Free Wingman by Mack Maloney Page B

another smaller plane-on alert at all times. The ZAP radar net was also good for keeping track of the air convoys that left Logan Airport on a more regular basis. Knowing where every plane was helped the 50 or so planes get properly grouped for the long voyage west. But the service was a luxury and the convoy pilots knew it.
    Once the air parade left the Zone’s airspace they had wing – usually-until they were in range of similar stations run by the coasters on the far side of the Rockies.
    But despite troubles in the middle of the country, things seemed to stabilize-at least in the Northeast Economic Zone-now nearly three years into the New Order.
    For the most part, all talk of alliances with the Mid-Atlantics died down. The Leaders Council silenced the troublemakers if temporarily and concentrated on making money. Jones had finally let his bosses know that he had hired Hunter and his F-16.
    They were delighted. And once they realized that Jones had assembled nearly the entire former Thunderbirds demonstration team, requests for aerobatic shows started pouring in.
    The ZAP put on impressive shows for visiting government or trade officials. The other countries on the continent-with the exception of the Coasters and the
    Texans-barely had the equipment and manpower to put two or three jets into the air.
    And here was ZAP, flying modern fighters and performing precision team aerobatics high above Boston.
    Hunter loved doing the shows, although others in the team came to view them as a pain. Jones knew better. There were spies everywhere these days; more than a few of them, he was sure, had taken up residence in Boston. Any potential adversary-Mid-Ak, Family, or even Russian-watching the expert flying of the demo team had a very clear message to send back to their bosses: Don't tangle with ZAP.
    The air pirates learned that lesson the hard way. Hunter had been at the base for about eight weeks when they first heard about a roving band of pirates operating on the edge of the Northeast's frontier. The area-once known as upstate New York-was now called the Free Territory of New York. Free Territory was just another way of saying,
    "every man for himself." There was no central government as there was in the Northeast Economic Zone. Most of the major cities were evacuated during the war, many of the residents fleeing to Quebec. The people who remained lived in the many small towns and villages that dotted the Territory. These people simply governed themselves. Most of the time, it worked.
    Sometimes it didn't.
    As reports of the air bandits became more frequent, it was soon obvious that they were preying on anything that flew around the Catskills and all the way up to the Adirondack Mountain Range. In two weeks' time several planes-stragglers, solo artists-had been shot down. Others were forced to land, their cargoes stolen, their crews killed. The area wasn't too far from the well-traveled convoy routes, but this band of pirates-touchingly known as the Cherry Busters-were avoiding the big stuff and going after the small potatoes. What was worse, this happened before the ZAP radar string was brought on line.
    Because every airplane that flies needs people on the ground to keep it that way, roving pirate bands always carried a substantial ground maintenance entourage. These mechanics-prisoners and ex-gas station owners mostly-traveled with the bandits, servicing the planes and occasionally acting as ground troops. They were paid by sharing in the booty. Frequently these ground support crews were as dangerous, if not worse, than the pilots they served. The Cherry Busters were no different. While the pirates'
    terrorized the skies above, small villages and towns on the Zone-New York Territory border were attacked by the Buster's rampaging ground crews.
    Jones had been watching the situation and had increased the air patrols in the area. He quietly dispatched a 100-man Ranger unit by helicopter to sit on the border in case it was