Текст книги "Strike Zone"

Автор книги: Dale Brown

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“I’m okay,” she said, with a tone that seemed to be meant to reassure herself as well as him. “Is Colonel Bastian there?”

“No, he’s hooked up with some ceremonies and crap,” said Zen.

“Tell him I said hello, okay?”

“I will. I think your program helped us nail the clone.”

She didn’t answer. Zen imagined seeing her turn red and push back her long, strawberry blond hair.

Breanna took the phone back. “So?” she asked.

“So what?”

“When you coming home?” Bree asked.

“Haven’t figured that out yet.”

“Well, get moving, Major. Get the lead out. Here, listen, everybody wants to say hello.”

Zen didn’t particularly want to talk to them, but somehow it felt as if it was his duty to. He leaned back in his wheelchair and listened as Breanna reminded them it was an open line.

E-BOOK EXTRA

DALE BROWN: THE NOVELS

Page 250

Air Battle Force ; Wings of Fire ; Warrior Class ; Battle Born ; The Tin Man ; Fatal Terrain ; Shadows of Steel

; Sky Masters ; Day of the Cheetah ; Flight of the Old Dog ; Night of the Hawk ; Storming Heaven ; Chains of Command ; Hammerheads ; Silver Tower

With Jim DeFelice: Dale Brown’s Dreamland ; Dale Brown’s Dreamland: Nerve Center ; Dale Brown’s Dreamland: Razor’s Edge

Visit Dale Brown online at Megafortress.com

~

Air Battle Force(2003)

On America’s newest combat base, U.S. Air Force aerial warfare expert Major General Patrick McLanahan and his crew of daring engineers are devising the air combat unit of the future. Known as Air Battle Force, it can launch concentrated, stealthy, precision-guided firepower to any spot on the globe within hours. And soon McLanahan and his warriors will have their first target.

Chased out of Afghanistan, Taliban fighters are planning to invade the neighboring oil-rich Republic of Turkmenistan, an isolated and incredibly wealthy Central Asian state. As unsteady alliances form and forces collide, the impending battle for control of the world’slargest oil deposits threatens to tear apart the tenuous peace created by America’s victories in Afghanistan.

Now it’s up to McLanahan and a handful of American commandos half a world away, aided by an untested and unproven force of robotic warplanes, to win a war in which everyone – even “friendly”

forces at home – wants them to fail.

“[An] absorbing techno thriller … Brown fans will declare this a page-turning delight.” – Publishers Weekly

“Dale Brown is the best military adventure writer in the country.” – Clive Cussler

~

Wings of Fire(2002)

Ostracized by the government, the Air Force, and even by his own family, Patrick McLanahan has reached rock bottom. Or so he thought. While testing cutting-edge weapons in the skies over Libya, he and his private team are drawn into a power struggle between North Africa’s rulers.

In the face of tragic loss, unexpected defeat, and ultimate betrayal, the ex-USAF general must quickly decide where his loyalties lie. For it may be too late to stop the destruction rolling across the Sahara. And this could be McLanahan’s final battle.

“Brown has the techno thriller down cold.” – USA Today

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Warrior Class(2001)

The world is falling apart, and there are plenty of people willing to take advantage of the fact. One of them is Parvel Kazakov, a Russian oilman with close ties to organized crime and an audacious idea: build a huge pipeline through the Balkans, get the Russian army to back him, and everybody gets rich.

Though NATO will object, the new American president’s emphatic policy of isolationism will guarantee no effective opposition. Russia will dominate Europe. Kazakov will dominate the oil supply.

But he hasn’t reckoned with Patrick McLanahan. The young Air Force general leads a combat mission deep into Russia – until he is put in check by the president himself.

