47

Lieutenant Molly Brooks listened to Captain Ralph Loring as he said, “Kill chain, kill chain, kill chain.”

There was silence, and then he repeated, “I confirm kill chain is a go, and we are one minute out from target at Olduvai Gorge.”

Loring looked at her, and she nodded as if to anticipate his question. She was ready. There were fifteen JDAM precision-guided bombs ready to revolve through the bomb rack assembly and fly to designated targets. Five were to bomb a grid coordinate where a helicopter had recently landed. The satellite monitoring had shown that a small helicopter had landed in the area and then departed. And then about two hours later, another helicopter had landed in the same proximity. Five other bombs were programmed to attack a small grouping of individuals who were presently being monitored at the Olduvai Gorge. The remaining five were intended to fly to a plane crash location and destroy all evidence that a man named Crazy had ever flown a Sherpa into the Serengeti.

“Okay, here we go, Molly,” Loring said. “Execute.”

Molly closed her eyes and lifted the red safety sleeve that prevented premature release of weapons. She said a quick prayer to spare her from the wrath of the military justice system for what she had done when Loring was asleep. Her slim finger pushed the “release” button, and she knew intuitively that the rack was spinning hard and whipping JDAM bombs into the Tanzanian night sky. She could visualize their fins popping open and guiding their descent to their intended targets.

A devout Christian, Molly clasped her hands together and said a prayer.

Lord, please forgive me .

Loring pressed a red button he had purchased from Staples and put on the cockpit console.

“That was easy.”