two, ready to taxi.”
“Air Force Two, Tower, cleared to taxiway three.”
“Roger, Tower AF-Two taxiing via three.” Jackson slipped the brakes and let the aircraft move, its fighter engines barely above idle, but guzzling a huge quantity of fuel for all that. On a carrier, Jackson thought, you had plane handlers in yellow shirts to point you around. Here you had to go according to the map/diagram -- clipped to the center of the yoke -- to the proper place, all the while looking around to make sure some idiot in a Cessna 172 didn't stray into your path like a stray car in the supermarket parking lot. Finally, they reached the end of the runway, and turned to face down it.
“Tower, this is Spade requesting permission to take off.” It just sort of came out on its own.
A laughing reply: “This ain't the Enterprise, Air Force Two, and we don't have cat shots here, but you are cleared to depart, sir.”
You could hear the grin in the reply: “Roger, Tower, AF-Two is rolling.”
“Your call sign was really 'Spade'?” the assigned command pilot
There were the usual hands to shake coming off the platform, guided by his Secret Service detail in their dark, forbidding shades, then down the steps and out the back door to his car, where another squad of armed men waited, their vigilant eyes looking ever outward, like the gunners on a B-17 over Schweinfurt must have done, the Vice President thought. One of them held open the car door, and Robby slid in.
“TOMCAT is rolling,” the chief of the VP detail told his microphone as the car headed off.
Robby picked up his briefing folder as the car got onto the highway for the airport. “Anything important happening in D.C.?”
“Not that they've told me about,” the Secret Service agent answered.
Jackson nodded. These were good people looking after him. The detail chief, he figured, was a medium-to-senior captain, and the rest of his troops j.g.'s to lieutenant commanders, which was how Robby treated them. They were underlings, but good ones, well-trained pros who merited the smile and the nod when they did things right, which they nearly always did. They would have made good aviators, most of them -- and the rest probably good Marines. The car finally pulled up to the VC-20B jet in an isolated corner of the general-aviation part of the airport, surrounded by yet more security troops. The driver stopped the car just twenty feet from the foot of the self-extending stairs.
“You going to drive us home, sir?” the detail chief asked, suspecting the answer.
“Bet your ass, Sam” was the smiling reply.
That didn't please the USAF captain detailed to be co-pilot on the aircraft, and it wasn't all that great for the lieutenant colonel supposed to be the pilot-in-command of the modified Gulfstream III. The Vice President liked to have the stick -- in his case the yoke -- in his hands at all times, while the colonel worked the radio and monitored the instruments. The aircraft spent most of its time on autopilot, of course, but Jackson, right seat or not, was determined to be the command pilot on the flight, and you couldn't very well say no to him. As a result, the captain would sit in the back and the colonel would be in the left seat, but jerking off. What the hell, the latter thought, the Vice President told good stories, and was a fairly competent stick for a Navy puke.
“Clear right,” Jackson said, a few minutes later.
“Clear left,” the pilot replied, confirming the fact from the plane-walker in front of the Gulfstream.
“Starting One,” Jackson said next, followed thirty seconds later by “Starting Two.”
The ribbon gauges came up nicely. “Looking good, sir,” the USAF lieutenant colonel reported. The G had Rolls-Royce Spey engines, the same that had once been used on the U.K. versions of the F-4 Phantom fighter, but somewhat more reliable.
“Tower, this is Air Force Two, ready to taxi.”
“Air Force Two, Tower, cleared to taxiway three.”
“Roger, Tower AF-Two taxiing via three.” Jackson slipped the brakes and let the aircraft move, its fighter engines barely above idle, but guzzling a huge quantity of fuel for all that. On a carrier, Jackson thought, you had plane handlers in yellow shirts to point you around. Here you had to go according to the map/diagram -- clipped to the center of the yoke -- to the proper place, all the while looking around to make sure some idiot in a Cessna 172 didn't stray into your path like a stray car in the supermarket parking lot. Finally, they reached the end of the runway, and turned to face down it.
“Tower, this is Spade requesting permission to take off.” It just sort of came out on its own.
A laughing reply: “This ain't the Enterprise, Air Force Two, and we don't have cat shots here, but you are cleared to depart, sir.”
You could hear the grin in the reply: “Roger, Tower, AF-Two is rolling.”
“Your call sign was really 'Spade'?” the assigned command pilot
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