The Triangle

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Here is an excerpt from my novel, "The Triangle (2006 Mill City Press - ISBN 1-933538-31-7)


CHAPTER 8

Holding Cell inside the Alien Vessel

The ADF pilots are brought to the holding cell, escorted by guards wearing uniforms made of some kind of metallic material and helmets that cover their faces. The guards are pointing some kind of weapon at them. One of the guards hits a button, and a door slides open. The prisoners are shoved inside the cell, and the door closes. They check the door to see if they can pry it open somehow, but it appears to fit seamlessly with the wall.
“It’s no use. We already checked it,” a very familiar voice says from behind them.
Robert and the others turn and see Ricardo and the Coalition pilots at the other end of the holding cell, having been brought here moments before by the alien captors.
They see Ricardo in his flight gear, which is the same as the one worn by the 27th Air Wing and the ADF except that the patches for the Joker Squadron and the ADF have been removed and have been replaced by the emblems of the Wolf Pack Squadron and the Coalition. Despite the situation and the truce called by the two commanders, upon seeing Ricardo in person for the first time in two years, Robert feels all the anger, hatred, and betrayal brought on by Ricardo’s defection and, at the same time, remembers the incident in which Ricardo betrayed him and the ADF.

Airspace over the Florida Keys, May 2023

Robert and the 27th Air Wing are on training maneuvers due to the rumors of a Coalition of Nations being formed to oppose the United States, the United Nations, and the World Council. Their primary mission is to defend the Air Defense Installation on Key West, a prime target for this Coalition if they ever decide to attack the United States. Robert is leading Alpha and Charlie Sections in a mock battle against Bravo and Delta Sections led by his executive officer and friend, Captain Ricardo Pasqualle. Alpha and Charlie are defending the installation against Bravo and Delta Sections, who are acting as the Op-For, or Opposing Force, in this training exercise.
Robert’s noticed that Ricardo has been under a lot of stress lately. He’s asked Ricardo what’s been bothering him and been worried about his friend and XO’s mood. Ricardo told him that it was a personal matter and refused to talk about it. Robert thinks that Ricardo’s having marital trouble because his wife, Maria didn’t return from Cuba after visiting her parents. Robert plans on talking to him after the exercise to convince him to take some leave to straighten things out with Maria if that is the problem. Robert and the defending sections get into formation to protect the installation against the nighttime attack of Ricardo and the Op-For sections.
The pilots use their radar to track and fight one another, using their missile and gun sights to score a kill the way that Robert and Ricardo trained students at Miramar, where they served as instructors for a year after they finished as students because they were the only two pilots that could defeat the instructors on a regular basis. The skies over the radar installation are filled with F-15Ks that are locked in fierce aerial combat, each pilot trying to get the advantage over the other, along with the bragging rights at the debriefing afterwards. The exercise is going according to plan—until the unexpected happens.
Robert and Ricardo are in one of their already-famous dogfights, when all of a sudden Ricardo turns off his radar and performs a maneuver that catches Robert in his jet wash, causing Robert to go into a flat spin. While Robert struggles to get his F-15K back under control, Ricardo goes into a radical dive to fly below the fifty-foot limit that the installation is able to track incoming aircraft and then disappears heading toward the island of Cuba.
By the time Robert gets the F-15K back under control, Ricardo is long gone. The rest of the pilots in both sections are shocked over the actions taken by the executive officer. Lieutenant Keith Sykes, who is Delta Section commander, asks Robert if they should pursue him. Robert replies that they are not to cross into Cuban airspace and violate the Mutual Nonaggression Pact, feeling that a squadron of F-15Ks crossing into another country’s airspace would be seen as an act of war. Robert calls off the exercise and has the squadrons return to the base immediately. After they return, Robert reports to the ADF command about Ricardo’s apparent defection. He is questioned about his knowledge of these event and possible complicity in Ricardo’s defection. After the command hears Robert’s account and the testimony of the rest of the Air Wing, which collaborates his report, Robert is cleared of any wrongdoing.
The ADF issues a warrant for Ricardo’s arrest and petitions Cuba for the return of their pilot and the stolen F-15K. Cuba denies any knowledge of Ricardo being in their country, but promises they will look for him. A month after Ricardo’s defection, he is seen on TV denouncing the ADF, the United States, and the World Council and supporting the People’s Coalition. Robert and the 27th Air Wing watch the broadcast from their headquarters and know that if the Coalition ever attacked the United States, their prime target would be: Ricardo Pasqualle.