Have you heard of the Wild Weasels? Meet a modern day YGBSM Wild Weasel in Cohen Code, the next high-stakes adventure in the Marc Wayne series.

Meet Ace and take a ride in his antique Phantom F4 in this chapter of Cohen Code.

Chapter 16

The car squeaked and shuddered as the man with the sunflower seeds drove Shanina and Ace toward a private airport. The damage from sideswiping the SUV caused something under the hood to grind with every mile.

They rolled to a stop beside a flying relic from a bygone era. The car coughed, wheezed, and died.

Shanina pushed down a tremor of dread as vehicles appeared in the distance. Coming fast.

Ace sprinted to the plane and climbed the ladder, dropping into the cockpit to begin his preflight checks. Shanina scrambled into the rear cockpit and worked through the systems Ace called out while their host yanked the wheel chocks free and cleared the last of the ground equipment.

Shanina glanced beyond the airfield. Vehicles raced toward them, growing larger by the second.

Their host tossed the chocks aside and hurried back toward the ladder. Ace beckoned to the man on the ground. “You gotta come with us.”

The man grinned apologetically, showing the gap between his front teeth. “No room for three.”

Shanina called down. “We’ll make room.” 

Ace dropped back onto the ladder, took the rungs two at a time, and hit the ground.  He grabbed the man’s arm and pulled him toward the ladder. “During World War Two, pilots stuffed their mechanics into the radio equipment bay.”

“This ain’t World War Two.” The man released his arm from Ace’s hold. “Someone must be eyes and ears here.”

“When your bosses find you helped us,” Ace grabbed the man’s shoulders and met his eyes, “there will be no mercy.”

He shrugged. “I’ll think of something.”

Ace drove a fist into his ribs. 

Shanina heard the crack. 

Their rescuer doubled over, and Ace caught him before he hit the ground. “Now you can tell them you tried to stop us.”

His next punch caught the man square in the nose. Blood flowed instantly.

Ace eased him to the ground. “You tried. We outnumbered and out punched.”

The vehicles were bearing down. Ace climbed into the cockpit and moved quickly to get them airborne. He pointed to a helmet.”Put that on.”

She tugged the straps into a fit. 

“Engine start.” The engines roared to life, the baritone rumble grew louder, and the jet jumped forward. Shanina peered out the window to see their pursuers on the runway. Bullets ricocheted off the pavement. She jerked back when rapid fire tinged near her window.

“Stop chipping the paint.” Ace accelerated. 

Their immediate speed pressed Shanina back into her seat. Racing forward, the plane lifted and sliced through the sky. 

Once they were in the air, distance made the scene grow small and disappear. Shanina truly hoped their friend’s tale of being out-punched would prove believable. 

“Sound check.” Ace’s voice came through the headphones in the helmet.

Shanina adjusted the fit. “Check.” 

The plane leveled out. She took in her surroundings. Suddenly, the nose plummeted toward the earth. Her stomach flew into her throat and Shanina grabbed her seat for stability.

“Company,” Ace’s voice sounded like he announced a party. 

She strained to see beside and behind the plane. “Where?”

“In front.” He whistled. “Comin’ straight at us.”

A loud crack near her window caused her to shrink into her seat. “Are they shooting at us?”

“Now we play.” Ace navigated so low she thought the belly of the plane would bump the ground.

“Can you shoot back?” Even to her own ears, her voice sounded an octave higher than normal.

“No can do,” he replied.

A crack sounded on the roof of the plane. “Why not?” 

He zig zagged left, then right. “Left the weapons in my other plane.”

The pilot navigated the terrain with swift movements that had a nauseating effect. Quickly she raised the helmet, just in time to vomit onto her lap. 

“Thanks for sparing the equipment.” Ace banked the plane. “It’s nearly impossible to get the smell out.”

Mortified, Shanina looked at the mess. Then Ace banked in the opposite direction and the ground loomed large in her window. She closed her eyes, fighting desperately to keep her stomach in check. She feared the next eruption would projectile into the cockpit.

“Work with me here.” Ace spoke loudly through the comms. “You hear me?”

She nodded, then remembered he could not see her behind him. With her sleeve, she swiped across her mouth. Reluctantly, she settled the helmet onto her head. Instantly, Ace’s voice was clear in her ears. She mumbled something to let him know she could hear.

He talked her through a sequence. “When I say now, you do that. Get it?”

“Got it.” Alert, she poised for his instruction.

“Good.” 

A string of cracks, and Shanina knew bullets had strafed their side.

“Grab your stomach,” Ace advised. “Let’s give our pursuers a challenge.” 

Glancing ahead, Shanina saw a bridge. Expecting the plane to fly above the structure, suddenly she was upside down watching the ground loom even closer than before. With a shock she realized they were inverted, and passing under the bridge. 

Just as her stomach threatened, Ace called, “Now.”

Focused on his instructions, she followed the sequence he had outlined. Clearing the bridge, the pilot banked sharply to the left and tipped into a sideslip. “Get ready.”

