Uqba ben Nafi, 0345 GMT (0445 Local)

Senior Lieutenant Kim Dong-Hoon of the North Korean People’s Air Force sat in the cramped cockpit of his Mirage 5, parked in a large revetment off the taxiway at the southern end of runway 03/21. His wingman, Lt. Choi Kuen-Buk, was parked next to him. They had been driven down to the aircraft at 4:00 a.m., relieving two other North Korean officers, and would sit here until relieved at 8:00 a.m., turning up the engines once an hour.

Senior Lieutenant Kim was bored, but happy. He was eating kimchee from a plastic cup. His sister had sent it to him from Pyongyang, and he savored each pungent, crisp bite. His sister’s letter had said the young cabbage had been harvested from their family’s tiny garden two years ago, packed with others in an earthen jar, along with vinegar, red pepper, spices, and garlic, then buried in the garden, to be dug up the following summer.

Kim liked especially to eat kimchee in his aircraft, because the fragrance of the garlic and spices hung around him in the tiny space, and could be savored over and over. He smiled when he thought of the strutting Cuban captain who would relieve him in the morning, and how he would curse and bellow about the “stink” in the cockpit. Kim had decided he liked Cubans even less than Russians.

Kim glanced across at Choi’s aircraft. His wingman’s head was back, and he appeared to be asleep. The two Libyans manning the auxiliary power cart between the two aircraft were certainly asleep, stretched out on the tarmac.

Kim was happy at the thought of getting in some real flying, even though his commander had warned that flying a missile attack against the American Sixth Fleet had to be viewed as a high-risk mission. Kim was primarily a fighter pilot, but he had volunteered to stay behind when the rest of the aircraft had been flown out two days before, because he loved to fly the sleek, dart-shaped, elegant French aircraft. The Mirage felt so much lighter and more responsive to his touch than the heavier Soviet machines he was used to, and it could accelerate beyond Mach 2 at high altitude, or race along on the deck at 750 knots, as long as its pilot had the skill and the nerves. The Mirages had been modified by Russian technicians to carry the Soviet AS-7 antiship missile and its electronics package, originally designed for the Russian Yak-36 Forger aircraft.

Kim swallowed a tiny, well-chewed bite of his sister’s kimchee and burped, filling the cockpit with the aroma of garlic. He stretched his cramped muscles and thought about guiding his missile into a great, fat aircraft carrier.