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Chapters (50)
  1. DEBT OF HONOR
  2. Acknowledgments
  3. Prologue
  4. 1—Alumni
  5. 2—Fraternity
  6. 3—Collegium
  7. 4—Activity
  8. 5—Complexity Theory
  9. 6—Looking In, Looking Out
  10. 7—Catalyst
  11. 8—Fast-Forwarding
  12. 9—Power Plays
  13. 10—Seduction
  14. 11—Sea Change
  15. 12—Formalities
  16. 13—Winds and Tides
  17. 14—Reflections
  18. 15—A Damned, Foolish Thing
  19. 16—Payloads
  20. 17—Strike One
  21. 18—Easter Egg
  22. 19—Strike Two
  23. 20—Strike Three
  24. 21—Navy Blue
  25. 22—The Global Dimension
  26. 23—Catching Up
  27. 24—Running in Place
  28. 25—All the King's Horses
  29. 26—Catch-up
  30. 27—Piling On
  31. 28—Transmissions
  32. 29—Written Records
  33. 30—Why Not?
  34. 31—The How and the What
  35. 32—Special Report
  36. 33—Reversal Points
  37. 34—All Aboard
  38. 35—Consequences
  39. 36—Consideration
  40. 37—Going Deep
  41. 38—The River Rubicon
  42. 39—Eyes First
  43. 40—Foxes and Hounds
  44. 41—CTF-77
  45. 42—Lightning Strikes
  46. 43—Dancing to the Tune
  47. 44—…from one who knows the score…
  48. 45—Line of Battle
  49. 46—Detachment
  50. 47—Brooms

Forward of the B-2's, the Lightnings were working again, this time alone and covertly, approaching Hokkaido from the east while the bombers behind took a more southerly course. The exercise was more mental than physical now. One of the E-767's was up, this time well back over land, and probably with fighters in close attendance while the less capable E-2C's patrolled just offshore. They'd be working the fighter pilots hard now, and sure enough, his threat receiver showed that some Eagles were searchlighting their APG-70 radars around the sky. Well, time to make them pay for that. His two-plane element turned slightly right and headed for the two nearest Eagles.

Two were still on the ground, one of them with a scaffolding around the radome. Maybe that was the one undergoing overhaul, Richter thought, approaching cautiously from the west. There were still hills to hide behind, though one of them had a radar on it, a big, powerful air-defense system. His onboard computer plotted a null-area for him, and he flew lower to follow that in. He ended up three miles from the radar site, but below it, and then it was time to do what the Comanche was designed for.

Richter lifted up over the final hilltop, and his Longbow radar swept the area before him. Its computerized memory selected the two E-767's from its library of hostile shapes and lit them up on the weapons display. The touch screen at Richter's left knee showed them as icons numbered 1 and 2 and identified as what they were. The pilot selected Hellfire from his short list of weapons options, the weapons-bay doors opened, and he fired twice. The Hellfire missiles roared off the rails, heading downhill toward the air base, five miles away.

Target Four was an apartment building, happily the top floor. ZORRO-Three had taken a southerly route into the city, and now its pilot slewed his helicopter sideways, worried about being spotted from the ground but wanting to find a window with a light on. There. Not a light, the pilot thought. More like a TV. Good enough in any case. He used the manual-guidance mode to lock on the spot of blue light.