TARGETS OF OPPORTUNITY

The story of Marine flier Brad Austin that began with Rules of Engagement (1991) now puts him in the cockpit of the CIA's latest weapon, a Soviet built MiG fighter. The idea comes from the White House. Thanks to a Soviet defection, America is in possession of the same jet used by the North Vietnamese and their Russian guests to defend Hanoi. What if American pilots use the MiG as a disguise to slip in among the enemy and shoot down their aces? The CIA gets the job of putting the plan into effect, enlisting Annapolis graduate Austin and two other hot young fliers to learn the mysteries of the aircraft and take it into battle. The plan is so secret that no one outside the project is supposed to hear a word about it, but Brad and his pals Nick and Lex are fliers rather than spies and they spill most of the beans to a couple of pretty girls. One of the girls is Brad's Tennessee sweetheart Leigh Ann, who knows how to keep a secret. The other is a blond vamp named Allison, who turns out to be a CIA agent and part of the scheme. After a short, white-knuckles crash- course in the MiG, Allison, Brad, and the boys ship off to a tiny, top-secret base in Laos and begin their campaign of aerial confusion. When he's not flying, Brad has to wrestle with his manly feelings for Allison and dodge mortar attacks on the weakly defended base. When the execution of the too-clever plan starts to get shaky, the bigwigs at the CIA run for cover. Weber (also Shadow Flight and Defcon One) continues to write great flight scenes for the boys—and, for the girls, some of the most wretched dialogue in the war-thriller biz, where competition for wretched dialogue is tough.