Unmanned

CHAPTER FOUR

STEVE THOUGHT IT WAS a bad idea from the moment Darwin Cole climbed into the backseat. The smell alone raised doubts. Body odor and bourbon, the trailer’s rank essence of stale food, kerosene, and warm vinyl.

He looked over at Keira but she wouldn’t meet his gaze. She’d stated her case a few minutes earlier with the windows rolled up, while Cole stood outside, bag in hand, like a kid waiting for a ride to a sleepover.

“You want to bring him with us?”

“One week is all he’s asking. I think he means well.”

“It’s not even our house. What’s Barb going to say?”

Steve kept his hands on the wheel, ready at a moment’s notice to pop the locks, turn the key, and floor it out of there. Thank God the guy was no longer holding a shotgun.

“I’ll handle Barb.”

“That’ll be fun to watch. What makes you think he’s worth it?”

“He’s connected in a way we’ll never be. The operational side. Failed missions, stuff Fort1 was doing on the ground.”

“So I take it he doesn’t even know Fort1’s name?”

“I think he’s seen his file.” Steve raised his eyebrows. “Or a file, anyway. Something the Air Force had.”

“And?”

“That’s what he’s holding back. That’s his ticket to Baltimore.”

“Not worth it.”

“How do you know? I’m not saying it’ll be easy, but my vote should count for something.”

“Look at him.”

“I know. He’s definitely still affected by what happened. He’s sort of…”

“Disturbed? Deranged?”

“No. I don’t think so.”

“Well he’s a drunk, that’s for sure. Look at all the empties.”

“Yeah, he may have a problem with that.”

“Great. So you’ve invited a drunken, unstable fighter jock back to Baltimore with us.”

“He invited himself. I’m just asking you to take him on the first leg.”

“You’re thinking we can ditch him in Vegas?”

“If we have to. Once we get a better idea of what he knows. Or if, well…”

“What?”

“If he becomes a problem first.”

“Wonderful. Maybe we can get the cops involved, or the U.S. Air Force. Where do we put him in the meantime?”

“Our hotel room?”

“Jesus, Keira.”

“Just for a night.”

“He could kill us in our sleep. I mean, look at him.”

“Careful, he’s probably reading our lips.”

“Like Hal in Space Odyssey.”

They laughed uncomfortably and watched him for a second. Same pose as before, still holding his bag and looking up at the sky. He hadn’t moved an inch. Steve sighed loudly and finally took his hands off the steering wheel.

“Okay, then. Let him in.” She reached for the door handle. “But promise me one thing.” She paused, waiting. “If we have to unplug him, you’re the one who does it. Deal?”

Keira swallowed hard, then nodded.

“Deal.”

No one said much during the ride back to Vegas. Every time Steve stole a glance in the mirror, Cole was searching the sky out his window. Bat shit crazy, probably. Who wouldn’t be after eight months out here all by yourself? But maybe Cole would get sick of this before they did. They’d clean him up, buy him a meal, take him out on the Strip, and after a day or two of fresh sheets and hot food the novelty would wear off. He’d grow weary of their questions, their persistence. Or maybe he’d run out of information, make himself obsolete. He’d realize his mistake and they’d return him to the trailer, or to some friend’s house in the ’burbs. Surely somebody from his old circle of friends would take him in, wouldn’t they?

Steve felt a stab of pity for the man. He’d been in need himself from time to time since making the decision to go it alone professionally. Self-sufficiency was a risky business nowadays, unless you had money to burn, and neither Cole nor he enjoyed that kind of advantage.

It was only when Cole emerged from the hotel bathroom, showered and shaved, that Steve saw the potential for more complex problems than he’d first bargained for in this arrangement. The man he saw now was a craggier, more intense version of the one from the newspaper photo. He looked refreshed and reconnected, his movements crisp and athletic, the zeal coming off him like steam. It reminded him that Keira’s profile—blow job or not—had portrayed Cole as an intelligent and even thoughtful young man. A bit of a thrill seeker, too—a hotrodder and pole vaulter in high school, but with grades good enough for the Air Force Academy. The star of his class at pilot school. High marks from his officers. In action over Kosovo in ’99 he’d shot down a Yugoslav MiG, one of the few air-to-air kills by an American pilot since the Korean War. His quotes were long and contemplative, which also said something, unless Keira was the kind of reporter who dressed them up. Steve had heard stories but had never known for sure.

Looking closer, Steve saw that the pilot’s pleading blue eyes, lively and eager back then, were now haunted and needful. Just the sort of face that Keira and Barb would want to nurture or, worse, would compete for. Or maybe Steve was feeling jealous, a little threatened, one repressed alpha male detecting the scent and hunger of another. Although if anyone had a right to feel proprietary about their current arrangement it was Steve, who’d put the group together three months earlier. He’d been working the Fort1 story for Esquire—on spec, but working it nonetheless—when he started coming across enough of Keira’s and Barb’s footprints to realize they were stalking the same quarry, albeit from different angles. So he’d called a summit.

