ABOARD SF COMMAND TRANSPORT 3, OVER THE PERSIAN GULF
Corrine listened as Gray explained the abilities of the reconnaissance satellites, veering from the overly simplistic to the overly technical and back again. The bottom line itself was simple—it could take days to actually find the wreckage of the downed 747.
Assuming they had gotten it.
“Let’s assume we didn’t get it,” Corrine told Gray. “Where can it go?”
“Well, 747 range would be something over seven thousand miles,” said Major Gray. “Maybe even a bit more, depending on the version, how it was loaded, flight conditions.”
“We’ll have to search every airport or field that a 747 could land on within that range,” said Corrine.
“That has to be well over a thousand. I doubt it’s still in the air. The Navy would have found it by now,” said the expert. “They have the Gulf completely covered, and they’re in the Indian Ocean. Nothing without a civil registration—no plane is going to get past them. I’m sure we got it,” added Gray.
“Just in case,” said Corrine. “I’d like to talk to the Nimitz
battle group as well. In the meantime, we’ll raise the alert level at Manila.”
“Your call,” he said.
“It is,” she agreed, clicking into the com circuit to get an update from Van Buren.