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.too near this Coast Guard patrol area.Shakira was tireless.Thorough, intelligent, and cautious.But still tireless.Grand strategy was not her game.It was the minutiae that absorbed her.And long ago, Ravi had considered that minutiae might keep them safe from discovery and attack.She had no personal ambition to be seen as brilliant.Indeed, she checked with her beloved Ravi every step of the way.Shakira's ambition was to help produce a perfectly executed operation, eliminating mistakes, catching miscalculations, listing snags, drawbacks, and dangers.Ravi had never met a better executive working in a confined area like maps and missiles.And during that long Thursday evening he watched her, working with the Missile Director, the two of them checking the distances, the flight trajectories, and courses.And he thanked God for the long weeks his missile team had spent in Petropavlovsk, mastering the big cruises that would now strike a blow for Allah deep in the heart of the Great Satan's Power base.Even if all failed, and they should be caught and eliminated by the U.S.Navy, nothing could now prevent the strike.The power grid of the West Coast of the United States was at their mercy.At ten o'clock that evening, Ravi ordered the Barracuda to alter course to ninety degrees, to face east, toward Mecca, across the great frozen prairies of Canada to the Atlantic.And then he took the ship's broadcast system and asked every man to spend a few moments in prayer.Those who could, knelt in the Muslim fashion.He reminded them their immediate actions may bring about the coming turmoil, and that they would hear the Angels sound the trumpet three times.And that when God read the Angel's reports, the righteous would cross the bridge, into Paradise.And that surely all of His children now dwelling in this great weapon, built to carry out Allah's will, would be among the righteous."I have turned my face," said Ravi, "only toward the Supreme Being who has created the skies and the earth, and I am not one of those who ascribes a partner to God.To you be glory, and with this praise I begin this prayer.Yours is the most auspicious name.You are exalted and none other than you is worthy of worship."He prayed for guidance in their great adventure and he ended with these lines from the Koran.from thee alone do we ask help.Guide us on the straight path, The path of those upon whom is thy favor.Light upon light, God guides whom He will, to His light.At which point he ordered the ship back around to the west, and he summoned the Missile Director to the control room, checking one last time the prefiring routines and settings.The program was immaculate.Only missile malfunction or unexpected enemy action could stop them now.The big RADUGAs, the guidance programs preset, were ready to go, straight along the route Shakira Rashood had masterminded.At eleven o'clock, Ravi gave the order."STAND BY TUBES ONE TO EIGHT."Then, seconds later.'TUBE ONE LAUNCH!"The first of the opening salvo of four nine-foot-long steel guided missiles blew out of the launcher, arrowed up to the surface, and ripped out of the water as its engine ignited.It roared upward into the black night sky, with a fiery trail crackling out behind it.At 200 meters above the surface, its cruise altitude, the missile adjusted course to 290 degrees and hit flying speed of 600 knots.The gas turbines cut in, eliminating the telltale trail in the sky.And the RADUGA was on its way.Right behind it, the second one was in the launch process, out of the tube and on its way to the surface.The third was only seconds from ignition, and the fourth was already under the control of the launch sequencer.There would be variations in each of the four designated indirect routes to Valdez, but they would arrive on target twenty seconds apart, no matter what.And now they fanned out, streaking above the night waves of the Gulf of Alaska, growling surprisingly softly as they sliced through the wind and scattered low clouds.The initial 860 miles took the salvo ninety minutes, and it took them more than 200 miles past the natural right turn up into Prince William Sound on longitude 146.20' W.It also took them far south of the U.S.Navy radar that sweeps the Sound night and day.It took them to a point high above St.Augustine's Island at the gateway to the Cook Inlet, which leads up to Anchorage.At the island, the missiles made a sharp adjustment, swerving right onto a northerly course of thirty-five degrees, straight up the wide Inlet, and then over the Alaskan mainland for 375 miles.Shakira had programmed a complete about-face at this point.And the missiles now made a 150-degree turn to the south, hurtling still at Mach 0.7 toward Valdez from a direction no one could reasonably predict.1:15 a.m., Friday, February 29, 2008On the Glenn Highway, Central AlaskaHarry Roberts, and his hunting buddy, Cal Foster, ought not to have been driving.It was pitch black, the lights on their old truck had seen brighter days, and they had drunk about nine pints of Alaska Ambler apiece.Both of them were twenty-one, the legal drinking age in the state with the highest level of alcoholism in the country.Fortunately, the highway was just about deserted at this time of night, which left Harry to execute a few free swerves and steering corrections without actually killing anyone [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]