"Robert Doherty - Area 51 - The Reply" - читать интересную книгу автора (Doherty Robert)

highest bidder. They used to do quite a good business on the international black
market until Mandela came into power."
Zandra used the laser pointer. "Here is the airstrip near the compound. This
building"тАФshe highlighted a three-story structureтАФ"is where we believe the
Airlia artifacts are stored. This is the barracks for the paramilitary mercenary
forces guarding the compound. There are also surface-to-air missiles, here,
here, here, and here. Several armored vehicles." Zandra gave a frosty smile.
"Certainly they would not need such protection for just a mining compound."
"If these Terra-Lei people are out of South Africa, then why didn't they just
move what they've found home?" Duncan asked.
"We don't know," Zandra said. "Our best guess is that maybe they can't move
whatever it is they've found. Or perhaps the unstable political environment over
the years in South Africa precluded that option. There was a discreet inquiry
made through the United Nations Alien Oversight Committee to the South African
government to get open access to the compound."
"And the answer, as you can tell by the fact we're heading there with a
squadron of SAS on board," Duncan said, "was silence."

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So they know we re coming," Turcotte summarized.
"Most likely," Zandra confirmed.
"Bloody hell," the SAS colonel muttered, then asked, "What about the Ethiopian
government?"
"What about them?" Zandra replied, her tone answer enough that that was not a
factor here.
Duncan looked at the SAS officer. "Colonel Spearson, what's the plan?"
Spearson stood and walked to the front of the room. He looked at the American
officer in the flight suit. "When can we launch, Major O'Callaghan?"
O'Callaghan pointed at a map of northeast Africa. "The ship's captain is
pushing his engines to the max, so we're making good speed. Our launch point,
where all aircraft will have enough fuel for a round trip plus fifteen minutes
on-station, is here, forty kilometers from our present positionтАФ which means we
will be able to launch in less than an hour."
Spearson didn't look happy about that timetable, and Turcotte knew why. It
would be dawn shortly, and the SAS would hit the compound just before daylight.
It was a tight window with a lot of room for disaster.
Spearson cleared his throat. "An American AWACS is in position off the coast.
It will control all flight operations, coordinating O'Callaghan's helicopters
and jets from your navy. I am the commander of all ground forces. I will be on
board an MH-60 until the first air assault wave lands. At that time I will
reposition to the primary target.
"The basic plan is a four-stage attack. Stage

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one is to land a squad by parachute on top of the building you believe holds the
artifacts. These troopers are to gain a foothold. Stage two is an attack by