“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 FLDR.” 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.”

“Were your Navy guys able to track that bomber?”

“They lost it,” Venti said. “When the bomber was done refueling, they must have fired up their radar again, spotted the fighters, and evaded them. We have no idea where they went. With the stealth capabilities of that aircraft, they could fly right over Washington, D.C., and we’d never know it.”

“Pretty circumstantial evidence,” Morgan pointed out. “We don’t have any actual evidence that the Megafortress bombed Libya, or that the Night Stalkers had anything to do with it.”

“This isn’t a court of law—yet,” Goff said angrily. “But I don’t need a warrant to search a Sky Masters installation— they’re federal contractors working on classified government programs, which means we can walk in on them anytime.”

“Let me play devil’s advocate,” Morgan said with a smile, “and ask—why not let these guys do their thing? They obviously uncovered something in Libya with that attack on Samah —Libya was definitely storing weapons of mass destruction there, and was probably getting ready to use them—and they probably uncovered something in Jaghbub, too. The U.S. government is not in any way involved in this, and that’s for real: We’re not avowing any knowledge of the Night Stalkers or their activities—we’re not directing them in any way, shape, or fashion. They’re terrorists as far as we know, but we have no legal reason to pursue them.”