Delta Green - страница 24

The clearing that was open to the sky, not counting the space under the overhanging canopy, was only a couple hundred meters wide, but it was over twelve thousand meters long, running north and south. It was not level. There was a definite rise toward the north, and near the center was a disconcerting hump that had not been totally leveled by the engineers, primarily because there was a shortage of engineers. Laid over the mushy ground was a narrow lane of interlocking steel planks. Maslov thought they had originally come from Vietnam, from the Cam Ranh Bay area, but they were now painted in variegated shades of green that disappeared into the jungle when seen from above. At random intervals down the length of the runway were placed four flimsy, tall structures that supported camouflage netting peppered with live vines and plants. From an aerial view, they added contours to the terrain, leaving the impression of a series of small openings in the jungle cover rather than one long clearing. When the runway was needed, they were pulled back under the jungle canopy.

Maslov crossed the runway, walking east. Looking up and down the clearing, he was pleased with the result of their work. Even on the ground, at the south end of the clearing, all he could see were the six trailers and the mottled green wall of the command center which was snuggled back into the eastern edge of the jungle. It had large windows all along this side, overlooking the runway.

Though he knew they were there, he could not see a single one of the aircraft. Revetments had been hacked out of the jungle on the east side. Several of the reinforced parking spaces had been given camouflaged roofs, and the rest had roofs now under construction.

There were four Mikoyan MiG-27 ground attack planes, one MiG-25 interceptor currently in reconnaissance configuration, and six Sukhoi Su-24 attack fighters hidden in the jungle, along with three assorted civilian aircraft. Perhaps the greatest achievement had been their ability to hide the monstrously large Antonov An-72 belonging to Shelepin. Maslov had been in favor of abandoning the huge transport, crashing it into the sea, but had been outvoted. Or out-ordered. And on reflection, Shelepin and Druzhinin had been correct. The transport had been necessary for ferrying in their supplies. There had been millions of kilograms of material carted in from all over southeast Asia. Maslov did not know the details, but he supposed that much of it had been purchased and that much of it had also been surreptitiously acquired from old Soviet caches around the southeast region of the Asian continent.

On the west side of the airstrip, two more revetments were under construction, one of them housing the Tupolev Tu-124 that had been converted to a tanker. Several dozen trips with the tanker had been required to fill the underground fuel tanks located a half-kilometer out in the jungle. The tanker made at least three trips a week to a shifting schedule of destinations to take on fuel and transport it back here.

At the far north end of the runway, off to the west side, they had excavated large bunkers in which to store the ordnance. There were ground-and air-launched missiles of Soviet, Chinese, French, and American manufacture. Iron bombs and guided “smart” bombs were stacked in one bunker. Another held ammunition of various calibers, ranging from that for 9-millimeter personal weapons to 7.62-millimeter rounds for automatic weapons.

When he reached the command center, Maslov skirted the building to the left and entered through a side door. The value of the four ceiling-mounted air conditioners was immediately apparent. The perspiration on his forehead dried quickly. He felt chilled.

No-air operations were planned for the day — their necessary training flights for the pilots took place at night — and the chairs in front of the radar and communications consoles were vacant. He crossed the control room and entered the narrow corridor leading to the back of the building.