The two young people who met for the first time had a pleasant and relaxed exchange during the trip.

From the conversation between the two, Long Yun soon learned that Sophia Kochakina was not an agent of the intelligence department as he imagined, but a head of the Bulgarian cultural department, probably out of professional relations to "interview" him, the number one ace of the Soviet Air Force.

Of course, in addition, as for the purpose of her trip, it is indeed related to intelligence work, and Long Yun will naturally not be reckless in asking and guessing in this regard.

Using his consciousness to snoop and determine that the beautiful woman in front of him was completely reliable, he chose a few representative air battles, and made comparisons to Sophia with a lot of humor from time to time, and the two had a lot of fun talking face-to-face. The first time he saw a girl, he could talk so speculatively, not that he had any thoughts about this young and beautiful girl, but that it was really a bit boring to stay in this tightly curtained car, where only the "clang" of wheels and rails could be heard.

After some exchanges between the two, Long Yun formed his first impression of Sophia in his mind, feeling that she did not look like a seasoned intelligence agent, but more like a dignified and reserved intellectual; As he spoke, he noticed that her white hands were quite slender, and that she was carrying a pair of sheepskin gloves in the September weather, and he seemed to have a few glances in his heart, and then asked a question quite abruptly:

"Well, Sophia, do you usually do anything other than write manuscripts and get busy with work?"

"Ahh

Probably quite adoring the ace major general in front of her, and having a vague affection, Sophia Kochakina blinked her big watery eyes. His face flushed slightly and smiled at him:

"It's my part-time job, or my hobby. Sometimes he also plays the piano in a theater in the capital. ”

"Playing the piano, playing the piano?"

Hear the answer from Sophia's mouth. Long Yun raised his eyebrows in surprise, this-

Oh, probably because in the real world she is in, Su Xue, this little girl, is also a pianist?

If you want to talk about this kind of profession, it is actually not uncommon in Western countries, and there is nothing to make a fuss about; Thinking of this, he casually diverted the topic and chatted with the girl in front of him about some things about piano playing.

Probably getting along with Su Xue, hearing and seeing each other, and communicating with each other, Long Yun's literacy in this area is quite good, and there is time for him to talk on the train during the long night. So between three words. Sophia, who has a gentle temperament and is quiet and reserved, was nodded again and again by him, and sometimes couldn't help but cover her mouth and chuckle a few times, and the originally boring journey seemed to become fast for a while.

Unconsciously, it was late at night, and the fatigue of the fierce air battle during the day came up, making Long Yun yawn a few times; He stood up and beckoned Sophia to change her clothes and go to sleep, while he turned around and stood at the back of the train for a while, looking at the starry sky overhead with the KGB agent in heavy clothes.

The freight train running in Romania gradually increased its speed at this time, and Long Yun, who was on it, felt the cold wind blowing around him. I looked up with a feeling, but I didn't feel like I was moving, but I just stared at the twinkling stars in the night sky for a long time.

in parallel worlds. Is this vast expanse of the night sky exactly the same as the vast starry sky of the real world......

Standing in the back of the car for a while, hearing Sophia's call to return to the car, Long Yun fumbled and took off his coat and pants, and lay down on another bed on the side of the girl's couch.

In the early autumn of the Balkans at night, there was already a slight chill; Pulling a thin blanket to cover his body, sniffing the faint smell of perfume wafting from his nose, Long Yun, whose eyelids were fighting, seemed to have long been accustomed to sleeping with women, and he quickly closed his eyes without distractions, and fell into a deep dream in the rhythmic train bumps.

……

Speeding trains, still on the Balkan railway lines.

At an air base in the central Turkish city of Konya on the peninsula of Asia Minor, across the sea, General Clark, who had arrived by helicopter, had a gloomy face and was silent in the command post temporarily converted from a reinforced hangar with his accompanying adjutants, base commanders, and others.

Even a few days ago, at a joint meeting in Ankara, the general confidently ignored the existence of the "Caucasus Grim Reaper", believing that with the huge combat strength of the US Air Force and Navy, there is no need to think too much about the threat posed by just one person. However, with the "Grim Reaper" appearing and killing everywhere, the explosion and fall of the "Lancers" over the peninsula made the heads of the strategic air force furious, and criticism and doubts about the air force immediately hit like a tide; In the face of the bad comments of these professional soldiers, the general naturally could no longer sit in the office of the Central Command and ignore them.

