Wake Island
As Shake Davis leaned out the starboard access door, the big CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter banked and made a low-speed sight-seeing pass over Wake Island. It looked almost exactly the way he remembered the place from years ago except for the cluster of temporary modular structures on the western end of the runway. Those would belong to Tracey’s science team. He could see a number of them shading their eyes and staring up at the camouflage-mottled Marine helicopter droning overhead.
There wasn’t a lot to see on a mid-Pacific atoll that measured only about six square kilometers in total acreage. Three small islets—Wake, Wilkes and Peale—surrounded a stunning aqua colored lagoon. There were a few old rusted-out WW II Japanese shore defense guns slowly giving way to wind and w
