476 DALE BROWN

"Sandino Tower, I say again; I am in pursuit of a criminal piloting an American aircraft. He is a danger to you as well as to the United States. I request assistance in pursuing this aircraft. I am not hostile to Nicaragua. Please assist. Over."

"It's not going to work," Preston said. "They're just trian-gulating our position. We've got to get out of here, head back across the Honduran border-"

"Storm Zero TWo, this is Sandino Tower. Please stay on this frequency for important message. Acknowledge."

He did not reply. A message flashed on his windscreen, warning him that a search radar was in the vicinity. From the rear seat Preston said, "We're getting close to Managua's search radar. "

"Storm Zero Two, contact the man on frequency one-three-one point one-five VHF. Important. Sandino Tower out."

He began a left turn away from Managua and changed channels. Preston asked, "Are you going to talk on that frequency?

It could be a military ground-controlled interceptor's direction-finder. They could pin-point our location as soon as you key the mike without using radar."

" Maybe. But I don't think so." He hit the mike button. "This is Storm Zero Two on one-three-one point one-five. Over."

"Storm Two, this is General-Lieutenant Viktor Tcharin, Deputy Commander of Operations for Soviet Central America Operations Base Sebaco. Whom am I addressing?"

"It's a damned Soviet general," Preston said. "What the hell does he want?"

Patrick keyed the mike. "General Tcharin, this is Lieutenant Colonel Patrick McLanahan, United States Air Force. State your request. Over. "

"McLanahan . . . McLanahan . Then, sounding as if he was reading from a script, went on: 'Senior project officer, Midnight Sky. Code name for XF-34 DreamStar advanced tactical fighter aircraft flight technology validation project. Age forty-one, white male.' Ochin kharasho. Very good. Colonel McLanahan, I believe we want very nearly the same thing. You want the XF-34. We want Colonel Andrei Maraklov. Perhaps we can make an arrangement-"

"I want Maraklov and the XF-34, General. Do you know where Maraklov is headed?"

"We have evidence to that effect, yes," Tcharin told him.

DAY OF THE CHEETAH 477

"We believe we have tracked his course on radar. But we do not have the air assets to pursue him. You reported to the Nicaraguan tower controller that you are in command of a fighter plane. Is it your intention to attack Colonel Maraklov?"

"Yes. I I

"We have information that may be of use to you. In exchange for this information we want you to deliver Colonel Maraklov to us, should he survive. Is that agreeable to you, Colonel McLanahan?"

"I'm not making any deals," McLanahan told him. "I don't trust you any more than I trust Maraklov. But if you tell me where he went, and if he survives, I promise not to kill him myself. What happens to him after that is up to our governments.

How about that?"

A pause, then: "I agree. Colonel Maraklov had received instructions" . . . he did not say from whom . . . "to fly the aircraft south, to an isolated landing strip somewhere in Costa Rica. He was detected flying forty nautical miles west of Bluefields in southern Nicaragua about ten minutes ago, We have no other information. He was at twenty thousand feet, flying at five hundred nautical miles per hour."

"Copy that down for me, Marcia," McLanahan said. On the radio: "How do I know you're telling the truth? He could be flying north to Cuba, or east. He could even be on the ground in Managua or Sebaco. "

"You contacted us for assistance and I have given it to you.

If you do not trust us, your request makes no sense."

"Why can't you get Maraklov by yourself? Isn't he delivering the XF-34 to you?"

"It's not clear what orders Colonel Maraklov has chosen to follow. Our last orders, from the Kollegiya, were to turn over the XF-34 to you at Puerto Cabezas. Why he took the aircraft, I do not know. We want to question him about that matter, as well as the killing of two Soviet officers and two soldiers. My orders are to capture Colonel Maraklov for questioning, but I have no resources to do it. That is where you can help . . . "

If this Soviet general was lying, every mile he flew south could be two miles that Maraklov was increasing the distance on his way to Cuba or someplace to the east. Yet he had no other possible options.

"Marcia?"