As Kazakov and Russia continue their unrelenting drive towards European hegemony, McLanahan and his team find themselves faced with a dire choice. Which is the greater threat: the dangerous empire in front of them – or the dangerous president at home? Which ever way they choose, there is no turning back…

“Dale Brown is a master at mixing technology and action. He puts readers right into the middle of the inferno.” – Larry Bond

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Battle Born(1999)

Patrick McLanahan has been sent to a B-1B Lancer unit in Nevada to train a new tactical strike unit. He has his pick of the most aggressive personalities in the flying game, yet he knows it may take years to pull his bunch of mavericks together to fight as a team.

But the training days are abruptly over when the fragile peace in Asia is shattered. What was supposed to be a joint U.S.-Japan-South Korea mock bombing raid turns lethal as South Korean fighter-bombers abandon the script and attack key North Korean centers insupport of a massive people’s revolt against the Communist regime. To the world’s surprise, the raids are a complete success. The North Korean military surrenders, the borders are thrown wide open, and the United Republic of Korea is born.

But with its thousands of captured warheads, United Korea is also the world’s newest nuclear power, and it is ready to defy the U.S.and even attack China to preserve its sovereignty. Thus begins a violent conflict that threatens to embroil all of Asia. Enter McLanahan’s raw but audacious team, sent into the fray both to protect United Korea and to stop it…

“When a former pilot turns his hand to thrillers you can take their authenticity for granted. His writing is exceptional and the dialogue, plots, and characters are first-class… far too good to be missed.” —

Sunday Mirror

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The Tin Man(1998)

Patrick McLanahan returns from conflicts abroad to find an undeclared war exploding on the streets of America.

Now retired, McLanahan works for a company developing cutting-edge strategic devices for the armed forces. But when his rookie-cop brother is shot by terrorists, he transforms himself into a high-tech weapon of war.

Protected by a new carbon-filament bodysuit that can instantly harden into stronger-than-steel armor, and armed with almost superhuman powers he can barely control, McLanahan embarks on a personal mission of revenge that will send his life spiraling towards disaster.

“Brown … [brings] life to his characters with a few deft strokes.” – Publishers Weekly

~

Fatal Terrain(1997)

Dale Brown’s spectacular international bestseller – packed with high-action entertainment, cutting-edge technology and breathtaking scenes of aerial combat – looks forward to a near future where Taiwan’s declaration of independence from mainland China bringsa very real threat of major conflict to the Pacific.

As China prepares its military response, the U.S. president attempts to avert an international crisis by calling on his own tried and trusted secret strike force. But soon it becomes horribly apparent that with China and the U.S. moving ever closer to a nuclear showdown, it could be a mission too far for Patrick McLanahan, Brad Elliott, Jon Masters and their high-tech EB-52 Megafortress – the “Old Dog” itself.

“Like the thrillers of Tom Clancy, Stephen Coonts, and Larry Bond, the novels of Dale Brown brim with action, sophisticated weaponry, and political intrigue… ”– San Francisco Chronicle

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Shadows of Steel(1996)

The world is a dangerous place. Hardly a revelation, but for the new U.S. president, nothing drives the fact home more forcefully than the sight of a newly nuclear Iran throwing its weight around the Persian Gulf – while the U.S. stands by uneasily, its military weakened by years of budget cuts and unpopular, inconclusive actions as the world’s de facto police force.

But there is one weapon he can use: the newest secret cell of the CIA, code named Future Flight. Take a group with speed, skill, and audacity, put a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber in its hands, then send it out to find Iran’s key military, industrial, and command centers, and destroy them: quickly, quietly, secretly, untraceably – the ultimate stealth attack.

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Under the command of Patrick McLanahan, the team begins its mission brilliantly – and then all hell breaks loose, as Iran and its allies take their war of intimidation further than anyone dared imagine.

“Dale Brown is a superb storyteller.” – W.E.B. Griffin

~

Sky Masters(1991)

U.S. forces have pulled out of the Philippines. The navy of the People’s Republic of China has laid claim to a long-contested island group and destroyed a Philippine oil platform. Tensions escalate anda volatile skirmish leads to the unthinkable. China launches a tactical nuclear weapon.

