"I copy," Nichols said into his mike. "When did the chopper lift off?"
"The AWACS picked it up at . . . just after 0730 hours," came the voice
from the Kennedy. It was General Max Austin. "The bastards are bugging
out."
"So what do we do now? Try and intercept them?"
"We're taking care of that from here. Fixed-wing. First, though, we've
got to figure out if there really are hostages aboard, like they claim.
But don't worry about it. There's nowhere they can hide. Your mission
is still the same. Secure the facility. There could still be some of
them left, so just interdict anything that tries to egress."
"That's a confirm. If it moves, it fucking dies."