Armageddon. Dale Brown

started to laugh.

      ‘Hey, if I’m a minister, second in command can be a commodore,’ he told her. ‘Play your cards right and you’ll be “Air Marshal” at the end of the week. Take that office with the windows down the hall. You want a secretary? Take one of mine. The pretty one.’

      ‘No way. She can’t type and she can’t figure out the phone, let alone the computer. I want somebody who can do some work.’

      ‘How do you know she can’t type?’

      McKenna rolled her eyes. ‘If I want something good to look at, I’ll get one of those buff boys pulling security in front of the office.’

      ‘They’re eighteen years old,’ said Mack.

      ‘And?’

      ‘Kick butt, Commodore.’

      ‘I intend to,’ she said, marching out.

      With McKenna gone and his biggest logistical problem on its way to being solved, Mack began tackling the paperwork, signing his name with abandon. He was about a quarter of the way through the pile when the phone rang. Mack picked up the line quickly, only to find himself speaking to a woman with a thick Russian accent.

      ‘Mr Minister Smith, good afternoon; I am so glad to have this opportunity to speak to you,’ said the woman.

      ‘I didn’t quite catch your name,’ said Mack.

      ‘Ivana Keptrova. You have heard of me? I work with friends in the president’s office. The Russian president,’ she added.

      ‘Just the person I wanted to speak to,’ said Mack.

      ‘And I you. It appears you have hired an employee of mine.’

      ‘Problem?’

      ‘Not a problem perhaps,’ said Ivana. ‘An opportunity maybe. But I would watch her.’

      ‘Oh, I intend on it. Why are you calling?’

      ‘You are in the market for aircraft, are you not?’

      ‘I’m looking for a squadron of F-15s,’ said Mack. ‘You have any?’

      ‘You’re making fun. But if you were more serious, we could speak of the Sukhoi, a very excellent plane,’ she said. ‘With some adjustments here and there, they are twice the plane the Eagle is.’

      ‘Right,’ said Mack.

      ‘I can arrange a demonstration.’

      ‘I’ve flown Sukhois,’ said Mack.