The detonation sends tremors through the Pentagon and into the innermost reaches of the White House.

President Lloyd Taylor isforced to respond, but how? React too rashly and a global war could ensue.

Take it too mildly and further strikes against U.S. allies might be encouraged. But China – and a scheming Filipino politician —force the president’s hand.

As for Lieutenant Patrick McLanahan, it is a bitter-sweet chance to fly a new high-tech B2 bomber. The harrowing counter-attack accelerates to an unforgettable and explosive conclusion.

“ Sky Masters is a knockout!” – Clive Cussler

“Graphic aerial combat scenes… another for-sure bestseller.”

– New York Daily News

“Hair-raising, non-stop action an exciting war story.”

– Publishers Weekly

~

Day of the Cheetah(1989)

Once perfected, the aircraft nicknamed “DreamStar” will be America’s new air-superiority fighter and the world’s deadliest combat-ready weapon. It will supplant the advanced “Cheetah,” aheavily modified two-seater F-15E.

But, unknown to the Cheetah’s pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Pat McLanahan – former navigator of the B-52 “Old Dog” – a KGB mole has infiltrated the DreamStar project. When the mole hijacks the superplane, it is up to McLanahan to get the fighter back —despite the overwhelming odds stacked against him.

“Quite a ride… the flying sequences are terrific. Authentic and gripping… [Dale Brown] knows everything about advanced fighter aircraft.”– The New York Times Book Review

“Brown’s action scenes are vivid… a strong contender in the techno thriller sweepstakes.”—

Publishers Weekly

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Flight of the Old Dog(1987)

The unthinkable has happened: the Soviet Union has beaten the West in the technology wars. The U.S.S.R. has developed a killer laser with the capacity to neutralize America’s nuclear arsenal.

In a desperate countermeasure, the U.S. activates the one bomber in its fleet capable of taking out the laser installation before it is too late: “Old Dog Zero One,” a battle-scarred veteran B-52, stripped of its antiquated hardware and rearmed with the latest state-of-the– art weaponry.

The bomber and its crew will have to challenge wave upon wave of surface-to-air missiles and swarms of deadly MiG fighters.

Flight of the Old Dog put a new name on the technothriller map: Dale Brown.

“ Flight of the Old Dog is a gripping thriller about the world of high-tech military aviation that few are privileged to enter. Dale Brownkept me glued to the chair, turning the pages as the aerial battle rose to a shattering climax; a terrific flying yarn.” – Stephen Coonts

“Superbly crafted adventure… remarkable skill… Exciting!”– The Washington Post

“Far too good to be missed.” – Sunday Mirror

“A sizzling thriller that becomes more and more tense as it progresses – great stuff!” – Liverpool Daily Post

~

Night of the Hawk(1992)

In Dale Brown’s classic bestseller Flight of the Old Dog, millions of readers were gripped by the adventures of the crew of a high-tech B-52 bomber, the “Old Dog.” At the end of that terrifying mission, one of its members, Lt. David Luger, was left for dead on a frozen Siberian airfield. What became of him? A U.S. rescue team, including “Old Dog” crewmembers, is determined to find out.

Meanwhile, in a secret research facility in Lithuania, the Soviets have developed their first stealth bomber, the “Tuman” – is David Luger somehow connected?

Then, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the officer in charge of Tuman refuses to scrap his prize project – and has his eyes set on the reoccupation of Lithuania.

The “Old Dog” team is trapped inside the Tuman research compound as the crisis threatens to explode into full-scale war. While the president weighs his options, the “Old Dog” vets must devise afew plans of their own…

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“This blockbuster demonstrates the exciting possibilities open to the technothriller in a post-Soviet world… a dramatic high-tech adventure.” – Publishers Weekly

~

Storming Heaven(1994)

The U.S. is under siege. With chilling ruthlessness terrorist Henri Cazaux has demonstrated the vulnerability of the country’s air defenses by using large commercial aircraft to drop bombs on major airports. When he hits San Francisco Airport the destruction of life and property is enormous, and a national panic ensues.