Pressing against the force that pinned her to the seat, she listened for his signal.

“And,” he drew out the word. “Now.”

Glancing through the canopy, a brick wall filled the view. Panic jolted up her spine as she completed the motions. The bricks disappeared and Ace leveled the plane. 

Dropping into a valley carved by the snaking river below, Ace followed just above the water. He called to Shanina three more times. Once as he flew under another bridge, once as he slideslipped between the pillars of a bridge, and again as the plane hugged the face of a dam.

Shanina remained poised and alert for the next time he called her to action. After an extended time, she felt relieved when no more bullets pinged the exterior. 

He spoke through the comms. “Are you done messing up my plane?”

She heard the humor in his voice. “Are you done unseating my stomach?”

“No promises.” He leveled the plane far enough above ground that she no longer wondered if the belly would scrape trees. “For now, it looks like the folks with the bullets have bugged out.”

Every muscle in her body felt tense. “It looks old. What is this?”

“You are aboard an RF-4 Phantom. This icon of air superiority set 15 world records, including aircraft speed and absolute altitude. Beyond combat service, this is the only aircraft flown by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and the U.S. Navy Blue Angels.” He tipped the wings in a yaw. “Born in 1964, this iconic recon bird retired in 1995.”  

 “That was a long time ago.” Several swipes at her clothing proved ineffective to remove the contents of her stomach. 

There was affection in his voice. “A bonafide military antique.”

“Without antique bullets.” Quarters were tight and void of extra amenities such as wet wipes. 

“Recon. That means—”

“Missioned to obtain information.” She finished the description. “And equipped to defend when necessary.”

“Except for this beauty.” The plane drifted west, skirting a midsized town. “Based in the Philippines, fighter pilots of the day went to weapons whenever the enemy was in sight.”

“Reasonable.” Shanina wondered at the decision to unarm soldiers. 

“Distractable.” 

“To keep pilots from being distracted, they removed their weapons?” In her country, everyone remained on alert for an attack at any moment. She thought back over the turn of events since the attack in her hotel room. Someone had tried twice to capture or kill her. “Who was the guy who stole my laptop?”

“Sorry,” Ace replied. “Above my pay grade.” 

“Above your pay grade to know the information?” Knowing who might help her defend herself. “Or above your pay grade to share?”  

He apologized again. “Answering that question is also above my pay grade.” 

Shanina puzzled over bits of information. Finding the priestly line had been important to Israel for a long time. In an agreement that was above her pay grade, CodexDyne had partnered with the university to sponsor the search. Supposedly secret, the project had attracted the attention of another seeker of the Cohen Code. That became clear when the driver wanted her bag with her laptop. Considering the events of the past hours, their intentions were centered on stealing information. Was her destruction also on the agenda or merely a convenient extra? They had succeeded in getting her laptop. Twice, someone had nearly succeeded in keeping her from ever returning home.

Ever eager to travel and see the world, Shanina suddenly wanted nothing more than to be home at the kibbutz. She glanced out the window. “Where exactly are we going?”

His answer was immediate. “Military base in Israel.”

Judging from the sun, she knew they were flying west northwest. Doing quick mental math, she estimated they were some 2000 miles from Tel Aviv. “Do we have enough fuel?”

“We are about to find out.” The humor disappeared from his voice. “It’s gonna be tight.”

Israel. Back home to family, friends, and the familiar lab at the university. She breathed deeply and eventually her heart rate slowed to something closer to normal. 

She estimated they had been flying for two hours when she felt the plane reduce speed and descend.

Suddenly the plane jerked. The baritone rumble that had echoed in her sternum coughed and spun, coughed again and stopped. The silence made her ears ring. 

“What’s happening?” Shanina swallowed against a dry throat. “What was that clunk?”

Ace’s voice sounded strained. “That was the sound of a fuel gauge that needs calibrated.”

Shanina’s heart jumped. “Don’t tell me we’re out of fuel.”

The humor was back in his tone. “As you wish, little lady.” 

From her view, the ground appeared to wing up to meet them. Shanina felt pressed into her seat. She swallowed to clear the pressure in her ears. 

“Just in time,” Ace announced from the front.

Ahead, a military base came into view. 

Ace yawed the jet from side to side. “Hold on to your knickers.” Despite creating friction through movement, they were coming in too fast. 

Barely above the ground, the wings leveled out. A second later, Shanina’s teeth rattled as the Phantom slammed onto the runway. She felt the brakes strain against the speed that carried them forward. The air brakes remained deployed as the jet shuddered through its rollout, the tires gripping the concrete while powerful hydraulic brakes bled away the remaining speed. At last, the vibration diminished. 

Ace guided the Phantom onto a taxiway. Near a hangar, the aircraft eased to a stop.

Waiting for them with arms crossed, was a man Shanina didn’t recognize.

For You

Cohen Code is book 5 in the action adventure Marc Wayne series.