"Hold out your arm," he ordered.

Breanna did so. The cuff felt hard against her bicep. She tried to relax. The doctor took the reading, frowned again, then let the pressure off.

"Well?" she asked.

"It's all right."

"How all right?"

"Diastolic, seventy. Systolic 115."

"That's 115 over seventy, right?"

"Yes."

"Which is normal."

It was actually the highest Breanna could remember her blood pressure being, but it was in fact well within the normal range. The doctor had no alternative but to declare her fit for duty-active duty, active flying, back in the air.

Back! Back! Back!

But not quite.

"You need General Samson's approval," he said.

"What?"

"Procedure. The wing commander has to sign off. The wing commander hasn't arrived, so you have to go to General Samson."

"You don't want me to fly, do you?" she said.

"I think you need more rest, yes," he said. "And I'd urge you to take a couple of weeks off."

"I don't want to take time off."

"Why the h.e.l.l not?"

"Because I don't."

"You're being stubborn."

"Where does that fit on your medical chart?"

The doctor shook his head. "The truth is, I can't hold you back. I know, and you know, that if you'd taken this same test a couple of months back, you wouldn't have been huffing at the end. I also know you did a lot better on it than probably half of our pilots. Physically, you've definitely recovered from your ordeal. I should write a paper on your recovery." He smiled, trying to soften his sarcasm. "But..."

He took out his stethoscope and twirled it around his hand.

"But what?" asked Breanna.

"That coma bothers me."

"You call it a coma. I was just tired and asleep. My body had to heal."

"Listen, Breanna. I haven't known you that long. I know you're driven. I appreciate that. And you've achieved a h.e.l.l of a lot. I know it must have been twice as hard for you because you're a woman. But really, you should take it easier. Slower. If you were Jeff-"

"What would you tell Zen?"

"I'd tell him to slow down, too," said the doctor. "Listen, if you do get approval from the general, would you please try to take it easy? Just a little?"

Breanna threw her arms around him joyfully.

"I will," she said. "Now do you have papers for him or what?"

Dreamland

1103.

AS A RULE, GENERAL SAMSON DIDN'T LIKE MARINES. THEY tended to be too full of themselves for his taste. But Marty "Sleek Top" Siechert was a retired Marine, and while the Marines had a saying that there was no such thing as an ex-Marine, Samson considered that his separation from the service and the intervening years-Sleek Top was close to fifty-had sanded some of the edges off.

Colonel Denton's decision not to take the spot as wing commander under him-a career killing move if ever there was one-forced Samson to make some compromises. Naming a retired Marine pilot head of the B-1B/L program was one of them. But he wanted to move the colonel he'd tapped for the B-1L/B project over to wing commander, and, just as important, he needed the B-1s ready to hit the flight line yesterday.

"Heading the program is a big responsibility, General," said Sleek Top as they finished a walk around Boomer. "And I was under the impression that you wanted all active military heading programs."

"You are military," said Samson.

"I'm retired, sir."

"A bit young to be hanging up the saddle."

"I meant, I'm a civilian, General."

"Yes, yes, I know that," said Samson. "I've considered it.

But you're my man. The B-1s-we need them operational. The Pentagon is pushing for a demonstration very soon. Congress is very keen on this, and the President himself likes the aircraft. It will be a good spotlight for your future career."

"There's nothing really holding them back," said Sleek Top. "The basic air frame has been tested and retested. They're not that much different than the standard B-1Bs in terms of overall systems. The laser, of course, and the engines are more powerful, but the core of the computer system was adapted from the Megafortress, and we know that works. All that's necessary is to complete the testing cycle."

"Then get moving."

"General, that's not quite as easy as it sounds. For one thing-"

"How did Bastian get the EB-52s operational?" said Samson.

Sleek Top laughed.

"What's so funny?"

Sleek Top shook his head. He looked as if he had a goldfish in his mouth and it was tickling his tongue.