Only one man can end the chaos: Rear Admiral Ian Hardcastle. Charged by the president with re-establishing security in the skies, Hardcastle must take drastic action to control the emergency – and quickly. But then Cazaux sets his sights on the biggest target of all: the nation’s capital.

“Aviation ace Dale Brown has firmly established his high-tech credentials in seven bestselling aviation thrillers – his new, edge-of-the-cockpit novel should rocket him out to the Van Allen belt.” – New York Daily News

“Cazaux is a fascinating monster; Storming Heaven will be an explosive success.” – Booklist

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Chains of Command(1993)

Radar navigator Daren Mace has been to the gates of hell and back. In Operation Desert Storm he rightfully aborted a secret mission, only to be ostracized by the flying community as a result. Now Mace has a new role – in the Air Force Reserves at a New York airbase, where he meets Rebecca Furness, the first U.S. woman combat pilot. Known as the “Iron Maiden,” Furness is unlike any other aviator Mace has ever known: she’s of course tough and an ace flier– but she’s also beautiful.

When, halfway around the world, a border skirmish involving Russia, Ukraine, and Moldova leads to the deployment of low-yield nuclear devices, the new U.S. president faces his biggest challenge yet. He puts the country on full wartime readiness footing for the first time since 1991 and sends an air combat force to Ukraine, just as the Russian president is making his own power plays.

Suddenly Mace, Furness, and the rest of their unit are hurtled into a dispute that goes beyond Ukrainian borders – a crisis that couldlead to the horrors of all-out nuclear conflict.

“The action is, as you expect from Brown, great.” – Kirkus Reviews

~

Hammerheads(1990)

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For the U.S. government it’s a losing battle. Drug smugglers no longer shy from confrontation– they relish it: blowing Coast Guard jets out of the sky and sinking Coast Guard cutters with powerful bazookas.

While the drug lords have become a coordinated force of devastating ruthlessness, the U.S. anti-drug agents are a squabbling shambles. A radical solution is needed. And Rear Admiral Ian Hardcastle has just that to offer. He will lead an elite and fearless unit (known affectionately in the business as Hammerheads) armed with the latest equipment and deadliest weaponry. Their sole aim is to hit the smugglers. And hit them hard.

“Clancy’s got serious company.” – New York Daily News

“A reader’s delight from first page to last…” – Publishers Weekly

~

Silver Tower(1988)

The Silver Tower is America’s first permanent space station. Its primary function is to conduct experiments on space-based lasers for America’s defense against intercontinental ballistic missiles. But on earth, far below the Silver Tower, tensions between the Soviet Union and United States are reaching a breaking point.

From Turkey, the U.S. Rapid Deployment Forces mobilizes to stop a Russian invasion of Iran with bombing raids from F/A 16D fighter-bombers. But the Soviets go on the offensive and launch intermediate-range nuclear missiles. What follows is a dramatic, all-too-plausible chain of events leading towards the first nuclear war in space…

“Brown knows whereof he writes… a superb storyteller.”– The Washington Post

“Intriguing… tense high-tech dogfights.”– Publishers Weekly

~

Dale Brown’s Dreamland(2001)

Dale Brown and Jim DeFelice

Hidden in the Nevada desert is America’s most advanced aerospace-weapons testing facility.

Dreamland is the place where the nation’s top minds come to develop artillery and aircraft that push beyond the cutting edge. And where the Air Force’s top guns come to test them – on the front lines of a new era in warfare…

The fiasco of a spy’s infiltration has the Pentagon looking for an excuse to close down Dreamland. To clean up the mess – and save Dreamland from the congressional chopping block – Lt. Colonel Tecumseh “Dog” Bastian is sent in. He’s just the guy to shake things up … and he does so when a Page 257

situation erupts in Somalia.

