Drone Command

THIRTY-THREE

They all stood inside the massive hangar. Myers and Pearce were kept at a distance from the flat, cone-shaped Wu-14 suspended on a sling hanging from a crane. Its dull black hull made the arrow-headed shape all the more menacing. Several white-coated technicians and blue-uniformed personnel hovered over the Wu-14’s open service doors, tablets and notebooks in hand. Ji had explained that as soon as the checklists were completed the Wu-14 would be lifted onto the body of the nearby DF-21D mobile missile and fitted into place where its warhead normally resided.

“That’s it?” Myers asked. “Looks like a prop from a Star Trek episode.”

“That is the Wu-14.” Feng beamed with pride. “It is a true revolution in military affairs. The end of the era of aircraft carriers. The end of American naval power projection capabilities as we have known it.”

“Don’t count your chickens just yet,” Myers said. “It still hasn’t been tested in battle.”

“We have concluded seven tests with earlier prototypes, all successful,” Feng said.

“And all of our computer simulations agree. The Wu-14 is completely operational,” Ji said.

“Seeing is believing,” Myers said. She began stepping past one of the scowling navy guards, who gently shoved her back with the stock of his rifle.

Pearce leaped over and slammed two hands into the surprised guard’s chest. The guard started to raise his rifle but Pearce was too fast, knocking the barrel aside with his right hand and smashing the man’s face with the heel of his left hand. Blood exploded out of the guard’s nose like a crimson party favor. The violent confrontation took all of two seconds. Before the guard’s knees hit the pavement, five other guards rushed at Pearce, pointing their assault rifles at his chest.

Admiral Ji shouted in Mandarin. The seething guards stepped back, lowered their weapons.

Pearce raced over to Myers. “You all right?”

“Been kicked by horses a lot tougher than he is.” Myers glared at Feng. “Still trying to get me killed, I take it?”

Feng was horrified. “You are an impetuous woman!”

“Better get used to it,” Myers said. “There’s a lot more like me where I come from.”

“The Wu-14 is top secret. You’re not allowed to approach it,” Admiral Ji said.

Myers grinned. “Try and stop me.”

She stepped past the kneeling guard, blood seeping out of his cupped hands. She patted the top of his head as she walked by. “Get some ice for that, son.”

Admiral Ji whispered violently to Feng. Feng shook his head, whispered back, “Leave her alone.”

Feng, Ji, and Pearce hurried after Myers. Thirty long strides and she was near the Wu-14, but another guard came swiftly forward, accompanied by an officer with a security wand in his hand. Myers saw the dead stare of a killer in the guard’s eyes. Halted in front of him.

Myers turned to Feng. “Do I get to take a look or are we going to start World War Three right here in this hangar?”

“I forbid it!” Ji said. Feng shook his head at the admiral. What can it hurt?

The admiral cursed in Mandarin and looked away, humiliated by the rebuke and the poor manners of the former American president.

“By all means,” Feng said, palm extended toward the Wu-14. “Get as close as you like.”

Admiral Ji nodded at the officer with the wand in his hand, the same kind used for airport security screenings. The wand beeped violently as it waved over Myers’s torso. The officer shouted angrily.

“You are carrying spy equipment!” Ji blurted.

“Don’t you watch the news?” Feng asked, exasperated. “She has a bionic pancreas system implanted in her body. She’s no spy.” Feng stepped closer to Myers. “May I see your phone?”

Myers reluctantly handed him her phone.

“I don’t trust phones. Too many interesting things can be done with them,” Feng said. He glanced at the key pad. “Your security code, please?”

“F-R-E-E.”

Feng typed it in using only his thumb. He flipped through the various app icons. Found the bionic pancreas app. Opened it.

“I see it dosed you just three minutes ago.”

“I wouldn’t know. But I sure feel terrific.”

“May I keep this until you leave?” Feng asked.

“Of course. Just don’t turn it off — unless you’re trying to kill me.”

“Wouldn’t think of it.” Feng nodded to the guard to let her pass. Myers shouldered past the intimidating hulk and marched over to the Wu-14.

“Wait up,” Pearce said.

The guard blocked his path.

“Not you, Mr. Pearce,” Feng said. “You own a drone company, yes?”

“I’m just a simple businessman.”

“I’m afraid I don’t trust you. I must ask that you remain here.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Admiral Ji will order the guards to kick your teeth in.”

Pearce glanced around. A dozen guns were pointed at him.

Pearce shook his head, frustrated. “Fine.”

Myers stepped right up to the hypersonic glide vehicle next to one of the technicians, who glanced at her quizzically and backed away, confused. The other scientists and technicians stopped what they were doing and watched the brazen American woman inspect their country’s most top secret missile.

“This is outrageous,” Ji hissed.

“Don’t be foolish. This is exactly what we wanted,” Feng whispered.

Pearce didn’t speak a word of Mandarin, but he understood the basics of their exchange. Thus was it ever between military men and their civilian leadership.

He wasn’t paying attention to the technicians, one of whom was a homely middle-aged woman in a lab coat who was staring at Pearce intently.

A minute later, Myers marched back over to Pearce and the others.

“Satisfied?” Feng asked.

“How many rubber bands does it need to fly?” Pearce asked.

“I’m no aeronautical engineer, but it looks real enough,” Myers said. “God only knows if it actually works.”

Admiral Ji handed her a thumb drive. “All of the test data and video clips are on this. Give it to your best analysts. It will convince them.”

“I’ll pass it along,” Myers said, pocketing the thumb drive.

The middle-aged woman who had been scoping out Pearce grabbed Feng by the arm and pulled him off to the side. Myers’s eyes tracked the two of them.

“Data can be faked,” Pearce said. He was drawing on his past experience with Jasmine Bath, who not only stole volumes of data, but also planted false and doctored evidence during her cybercrime career.

“Starting tomorrow, you’ll know if the data has been faked or not,” Feng said.

“How’s that?” Myers asked.

“Tomorrow, China announces a red line around the territorial waters of Mao Island and the surrounding East China Sea. Any ship that dares cross it will suffer the wrath of the Wu-14.”

“If you think we’re bluffing, try us,” Admiral Ji said. A broad smile wrinkled the skin around his bulldog eyes.

Myers wanted to slap the smile off of the admiral’s face. He was too damn confident.

And confident sons of bitches like him went to war.

She noticed the woman and Feng were in a heated conversation. Feng kept stealing glances at Pearce.

Myers got that feeling in her gut all over again.

Time to get the hell out of Dodge.