After paying a $50 deposit, Lynn said goodbye to Del Verin, a folk hot air balloon enthusiast in the United States of America. Hughes, a young man under the age of 21, walked back to Pamarot's house, and always felt that this kind of intelligence reconnaissance had a "national treasure"-style theatrical surname, frivolous, funny and even a little childish. The United States attaches great importance to the good facilities of the nuclear project, and the vigilance and defense must be very tight, but now that the war in Europe has ended, the whole country is enjoying the victory on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is hoped that the Pacific war that has been decided by the overall situation can end as soon as possible, and in the case of a good situation, their vigilance will be slightly relaxed, even if they find that someone is prohibited from using hot air balloons, I am afraid they will not take the most extreme defensive methods, even if they are caught by the military at that time, You can also use your identity certificate and a letter of recommendation from an exchange scholar to explain yourself.

Back at Pamarot's house, Lynn had a brief discussion with Tanze and Titchmel, and then Lynn followed Hughes to the desert in a hot air balloon for a "sightseeing tour", while the two of them went to Albuquiqui, the largest city in New Mexico, to stay temporarily, where they tried to gather intelligence while tutoring their English. If you haven't heard from yourself after three weeks, you can drive back to Boston, where you'll meet up with the rest of the crew and take actual command from Brewer.

In order to avoid being conspicuous when going out, and to save the kind-hearted Pamarot family unnecessary trouble, Lynn and the others stayed in the house all day listening to the radio and reading the newspaper. The battles of Okinawa and Iwo Jima had just ended, and almost all the newspapers and magazines in the United States were carrying long stories about the tenacious fighting spirit and tenacious character displayed by the US troops in these two battles. In the case of a war mobilization and the announcement of a decisive battle on the mainland, it is necessary to completely defeat this stubborn enemy by conventional means, and there is still a hard battle to come. Therefore, it is likely that only a small number of scientists who stand on the high plane of mankind oppose the use of nuclear weapons, and what ordinary soldiers and civilians hope for is to end the war as soon as possible with as few casualties as possible.

In addition to the ongoing Pacific War, another topic of discussion in the American press and radio at this time was the defeat and surrender of Germany, the establishment of concentration camps, the persecution of Jews, the cruelty of prisoners of war, the various dark sides of the Third Reich that war correspondents dug into, and the loot that could be made public, including weapons and facilities, secret fortifications, and Nazi treasures discovered and captured by the American army. It is curious that the Soviet Union, another powerful ally in the victory over Germany, is seldom mentioned in these American newspapers, and there is no mention of the imminent triumphant rally of the Allied giants in Europe to discuss how to divide the spoils of war and urge Ben to surrender. It seems that the allies did not take the security work of the summit lightly, and one can imagine the kind of tight security around the meeting place. Lynn didn't know about it by Laurentz. General Bach personally planned the assault as it was planned, but from his current standpoint, he wanted to see an unexpected success, to see the tide of history change from here, so that his life and life could take a new course.

After dinner, Lynn took Tanze and Tchmel to the Pamarote family, but Mr. Parmarot did not hold back, but said lightly, "Good luck." It was the first time Lynn had been so close to an American family, and the calmness and calmness they showed in their ordinary life also reminded the ruthless soldiers from the surviving empire of the ordinary life of the past, but there was no going back.

After two days in a secluded inn, Lynn arrived at Hughes's house as promised. As soon as Hughes Sr. went out on his front foot, Hughes Jr. loaded the balloon kit onto a friend's truck, and the young man named Johns took them to an open area more than 20 kilometers away. After measuring the direction of the wind, Hughes Jr. hurriedly beckoned Johns and Lynn to help him unfold the hot air balloon, the efficiency of the burner using kerosene was obviously much worse than that of using natural gas to spray flames, and after more than two hours, the wind direction suddenly changed again. Hughes Jr. tidied up his belongings in a hurry, added two sandbags to the outside of the basket, and carefully checked fresh water, food, and blankets to keep out the cold - even though it was a scorching July heat, Hughes Jr. explained to Lynn that the temperature difference between day and night in the desert was so great that in just a few hours one could experience the change from wearing a vest to wrapping a blanket, and if the balloon malfunctioned badly, the blanket could be placed under the butt to relieve some pain.

For this kind of American joke, Lynn can't say whether he is used to it or not, he leans on the hanging basket and flips through the map over and over again, and discusses with Hughes Jr. the best route for this "sightseeing trip". In the event that the military could intercept it at any time, the choice of route was crucial to whether the venture would achieve the desired results.