Into a hotter-than-hot war zone, he sends his own daughter, Captain Breanna Bastian Stockard. She pilots a Megafortress bomber – equipped with a high-tech, unmanned flight system that could make or break the future of Dreamland…

“He writes about weapons beyond a mere mortal’s imagination.”– Tulsa World

~

Dale Brown’s Dreamland: Nerve Center(2002)

Dale Brown and Jim DeFelice

Dreamland’s latest project is Flighthawk – an unmanned aerial-attacking craft. A radical, high-risk method has been invented to help pilots master the complex remote-flying skills required to control Flighthawk: the implantation, in the pilot’s skull, of a microchip linked to the deadly machine.

Initially all goes well for the first volunteer, Army Captain Kevin Madrone. But the psychological stress proves too much – and suddenly Madrone disappears, armed with and a part of one of the most powerful weapons in the world…

“Nobody … does it better than Brown.”– Kirkus Reviews

~

Dale Brown’s Dreamland: Razor’s Edge(2002)

Dale Brown and Jim DeFelice

The weapon is codenamed “Razor” – the brainchild of the brilliant minds at Dreamland. It is a mobile chemical laser system with a range of 600 kilometers. It is capable of downing anything that flies.

The destruction of an American aircraft over northern Iraq suggests the inexplicable and unthinkable: a vengeful foe now possesses this lethal technology. It is fear that draws a retired warrior back to the battlefield, and sends Dreamland’s best pilots to the skies to determine what the enemy has and to help take it away from him.

But politics threatens to crush a covert engagement that must be won in the air and on the ground, unleashing a devastating rain offriendly fire that could ultimately annihilate a nation’s champions … and perhaps Dreamland itself.

“The talk makes Brown’s novels authentic. What makes them riveting is the rapid pace and headline urgency of his plots.”– San Francisco Chronicle

“DEATH OF THE DOGFIGHT”:

AN INTERVIEW WITH DALE BROWN

Page 258

Interviewer: You began your first novel, Flight of the Old Dog, while you were still serving in the U.S.

Air Force. What did your colleagues think of this?

Dale Brown: I never really told anybody what I was doing. Most of them thought I was just playing computer games. The others thought I was wasting my time. I enjoyed proving them wrong!

Interviewer: To what degree do you plan your novels before starting to write?

Dale Brown: Probably not as much as I should. When I get an idea, I research it, and if I get some exciting info or background, I’ll write a short outline for my editor, tweak it a little, then get busy.

Interviewer: Is there such a thing as a typical writing day for you? If so, what form does it take?

Dale Brown: Most days start at nine a.m. and go to four p.m., then restart at nine p.m. and go to eleven p.m. I usually rewrite in the morning and write new scenes in the afternoon and evenings. But every day is different. Some days the scenes flow like water —the next day it’s as dry as a desert. But the important thing is tobe in the seat with the computer on, ready to go.

Interviewer: Dreamland is the first novel in a new series you’re co-writing with Jim DeFelice. Can you give us an idea of how the writing process works?

Dale Brown: It should be bylined “Jim DeFelice with Dale Brown,” by the way. I invented the basic backdrop of the“Dreamland” series – the time, place, circumstances. I help devel– op the plot and the characters, and I review the manuscript. Jim does everything else. He’s an incredibly talented writer and we work well together.

Interviewer: As well as describing the development of the weapons and their use in combat, Dreamland also details the crucial political background to the military action. Which part do you prefer writing?

Dale Brown: I prefer describing weapons and technology by far. But the fighting is actually just a tiny fraction of the conflict. The political/diplomatic stuff is not as exciting sometimes, but it’s every bit as important to the story.

Interviewer: Dreamland’ s characters – “Dog” Bastian; his daughter, Bree Stockard; her husband,

“Zen”; Mack “Knife” Smith – all face different challenges and all have different goals in mind at the beginning of the novel. To what extent are they based on real people?

Dale Brown: We all know characters like these – the hot dogs, the dedicated ones, the smart ones, the obsessed ones. So all of mycharacters are based on folks I know. But it’s also true that the characters take on a life of their own. Jim DeFelice and I talk about the characters as if they’re real persons: “Bree wouldn’t do that”; “Mack would say this.”

