In a secret base buried deep within the Nevada desert, a pilot climbs into a jet unlike anything ever built on American soil.The controls are alien, scattered with no apparent logic, covered in strange, foreign letters. No ordinary pilot could ever decipher the maze of dials and switches. Yet somehow, the man in the cockpit knows exactly what to touch, twist, and ignite to send the machine surging skyward at an impossible rate of 45,000 feet per minute.A formation of supersonic Northrop T-38 Talons scrambles to intercept, but as they close in, the mysterious aircraft begins to shapeshift midair. Its wings sweep backward, transforming it into a delta-winged predator slicing through the sky at twice the speed of sound.The Talons close in, but the jet ahead breaks away. The chase is over before it begins, leaving the pilots trying to figure out how on earth they will ever beat an enemy they can’t even catch. —