“Looks like he was waiting to get paid,” Kara said.
“It’s go time,” Hail said.
“Are you ready, Knox?” he asked his pilot.
“Yes Sir,” Knox replied. “All of ELO’s flight systems are online and we’re good to go.”
The truck shook and the video vibrated as the engine kicked over. A dark puff of smoke came out of the dirty exhaust stack to the right of ELO. With no microphone built into the drone, it was like watching a silent movie.
“The truck is moving,” Renner said.
With BEP shut down and its video screen black, the only video in the mission center was being sent by ELO. ELO’s camera was pointing toward the back of the truck. The crane had been lowered and stowed and was no longer obscuring the view from the rear. The warehouse doors were wide open and it looked as if the truck was backing into a murky abyss.
Hail glanced over at Kara standing next to him. She watched the video like Hail suspected she watched surveillance videos at the CIA office. All of her concentration was focused on it and she looked even prettier when she was focused.
“The truck is out of the warehouse,” Renner reported.
The drone’s sensitive light detector chip transitioned into night mode. In order to let in as much light as possible, the camera lens opened to its full extent. A night-enhancement software kicked in and sharpened the image further, turning blobs of black and white into lamp poles and security lights and bright lights on top of the truck.
“If there’s no one around then let’s get this thing in the air,” Hail instructed.
Thirty yards from the warehouse, the truck driver placed the truck into first gear and began to make a wide swooping turn through the dirt lot and headed for the front gate.
“Retracting the magnets,” Knox said. “OK, we’re loose. Taking off in three, two, one and liftoff.”
Watching the video rise and then sway to the right messed with Kara’s equilibrium. She reached over and balanced herself, using Hail’s right shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” she told Hail, but she didn’t remove her hand.
“No problem,” Hail responded, somewhat surprised that he found her touch comforting.
Hail understood the drone had only four minutes of power for flight and still had to use its remaining power to facilitate comminutions with BEP, so he told Knox, “No fancy stuff. There are no trees around so just get it on the roof and stick it somewhere. Flight time is power we can’t afford right now.”
“You got it,” Knox said, angling for a security light that was mounted on the corner of the warehouse. Knox pulled the flight controller to the right and throttled up the drone. He made his approach from the east side of the warehouse. ELO swung out over a barbed wire fence and darted back in, gaining altitude as it flew.
“We have burned thirty seconds,” Renner warned.
A football field of sheet metal appeared under the drone and Knox tilted the leading edge of the drone up into the air to create a stall and shed speed. Once the drone had transitioned into a hover state, Knox eased off the power and lowered the drone onto the roof of the warehouse.
“We’re down,” Knox said. “Lowering the magnets.”
“Great job,” Hail told everyone, but most of the praise went to Knox. “Put ELO to sleep to save power.”
Renner asked Kara, “Do you have any idea how much time we have before the North Koreans move all this stuff to another location?”
Kara removed her hand from Hail’s shoulder and said, “None at all. It could be days. It could be an hour from now. We don’t know where their assembly facility is located.”
Hail got up from his chair and began walking for the door.
“I would like to meet with the mission planning crew in the conference room in twenty minutes,” He announced.
Kara followed Hail out into the hall and closed the door behind them. Hail began walking and she pulled up next to him and matched his strides.
“Am I invited to the mission planning session?” she asked.
“Absolutely. The first thing we need you to do is to contact your people and get some aerial shots of the warehouse so we can get a lay of the land. We need to find the most isolated area to land the drones.”
“Can’t you do a fly over in one of your drones to get those shots?” Kara asked.
“We can, but it’s risky for us. Daylight, slow moving drones, we might take the risk if we were planning the mission a month from now, but time isn’t on our side and we don’t want to do anything that will spook the North Koreans. If they see the drone, then they’ll move the missile stash, maybe even underground. That would be a much harder target. Don’t you guys have satellites that can snap a few photos for us?”
“Yes we do and I’ll check with Pepper and see if he can take the photos at first light, weather permitting. Of course, if it’s overcast then that would be a no go.”
They reached a door that read SHIP SECURITY.”
Hail stopped and turned to look to Kara.
“I also want to know how long Kornev will be at the warehouse. Any information you can provide us on that will be greatly appreciated.”
Kara hesitated for a beat.
“You said us, but you really mean you. Don’t you?” Kara asked disapprovingly. “I told you that Kornev is not part of this mission. I have not been given the clearance to remove him. He is currently a valuable conduit of information for the CIA.”
Hail looked annoyed.
“Last time I checked, I don’t work for the CIA and therefore I don’t need permission to kill this piece of shit. It’s not like he’s a protected American citizen.”
“You’re working for the CIA right now,” Kara shot back. “This is a CIA mission that you agreed to execute.”
“Execute. I like that sound of that. Let’s get down to some executing. Blowing up missile parts is not an execution, but killing Kornev is. You think that he sold the missiles to the The Five terrorists, so he’s an asshole that needs to go.”
Kara looked like she was ready to spit fire.
“You need to get over yourself, Mr. Hail. You think you’re untouchable, but you are sitting in the middle of the Sea of Japan on a frickin cargo ship. Don’t you understand that military assets could take you out at any time?”
“They wouldn’t do that unless they were idiots. We are currently carrying thousands of tons of nuclear waste. Do you have any idea what a cataclysmic environmental disaster that would cause? Let’s consider that for a moment.”
Hail stopped talking and thought for a second how best to frame his point.
Kara primed herself for whatever he was going to say.
Then Hail surprised her by asking, “Have you ever heard of Sado Island?”
“No, is there something special about it?” she said irritably.
“Not unless you’re visiting one of its beautiful beaches, such as Nyuzaki, Tassha, Sawata, Sobama or Mano-Shinmachi to name a few. It’s a stunning Japanese island in the Sea of Japan. Sink the Hail Nucleus and a thousand years from now everyone will be saying, remember how beautiful Sado Island was before it became a barren moonscape of rock and sand. Sink the Hail Nucleus in the Sea of Japan and the list of countries that no longer have beach access would be Japan, North Korea, South Korea, China and Taiwan. The Russians won’t be that happy either. But the positive side is hardly any Russians live in that part of their country and none of them are swimming in the Sea of Okhotsk since its average summer temperature is about 50 degrees. And what do you think those countries will do to the country that causes such a catastrophe?”
“Let me ask you this,” Kara responded austerely. “You used the word country, as in, what do you think those countries will do to the country that causes such a catastrophe.” Kara punched the word country in her sentence.