as rapidly as they had ascended, they descended with equal speed, entering air corridors chosen for their minimum populations, and that would lead them to the fields where their tail hooks would lash out and down, snaring the heavy steel cables that would pull the massive Messerschmitt ME 323 gliders aloft.
There was one final command that each flight leader was prepared to issue when deceleration was complete. He would give it over a determined radio frequency to each glider, his signal to deliver it being a red light on his computerized panel. It would come in one minute and seven seconds, give or take seconds, due to airspeeds and head winds or tailwinds. Everything now was sheer distance.
Beauvais. Zero hour minus four minutes. Drew stared out the huge window overlooking the reservoir, while Karin sat at the desk with the major on a second red telephone, both linked to London and Washington. The two commandos stood with the general behind the radar specialist and his screen.
Suddenly Latham turned from the window and spoke in a loud voice.
"Lieutenant, what did you say about that Daedalus's wings?"
"They were made of feathers-"
"Yes, I know, but after that, something about the feathers? What was it?"
"Just feathers, sir. Some people-mostly poets-liken their density to air, the way they kind of float in the wind, born to the air, as it were, which is why they're on birds."
"And birds swoop down silently, it's how the predators catch their quarry."
"What are you talking about, Drew?" asked De Vries, the red phone still at her ear, as was the major's. He looked up at the Cons-Op officer.
"They glide, Karin, they glide!"
"So, monsieur?"
"Gliders, goddammit! That may be it! They're using gliders!"
"They would have to be extremely large," said the general, "or dozens of them, perhaps more, far more."
"And they would have been picked up by the radar, monsieur," added the major.
"Especially the airborne radar."
"They were, in the photographs! Those two aircraft for Saudi Arabia-how many times have end-user clearances been manipulated? But they wouldn't be picked up by your heat-seeking missiles. There are no engines, no beat! Probably very little metal either."
"Mon Dieu!" exclaimed the general, his eyes wide, intense, as if sudden memories consumed him.
"Gliders! The Germans were the experts, the final authority. In the early forties they developed the prototype for all the cargo gliders the world over, far more advanced than the British Airspeed-Horsing or the American WA COs Actually, we all stole their designs. The Messerschmitt factories turned out the Gigant, a huge bird from hell that could silently float over borders and battlefield, delivering its deadly merchandise."
"Could there be any left, mon pre? asked the major.
"Why not? All of us, on both sides, have kept our fleets -sea and air-in 'mothballs," as the Americans say."
"Could they be made operational after so many years?" pressed Karin.
"The enemy notwithstanding," answered the old soldier, "the Messersehmitt companies built for the ages. Undoubtedly, certain equipment would have to be replaced or upgraded, but again, why not?"
"Still, they would appear on the screen," insisted the' radar specialist. "But how strong? How strong an image would you get on that screen of yours with a flying object that has little or no metal, no motors, the struts made of replaced bamboo, maybe, which in the Far East they use for scaffolds they claim it's stronger and safer than steel."
"My English is adequate, sir, but you speak so rapidement-"
"Someone tell him what I just said, just asked."
The major did so, and the radar specialist replied, never taking his eyes off the screen.
"It would be less strong than that of a conventional aircraft, that is true."
"I mean, even clouds can produce some image, can't they?"
"Yes, but one can tell the difference."
"And people who own boats carry radar reflectors on board in case they get in trouble and want the radars to pick them up."
"Again, quite normal."
"So radar is basically interpretive, isn't it?"
"As are medical X rays. One doctor will see one thing, another something else. Then there are experts, and I am one of them with radar, monsieur."
"Good for you. Could you possibly be distracted?"
"By what? You become insulting, if I am permitted to say so."
"You're permitted, and, honestly, I don't mean to insult you-"
"Wait!" said Karin, searching her pockets feverishly, finally yanking out a torn piece of paper.
"This was in a carton from, I think, Jdger's outer living room. I kept it because I didn't understand it, it was only a partial sentence. It has just two words in German, "Aircraft