As luck would have it, both women had just been offered buyouts by newspapers desperate to slash payrolls. Steve knew all about the joys and limitations of a buyout. He had taken one from The Sun in an earlier round of cuts two years ago. That money was long gone, and carving out a living as a freelancer hadn’t been easy. Stories like this one were especially trying, because they took time to develop.

They compared notes, grudgingly at first, and soon discovered that between them they already had the basis for a story that, with a little care and watering, might grow into something altogether more satisfying and lucrative. If they were lucky they might even land a book deal.

They decided to move in together to economize. From the beginning Steve had been the resident counselor and peacemaker, the soother of bruised egos, and from that perspective he sensed that Darwin Cole would be a risky ingredient to pour into their sometimes volatile mix.

“Where’s Keira?” Cole asked, looking around the room. He was wrapped in a towel.

“Down at the front desk, getting another room.”

“You guys are sharing?” He scanned the two double beds as if trying to figure out which ones had been slept in the night before.

“We were sharing, but not like you think. You’re my roomie now. For tonight, anyway.”

“What are the sleeping arrangements in Baltimore?”

Christ, this guy really believed he was in it for the long haul.

“We’ll figure that out later. But it’s strictly platonic. You’re not joining some sort of hippie commune.”

“That wasn’t what I meant.”

Cole threw on a pair of jeans and was buttoning up a flannel shirt when the door opened with a click and in walked Keira.

“They put me next door.” She looked at Cole and stopped short. “Wow. A new man.”

Steve watched her carefully, then took charge.

“It’s almost lunchtime,” he said. “Should we talk or eat?”

Keira looked to Cole for his preference.

“Whatever you two want. Some food might be good.”

“Room service okay?” Steve asked. “That way we can get started while we wait.”

“Oh, c’mon, Steve. He needs a real meal, a chance to stretch his legs.”

Coddling him, although Steve had already been thinking the same thing. He smiled ruefully and looked at the pilot.

“What do you say, then, Captain? Looks like you’re the boss on this one.”

“Sure. Going out’s fine. Whatever you guys want.”

Cole went to fetch a clean pair of socks from his duffel by the window. Then, just as he’d done in the car, he looked up at the sky, long and hard, as if he were searching for something. Steve couldn’t let it go a moment longer.

“See anything?”

“No. Doesn’t mean nothing’s there.”

“What is it you’re looking for?” Keira frowned, but Steve kept going. “Not Predators, I hope.”

“You’d be surprised what they do with those things. What they look at.”

“The ones flying out of Creech are just for training, right? The only real action is in the trailers, where they pilot the ones overseas.”

“Even the training flights have to look at something.”

“Nothing but mountains and desert out that way. Plus the old test range, farther west.”

“The old nuke site, yeah. Bunch of A-bomb craters from the fifties and sixties. All the new stuff’s underground, but, still, they don’t like us poking around.”

“Sounds like Area Fifty-One.”

“Stop it, Steve.” Keira shook her head.

“No, I want to hear. What do they look at, then?”

“Some other time,” Cole said it abruptly, as if he’d realized how he was sounding. Or maybe he was trying to head off an argument. The silence afterward was strained until Keira changed the subject.

“How’d you end up flying Predators? You volunteer?”

“Nobody volunteers for Preds. Except those video gamers the Air Force is signing up.”

“Video gamers? Really?”

Cole shrugged.

“Might as well, since they grew up with a joystick in their hands.”

“So they shanghaied you?” Steve asked.

Cole nodded.

“Christmas weekend 2008. I’m still at Aviano. My CO calls me in, says, ‘Monkey, I got a shitty deal for you.’”

“Monkey?”

“My radio call sign. Monkey Man. ’Cause of my first name, the whole Darwin thing. He says, ‘There’s this new program out in Nevada threatening this entire unit, and you’re victim one.’ I asked if he meant that Xbox shit, the fucking drones. Yep, that was it.”

“Bad, huh?”

“You gotta realize, Vipers were the top of the food chain. Slide into the cockpit and you’re wired in straight to God, every system integrated. Tilt your helmet to aim a missile, that kind of thing. You can practically think a thought and make it happen…” His voice trailed off. “When you arrive at Creech they take you inside a GCS for a Predator and you want to throw up.”

“GCS?”

“Ground control station. Some geek’s idea of a cockpit. Video monitors stacked up like junked TVs in the window of a pawnshop. Shit piled on shit. The stick and rudder are an afterthought.”

“Isn’t somebody else in there with you?” Keira said. “A copilot or something?”

“Your sensor sits to your right. Same array, pretty much. But, hell, you’re glad for the company and he does half the scut work—operating the camera, handling the maps, keeping the audience happy.”

“Audience? Sounds crowded in there.”

“Not in the trailer. They’re watching on their own screens, from a bunch of different places.”

“Like the J-TAC?” Keira offered.

“Plus your CO, or whoever the MIC happens to be. Sorry. Mission intelligence coordinator. Then there’s an image analyst, at Langley AFB in Virginia, plus some desk jockey at Al Udeid.”

“Al Udeid in Qatar?” Steve asked.

Cole nodded. Keira had started taking notes, but the pilot didn’t seem to mind.

