Quicksilver

Cuban engineers have created a nuclear-powered aircraft capable of delivering a deadly blow to El Jefe' s enemy to the north. Hearing this, U.S. intelligence forces devise a plan to turn the tables on Castro as he presides over an air show where the plane will be shown. Hector Rivera, a turncoat Cuban flyer, is to steal the plane and bring it to the U.S., where it will be outfitted with advanced American guidance systems. The plane is then to deliver a strike that will neutralize both Castro and his nuclear capability, all without implicating the U.S. in the estimated half-million civilian casualties. Unfortunately, Cuba's intelligence is onto this plan. Soon, Cuba has its airplane back, along with a purloined prototype of an American nuclear plane, piloted by double agent Corby Michaels. As thanks for his help, Corby is double-crossed by Castro himself and turned over to the Americans, who still have one last surprise for Fidel. Preceded by an 11-page glossary, Dunn's ( Sidewinder ) story is a flimsy account held together by stultifying passages of technobabble. Additionally, Cuba, a failed Soviet client state, is hardly credible as a post-Cold War bogeyman. (Nov.)