Toward noon, Johns drove off in his broken truck, leaving only Lynn and Hughes Jr. in the deserted countryside. In a foreign land, although Lynn did not carry weapons, the training he received in the commando team and the base gave him the confidence to deal with two or three ordinary civilians, not to mention the state of changing from a repairman to a hot air balloon pilot, the young American next to him seemed to be a different person, not only was his attitude very serious, but even he rarely smoked cigarettes.

After waiting for another two hours in the blazing sun, Lynn drank half a bottle of water and put two bubbles of urine. The heat and dryness of this day can still be bearable, but in the case of the hot air balloon has been blown up, this open wasteland is simply the best pointing point, even people more than ten kilometers away can see, if it is stopped before it has not been lifted off, Lynn's planning and waiting in the past few days will be directly in vain.

Raising his saliva drenched fingers again, Hughes Jr. squinted into the distance: "Hey, man, it's time to go!" ”

With these words, Lynn's frustration from waiting was swept away, and he raised his hand to look at his watch—the Russian watch he had exchanged for on the Königsberg black market had been replaced by an American-made Greene before he came to the United States, so as not to foolishly show his feet in these small details.

"A quarter past three...... It's time to get dark when you fly! Lynn complained dissatisfiedly that she had come early, but she didn't expect to spend most of the day on the ground in a blink of an eye.

Hughes Jr. didn't seem to be frightened by the employer, who was only a few years older than him, and he said unhurriedly while untying the cable to the big boulder: "Early morning and evening are the best time for hot air balloons to take off, because the air flow is stable, and those who study physics should have a very professional understanding of this aspect!" ”

Lynn was a small general, so he had to mutter, "I'm studying molecular physics, besides, don't you do everything sooner rather than later?" What else can I see when it's dark? ”

Little Hughes deliberately didn't mention his father's matter, and argued: "Hey, it's good when it's dark, at a glance, isn't there a man-made facility where there are lights in the dark desert?" ”

This reason Lynn is not immobile, but he is worried that the United States [***] side will also take this aspect into account, using simple masks such as blackout cloths, so that even if the night flight flies over the secret test base, it may be difficult for the naked eye to detect it.

There is an element of chance in any military operation, and Lynn can only pray that the secrecy of the American side will not be leaked. Because he fully considered the possibility of being intercepted and censored by the US side, he did not bring a small camera, let alone knives and firearms, but only a change of clothes, license documents, the most basic supplies, more than 200 US dollar bills, and the small telescope that Bach gave him. In order to disguise his goal, the marks and notes he had previously made with a pencil on the travel map were carefully erased.

Untying all the ropes, little Hughes climbed into the basket with his hands and feet, twisted the knob on the kerosene stove, and the fire was so hot that there was even a slight whirring sound. It was the height of summer, and after most of the day's heating, the hot air balloon's airbag was already full of hot air suitable for flight, and it quickly broke away from the ground, so that Lynn, who was riding the hot air balloon for the first time, felt as if it had lost control, and then it would rise until the clouds were nine days away. Hughes Jr. quickly reduced the fire of the kerosene stove, and when it reached an altitude of about four or five hundred meters, its ascent slowed down significantly, and gradually drifted away from the take-off site with the breeze blowing. As her vision widened, Lynn soon saw Roslunas, a small city from the air, bordered by a north-south railroad line, and the number of vehicles moving in the city could be counted with the naked eye.

Realizing that the balloon was drifting in the direction of the setting sun, Lynn was surprised and asked, "Are we flying west?" ”

Talking in the open basket of a hot air balloon is very different from riding on a regular airplane.

"Don't worry!" Hughes Jr. said, "Everything is under control." ”

Lynn settled down and thought about it, the direction of the air flow at different altitudes seems to be different, it seems that people who do not have solid knowledge of physics, pretending to be a physicist is easy to show their feet on small problems. So he then avoided talking as much as possible, instead observingly observing the situation on the ground and marking the map accordingly according to the direction and time of his flight—data that determined key directions was a must for both travel and intelligence.

When the hot air balloon rose to a very high altitude and the landscape on the ground was as small as the most miniature combat sand table, the wind direction changed, and Lynn and the others began to drift north. This kind of hot air balloon without external power, the flight speed depends entirely on the wind speed at that time, it looks slow and leisurely, if it is fast, it can fly five or six hundred kilometers a day, and it does not need to bypass the fork barrier, and the consumption of fuel is far less than that of ordinary vehicles.

(To be continued)