"——In this combat operation, the fighter escorting 'Yellowstone' was not seen at all! Is no one to blame for the heaviest losses of the Strategic Air Force in decades? ”

Just opposite Clark and the others, who had just angrily reprimanded the listless pilots and officers in the base, Major General Carl Lewis, the liaison officer of the Strategic Air Command, was still angry and shouted at Clark, who had an unkind face. Although in terms of rank and position, he had no reason to be mad at the air force general on the spot, but the loss of three B-1B fighters yesterday was too bizarre and shocking; If CENTCOM is not fully prepared, why would it send expensive strategic bombers on such a dangerous mission?

"Responsible for this?"

After glancing at the black major general with an angry face, the corners of Clark's eyes twitched slightly:

"That's what I thought, too. But first of all, it must be pointed out that the escort of this mission is not the responsibility of the Air Force, but the Navy; Their Tomcat and Hornet fighters were already in place, but they were soon shot down by the Russians. - The Navy will not be talked about for now, so for now, can you answer me a few questions? ”

As he spoke, the admiral turned to several flight crew members standing not far away, and raised the planning paperwork in his hand, these nervous guys were all survivors of the aerial catastrophe, including the crew of the only remaining B-1B, and a few lucky ones who ejected early:

"First, when receiving an early warning from the command center, why did they not immediately change course and did not take a distraction maneuver against radar-guided missiles? Second, I would also like to ask who is responsible for formulating the planned route for this mission," the general said, slamming the plan on the table, "What idiot wrote the air raid plan, and the broken route you flew, can you get closer to the Russian MiGs!" ”

"Uh......"

In the face of the general's majesty and anger, the few pilots who were lucky enough to survive were all sobbing silently, they really couldn't explain why they were attacked by the Russians on both sides at that time, and they couldn't get out, and they didn't know what the captain was thinking at that time; After a short silence, someone hesitated to mutter:

"At that time, the leader of the team was shot quickly, and we had planned to climb to avoid it-"

"What a hell, it's a bunch of shit!"

Seeing that his subordinates were unable to answer Admiral Clark's sharp questions, Major General Lewis frothed at the mouth and scolded them again, but the guy who was most responsible for this was already lying in a body bag in pieces, and his yelling could not be heard:

"You still have to climb when you are being pursued, and this is how you and your bullshit long machine are tested?" The Lancers are not XB-70s, do you really think you can outrun Ivan's fighter jets, and you think you are playing video games in Iraq! - I'll order it now, you've been suspended! And the three of you," he said, pointing to the cramped-looking guys next to him, "hand in the report of the catapult abandonment at once, and if there are any inaccuracies, wait for the court-martial." ”

Standing in front of the enraged black general, the pilot, who had bowed his head and was silent, had the courage to hear the reprimand, and he didn't know where it came from, so he raised his head and confessed loudly:

"And judge us? How not to judge the commanders and staff officers of the command? - What the hell, Lao Tzu is gone! ”

"-What?!"

Seeing that the guys in front of him dared to speak out and clearly regard iron-like discipline as air, Lewis's nose was almost crooked, "You, you are clearly going to rebel—"

"Alright, alright, Mr. Major General."

Seeing that the mess in front of him was about to become untidy, Clark waved his hand to calm Lewis for a moment, and then cleared his throat and continued to speak, "Young men, the defeat in the battle is also true, and it is useless to prevaricate. However, I think 'going to court' is still too much nonsense, and it may not be a good thing for you to leave the front line for the time being? - All in all,"

Waving his hand to calm the angry crew, Clark turned to the commanders beside him, his face seemed to have regained his calmness; Just thinking of the "Grim Reaper" who was still dormant in the northern sky and would rush over and swing his knife frantically at any time, the general's light blue eyes still revealed a trace of helplessness:

"After what has happened in recent days, I think the Pentagon should have understood that it is impossible to solve the Caucasus problem by relying on air strikes alone. Now that a large-scale ground attack is imminent, I sincerely suggest that all my colleagues put aside the unhappiness of the past few days for the time being, and make every effort to make all preparations for the next combat operations in support of the 'pincer offensive'.

In addition, as you are already aware, the Navy's 'Eisenhower' battle group has entered the Mediterranean Sea and will soon reach the theater of operations, but my personal view is that we should be able to solve these difficult problems on our own rather than relying on the support and cooperation of the Navy. (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the evaluation votes of *4639* and *HQW0813*! A valuable commuter pass with book friends *kgb31*, *shepherd's cabbage dumplings*!