Colonel Joe McKenzie, call sign "Half-Breed", leads a team testing the Nightwing, a new fighter aircraft with a top-secret weapon system. The Colonel is fully committed to this project, intending to complete the task entrusted to him with honor. But a distraction appears at the base: a beautiful blonde, laser weapons expert Caroline Evans, appeared in the testing group. True, she greeted the colonel rather coldly, but Joe would not have been the best of the best if he had given up in front of a woman, even the smartest one. He later discovered that someone from the group was sabotaging the tests. Suspicion falls on Caroline, who has the appropriate specialization, as well as the habit of working late. Now Joe must make a choice: loyalty to the country or love for the main suspect. Linda Howard's novel "Mackenzie's mission" was published by the International Publishing House "Panorama" in 1995 as Kay Thorpe "A Burning Feeling", translated by V. Maksimov . Additional translation and editing of words from the author, annotations, prologue, endings of chapters 13 and 14, replacement of names and titles was carried out on the “Dreamer” website.