Next link up with Mike. What could they do to help protect the air base from attack? Any restrictions placed on him by his rules of engagement were now irrelevant as he had been fired upon by a Russian plane.

Decision made. He’d first do what he could to protect the Latvians and Americans in the base from attack and then he’d head home, as ordered. Besides, he had a score to settle with the Russians.

“Apollo, this is Ghost One. Are you airborne?” A voice crackled urgently in Bertinetti’s headphones. It was Mike Ryan.

“Affirmative, Ghost One. Airborne and spoiling for the fight. We gotta go after those Su-25 Frogfoots. Those are our guys on the ground down there and they’re getting hammered.”

“Roger, Apollo. Glad to hear you’re with me. It’s been kinda lonely waiting for you.” Ryan’s relief was palpable.

And then Bertinetti heard another, more urgent, American voice in his headset.

“Apollo, Apollo, this is Lielvārde. We’re under attack.” It was ground control. “Two Bandits. One eight zero, closing on the airfield at fifteen thousand feet.”

“Copy that, ground. I’ve got them on radar. Ghost One. We’re attacking . . . Ghost One. Keep me covered. Datalinking the targets now.”

Bertinetti banked in the direction of the red icons in the multifunction displays in the cockpit, one beside each knee, which were the Russian aircraft out there in the darkness, and opened up the throttle. He felt the surge of power as the engine kicked in. This time there would be no ambush. He was the ambusher.

On his multifunction display he picked up the tell-tale icons of another two Su-25 Frogfoot fighter-bombers lining up to bomb the air base.

“Apollo, Fox Three,” said Bertinetti, indicating that he was engaging the closest with an AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, known to all as the AMRAAM.

In the cockpit he felt a momentary shudder, as the two under-slung missiles were launched.

The missiles seemed to pause, then their rocket motors flared and they suddenly surged forward, their flaming burners disappearing into bright red dots as they accelerated toward their target.

Then it was time to concentrate on the second Su-25. As his head-up display indicated that the weapon system had locked onto the second aircraft, he stabbed the weapon release with his right thumb.

In his head-up display he saw both targets maneuver violently to evade the missiles, banking into a steep dive, left and right. There was a flash as the first missile exploded harmlessly. Then, from his cockpit, Bertinetti saw the yellow-and-red flash of a second, much bigger explosion, as one of the aircraft erupted into a fireball that continued billowing forward for a second or so, before starting to float toward the earth.