Interviewer: The novel depicts certain rivalries among those on the ground and those who take to the air. It’s the latter groupwho get the glory, yes?

Dale Brown: No one likes to admit it, because it doesn’t fit in with the “whole force” politically-correct concept, but the pilot is and will always be king of the U.S. Air Force. Only seventeen percent of USAF

personnel are pilots, but they make up most of the unit commanders. Even if in ten to fifteen years most USAF combat aircraft will be unmanned, the pilot will still be king.

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Interviewer: Life in a secret establishment such as Dreamland – or even on a “normal” military base

– must be hard enough without the staff having relationships. In your experience, do these relationships lead to difficult situations?

Dale Brown: All the time – that’s why we authors put them in our stories! We are always looking for conflict. It’s another complication in wartime.

Interviewer: Since the end of the Cold War, threats to “our way of life” are not so neatly geographically placed. Nor, aside from Saddam Hussein and various terrorist groups, is it clear where we should place our military priorities.

Dale Brown: There are plenty of bad guys out there – but it sometimes takes more background to explain why they are the bad guys. Fifteen years ago, everyone understood why we were fighting the Soviets. But if you set a war story in Ukraine or Lithuania or the Philippines, you need to take some time and explain why we’re fighting there.

Interviewer: What effect has the advent of improved technology had on the art of being a fighter pilot?

Dale Brown: It has changed it completely. The “dogfight” – two pilots, two planes – is all but dead.

Life and death takes placein split-second battles that happen across dozens of miles, usually without either adversary ever seeing the other. Pilots are more systems operators than fliers nowadays. Sooner than most folks think, our fighters won’t even have pilots in them!

This interview was first published, in a slightly different form, at www.fireandwater.com, the website of HarperCollins UK.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

DALE BROWNis the author of multiple New York Times bestsellers including Flight of the Old Dog and Wings of Fire. He also created the Dreamland series, co-authored by Jim DeFelice. A former U.S.

Air Force bombardier, Dale Brown is an instrument-rated private pilot and can often be found flying his own plane across the United States. He lives near Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

JIM DEFELICE’s technothrillers include Brother’s Keeper(2000) and Havana Strike(1997). Jim has also written more than a dozen works of fiction and nonfiction for young people. He lives with his wife and son in upstate New York, and can be contacted by email at [email protected].

Also in the Dreamland Series

DALEBROWN’SDREAMLAND

(with Jim DeFelice)

DALEBROWN’SDREAMLAND:NERVECENTER

(with Jim DeFelice)

DALEBROWN’SDREAMLAND:RAZOR’SEDGE

(with Jim DeFelice)

Page 260

DALEBROWN’SDREAMLAND:PIRANHA

(with Jim DeFelice)

Titles by Dale Brown

WINGS OFFIRE

WARRIORCLASS

BATTLEBORN

THETINMAN

FATALTERRAIN

SHADOWS OFSTEEL

STORMINGHEAVEN

CHAINS OFCOMMAND

NIGHT OF THEHAWK

SKYMASTERS

HAMMERHEADS

DAY OF THECHEETAH

SILVERTOWER

FLIGHT OF THEOLDDOG

RAVES FOR THE NOVELS OF NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR

DALE BROWN

“The best military writer in the country today.”

Clive Cussler

“Brown puts us in the cockpits of wonderful machines and gives us quite a ride… . [His] flying sequences are terrific. Authentic and gripping, they will have you breathing a bit heavily.”

New York Times Book Review

“Dale Brown has an uncanny talent for putting his millions of fans into the middle of his action stories…

. His knowledge of world politics and possible military alliances is stunning… . He writes about weapons Page 261

beyond a mere mortal’s imagination.”

Tulsa World

“One of the premier writers [of] techno-thrillers.”

Virginian-Pilot

“Brown [writes] consistent page-turners.”