Drone Command

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Troy, the Wu-14 is online!” Ian’s brogue thickened on the comms as his adrenaline kicked in. “The bot is active. Repeat, bot is active!”

Troy felt his blood pressure drop. Whenever extreme danger arose, his body always responded by slowing down. It brought him a preternatural calm, one of the reasons he was so effective in combat.

The third software bot that Pearce told Ian to plant in the Wu-14’s onboard computer lay dormant until now. It was the only way to guarantee it couldn’t be detected until this point. Now that the Wu-14 and the mission-control station on board the Liaoning were linked and the satellite connection was active, the bot was in play.

A video screen above the mission-control officer’s head displayed the Wu-14 on its mobile launcher at Ningbo.

“All systems go. You have operational control, Admiral.”

Feng dashed over to Ji, grabbed him by the arm. “Are you mad? We’re vulnerable. We should retreat.”

“We’ll never have a better chance than this,” Ji said. “The Americans will be better prepared next time.”

“They appear to be prepared for us now. I order you to retreat.”

Ji’s mouth thinned. “A gutless mouse. I should’ve known.”

“Don’t be foolish. There’s always another day—”

WHAP! Ji backhanded Feng across his jaw. The minister yelped, grasping his bleeding mouth with both manicured hands.

“Throw this coward into the brig!” Ji commanded.

Two armed guards grabbed the whimpering politician by his arms. Feng cried out as he was dragged out of the CIC, “He’s a madman! Turn around before it’s too late!”

“Where’s the George Washington?” Ji demanded. Another mission-control officer had a God’s-eye satellite view of the American carrier on his monitor. Joysticks and a computer screen were also fixed at his desk. He would be the one to guide the Wu-14 to its hypersonic final destination.

“The George Washington is still holding just outside the red line, sir. But within strike distance.”

“Are they launching more aircraft?”

The officer glanced at his monitor. The George Washington’s deck was covered with fighter-bombers waiting to launch.

“They’re holding so far.”

Ji took a deep breath. The Americans were hesitating just as he predicted. They were fearful of provoking his own powerful fleet. Fortunately for him, the George Washington’s crowded flight deck was crammed with fully fueled and bomb-laden aircraft. That made it even more vulnerable to a missile strike.

Perfect.