"We copy you," General Sokolov replied. "Can you confirm the kill?"
"The target is outside my radar and IR," he said, wishing he had some of the new American over-the-horizon electronics he'd heard about. "But both missiles reported impact. I've ordered the wing to chop power and return to base. We're already on auxiliary tanks as it is."
"Roger," came the voice from Flight Control in Hokkaido.
"We downed her, Comrade General. Whatever she was, there's no way she could have survived those AA-9s. The target is destroyed."
Chapter Twenty-one
Tanzan Mino closed his eyes and sighed. The financial portions of the protocol would still stand on their own; the arrangement could be salvaged somehow; it would merely require finesse.
The shocked faces of the Soviet brass standing behind him told of their dismay. Daedalus, the most marvelous vehicle ever created, had literally been within their grasp, and now . . . both prototypes destroyed.