"Out with it, Marine," demanded Samson.

"Well, Colonel Bastian-" Sleek Top interrupted himself to chuckle. "Colonel Bastian made a habit of putting the weapons right into the mix, officially approved or not. His whole theory was that the real tests didn't happen until they were on the battlefield anyway, so he'd send the geek squad out with the planes, get everything in motion. Sometimes it blew up in his face, of course, but mostly it worked. Then when the Pentagon came around asking questions, he'd roll out the results. Had them eating out of his-"

"How close is close?"

"Excuse me?"

"The B-1s. What would happen if they went into combat?"

"Well, uh-"

"If Colonel Bastian were here and he suggested it, what would you say?"

"I'd say..." Sleek Top thought about it for a moment. "I'd say that if you had enough pilots, there'd be no problem. But I'm the only pilot regularly a.s.signed and-"

"Get the planes ready. I'll find the pilots."

"General, you just found one," said Breanna Stockard.

Samson turned around and saw Breanna standing behind him, a broad grin on her face. She'd been listening to most of the discussion.

"Captain, good morning."

"General, I need you to approve my flight fitness report, sir. I'm ready to get back in the air."

"You think that's a good idea so soon?" asked Sleek Top. "You were in some pretty heavy action."

"I'm ready. I just pa.s.sed a stress test."

Breanna handed Samson a folder with her medical report. The general opened it and took a quick glance. At the top of the page-excellent health.

There were typed comments at the bottom: "Although Breanna Stockard is physically in top shape and appears to have recovered from her ordeal off the Indian coast, I would still recommend that she take a few weeks off..."

Doctors, thought Samson. Always finding excuses for people not to do things.

He looked up from the folder. Breanna was a good-looking woman-not that he would let himself be influenced by that. But she was definitely in good shape, and her record spoke for itself. The after-action reports, even though they'd been written in terse, matter-of-fact prose, read like war novels.

Of course, she was also Colonel Bastian's daughter. But you couldn't hold the sins of the fathers against the offspring.

"You're in good shape?" he asked.

"Sir, I'm ready to kick b.u.t.t. Can I fly?"

"d.a.m.n straight you can fly." Samson shut the folder abruptly. "Get this over to my office, get it signed off by the chief of staff. I'm looking for big things out of you, Captain."

Tears were br.i.m.m.i.n.g in Breanna's eyes. That was the one thing about women that Samson couldn't entirely handle-they got emotional at the drop of a hat.

"Carry on," he told her, and spun away.

Bucharest, Romania 27 January 1998 0900 STONER WOKE TO THE SMELL OF COFFEE. HE JERKED OUT of bed, grabbed his watch. He'd slept for nearly ten hours. He hadn't been out that long in ages.

He pulled on his clothes and went to the kitchen. Sorina Viorica was there, cooking something in a frying pan. She'd taken a shower or a bath while he was sleeping; the scent of her soap filled the room.

She'd done something else, as well-dyed her hair jet black.

"h.e.l.lo there," she said.

"You did your hair."

"Black, yes. The color of an outcast."

He went to her, not knowing what to expect, either of himself or her. She folded her body to his willingly; his complied without hesitation.

"We have a lot to do," he said.

"Yes, but first we should eat," she said. "I bought some eggs."

Iasi Airfield, Romania

1305.

"HEY, COLONEL, ANOTHER MESSAGE INCOMING," YELLED Sergeant Lee "Nurse" Liu, who was handling the communications desk at the back end of the Dreamland Command trailer.

Dog sighed and turned back around. He'd been hoping to take a nap before the night's sortie, but one thing or another had interrupted him since returning from the Romanian command meeting.

"It's a private phone call, Colonel," said Liu, rising.

"Phone call? From the States?"

"No, sir. Sat phone. Encrypted too."

Dog sat down at the terminal and put on a headset while Liu slipped discreetly to the front of the trailer.