“The Combined Air and Space Ops Center,” Cole said. “Went there once for a dog and pony show. Big-ass warehouse. Industrial strength air conditioners going full blast. Hundreds of people at monitors, with headsets on. When both wars were going, everything that was airborne was displayed up on wall-sized maps of Iraq and Afghanistan, like movie screens. The Preds showed up as little blue dots, barely moving. Slowest damn dots on the board.”

“So, at least four people are looking over your shoulder?” Keira asked.

“And all of them think they know better than you what to do next. You have to just sit and take it, when what you really want is to say, ‘Hey, I know this is neat and new to you, but I’m not just driving a bus to take pictures for you guys on the ground.’”

“What a cluster fuck,” Steve said.

“Sometimes.”

“How much can you see from that high up?” Keira asked. “Somebody told me once you can even recognize faces.”

That stopped him for a second. He turned away toward the window.

“Not really. But if it’s some village you’ve been to before, you do start to recognize people. From the way they move, the clothes they wear, the things they carry. You end up feeling almost… like you know them.”

“That’s kind of horrible.”

“It can be. Especially when you start to like it. Not really like it, I mean, but, I dunno, it gets into your head. You hate it one minute, get off on it the next. It’s their little world, but in some ways you know more about it than they do. If bogeys are over the next hill coming for ’em, you know about it hours before they do.”

Keira, who couldn’t see his expression, seemed eager for more, but Steve was troubled by Cole’s fixed stare. He could easily picture Cole the way he must have looked the day of the disaster at Sandar Khosh, surveying the wreckage on video screens while everyone told him what to do next. Drone pilots were often burnouts, he knew that as well, from a Pentagon study he’d sourced on the Internet. Thirty percent or something, with almost a fifth suffering from clinical depression. And now, after just a few minutes of pointed conversation, Cole looked like he was at the end of his rope, cornered and hopeless. They were opening up this poor guy like a lab animal. When Keira started to ask another question, Steve cut her off.

“Hey, he must be getting hungry. I know I am. Why don’t we go?”

“I’m fine with room service,” Cole said. His voice was drained of energy.

“No, Keira’s right. Let’s get some air. Take in the freak show out on the Strip.”

“One other thing,” Cole said, turning back toward Keira. “You said you had news of my family.”

She smiled uncomfortably. “What is it you want to know?”

“Anything, really. I haven’t exactly been in touch. Not for a while.”

“Well, let’s see. There’s your boy.”

“Danny.”

“Yeah, Danny. He’s eight now, going to a private school in Saginaw. Third grade. Seems to be doing great.”

“Private school? Carol’s dad must be paying. How’s Karen? She’d be twelve. Probably boy crazy by now. Did you see them?”

“No. But I, uh, went up there. Asked around. At first we thought that, well…”

“That I might be up there?”

“Yeah.”

Cole snorted.

“Carol would call the cops if I ever showed my face. Besides. The Air Force, well…”

“What?” Steve asked.

“I’m supposed to stay close to home, meaning right around Creech. Keep them apprised of my whereabouts.” He nodded toward a sheaf of folded printouts on the bedside table, page after page, with lots of lines of print blacked out. “Part of my plea agreement. It’s all in there. I see you’ve got the transcript from my court-martial. They told me it was going to be sealed.”

“It was,” Steve said. Then he shrugged, as if to apologize. “Sources. Don’t worry, we won’t spread it around.”

“Most of it’s bullshit. The Cessna wasn’t stolen. The owner’s another pilot, a friend of mine. We had an understanding. I could use it on weekends and pay him later. And the whole Death Valley thing.” He shook his head. “They made it sound like I kidnapped my kids and dumped them in the wild. It was a trip we’d made before, the whole family. They were all for it. There’s a landing strip there, a Park Service campground with picnic tables and everything. They were loving it. I just had a little too much to drink after they went to bed. Carol overreacted.”

Steve and Keira said nothing.

Cole couldn’t blame them. Even if he was right, what more was there to say? Besides, Carol hadn’t overreacted. Cole had shut her out during those final weeks together. He’d never even asked for help as he drifted beyond reach. And she had tried. Tried hard. It was like he was locked inside a cockpit, with Carol banging on the glass. Strapped in for the duration, mute and unreachable, while telling himself the isolation was for security reasons. Can’t talk about our missions, it’s classified. You wouldn’t understand anyway.

And maybe she wouldn’t have, but he’d never given her the chance, and now he missed her, the kids too. During his desert exile the idea of his family had seemed as remote as the moon. A blank landscape in a blank mind. Now, stirred to life by this conversation, Carol and the kids were a ready presence, their voices alive in his mind. Danny with his picture books, Karen with her soccer ball, Cole slicing a banana onto their Cheerios at the breakfast table while Carol cooked him an egg. A household at peace.

He looked up to see Steve and Keira staring at him. He blushed and took a deep breath.

“Okay, then.” he said. “Let’s go eat.”

Keira headed for the door.

Cole took a last glance out the window, craning his neck to look higher into the empty sky. When he turned he saw Steve watching closely. The nutty pilot, seeing things in the sky—that’s what they were probably thinking. Fine. Let them. Three years ago he probably would’ve felt the same. But he’d learned. They would, too.

They filed out of the room without a word.