Tiny's voice screamed over the radio, "Fox-3! Smoke in the air. Tiny's still spiked, breaking left."Tiny fired a retaliatory shot and was turning for all he was worth in a desperate, last-ditch attempt to evade the incoming Chinese missile.Slammer jerked his trigger then pressed the mic switch, "Fox-3!" The AMRAAM left his plane with a surprisingly loud scream. A moment later the sky was latticed with smoke trails as Quick and Lips followed suit. He watched their missiles travel downrange with disbelief. The Rhinos were now too close to merging to take evasive maneuvers. Any turn away at this range would just put the Flankers on their tails.Committed to a head-on pass, he pulled his throttles to idle to reduce the infrared signature from his engines and held his breath, watching for any more missiles coming his way.Five missiles - four American and one Chinese - closed in on their prey with a combined closure rate of Mach 6, or 4,000 knots. Roughly one mile per second.It would be the longest six seconds of Slammer's life.
