Page 49 of Gryphon

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Holly sat trapped between two different worlds. Up forward, Mike and Miranda were isolated on the intercom over their headsets. Aft, the jet’s sound insulation was good enough to allow conversation among the four facing seats without headsets, yet enough engine and wind noise penetrated the hull to keep her from overhearing a word without straining.

Only Meg had joined her in this nowhere land, coming to sit in her lap from the moment she’d sat down. Barred from her mistress’ lap by her need to access the flight controls, Holly supposed she should feel complimented at being the dog’s second choice.

Her position left her far too much time to contemplate Mike’s declaration.

He was done with the NTSB and…done with her.

It was as if the words made no sense. Perhaps containing a hidden meaning beyond her capacity to uncover. Without Mike, would there even be a team? A Miranda? A Holly Harper? He was the glue that tied together everyone else’s raging oddities. He—

—squatted in front of her as if conjured by her thoughts.

“Someone shot down a Gripen.”

It took her a moment to translate Mike’s words from noise to meaning. “Other than the attack on Ingrid Eklund’s jet?”

“Shot,” he reminded her. “With a Stinger.”

“Where?”

“An hour north of here. Still in Sweden.”

“One domino too many.” She heard the pieces rattling against each other. Like they were being mixed together, not in some orderly line ready to fall.

“That’s what I was thinking.” He held up three fingers. “Dead Defence Minister on the LuftSvenska flight crashed by a sleeper-agent copilot. Sabotage with some tech rig on Ingrid’s ejection handle. And now a direct shootdown.”

She nodded. “So who would want to beat up on Sweden?”

Mike didn’t answer and she didn’t need to ask. He waited, asking her to confirm his thinking.

Why would someone want to harass Sweden? Who would have a real hate-on for them? Not war, but demoralizing, painful attacks.

“Demoralizing…” she tried the word aloud. “Who would want to…punish Sweden?” As soon as she asked, the answer was obvious.

Mike must have seen it in her face because he finally whispered, “NATO.”

NATO wouldn’t want to attack their newest member. But Russia was pissed as hell at Finland and now Sweden being granted membership. What better way to take out their anger than a whole series of hidden attacks.

“No. Wait. Article 5.”

“Sure,” Mike nodded. “An attack on one NATO member nation is an attack on all. But the language isn’t that simple. It requires an armed attack, which the first two weren’t. Does being shot down by a US-built Stinger missile count? I don’t know. And NATO is only required to do whatever is necessary to restore and maintain regional security.”

“Which means that as long as there is no direct threat to regional security…”

“It all becomes a gray area of whether or not to act.”

Holly glanced aft at the generals who’d boarded—the two officers she’d busted in on while looking for Mike in the men’s bathroom. The one-star with a Swedish arm patch and flyer wings had a place. But the two-star with a NATO patch on his sleeve? He finally made sense.

“Do you think he’s here to…” she didn’t want to finish the question, it made her shoulders hunch.

“…to decide if NATO needs to go to war? Yes, I’m afraid I do.” Mike finished it for her.

“Against…Russia? But that’s World War III.”

Mike nodded carefully.

“Well, shit. That stinks worse than a bag of dingo breath.”

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