“If they have it, it’s just a bunch of circuits to them,” insisted Harker. “It’s a toaster.”
The President frowned. “Mr. Edmund, I understand Congress wants to talk to you about Raven.”
“The Intelligence Committee has requested a briefing,” said Edmund.
Breanna expected a long discussion to follow. Instead, the President rose.
“You will not speak to them until we have recovered this unit,” she told him sternly. “Is that clear?”
“Very.”
“William, work out the details. Executive privilege, whatever road we have to take. Stall, then bring out the heavy guns. Breanna, Jonathon, please bring this to a successful conclusion quickly. Get it back. I’m sorry, I have to leave, I have other commitments. Thank you all for your time.”
Chapter 5
They were in the slog part of the mission — past the high excitement of combat, with a lot of work to be done, yet without the adrenaline.
A potentially dangerous time, when fatigue and boredom conspired to make even the most dedicated soldier cut corners.
Danny switched around the assignments to make sure the people searching the buildings had not been involved in the first searches. He personally checked on the different teams, riding back and forth in one of the captured pickups with Melissa. The city had fallen into a stupor, dead and wounded lying near sleeping, exhausted fighters.
“We should do something about that,” said Melissa after they passed a pair of rebels lying by the road. MY-PID, analyzing their body heat, reported that they were dead.
“Like what?” said Danny.
“Bury them, at least. I don’t know.” She shifted uncomfortably in the pickup. The seat belts had been cut away; neither could belt themselves in against the pothole-induced bumps and lurches. “I feel like we should do more.”
She was quiet for a while, then, without prompting, volunteered that she had been scared.
“It wasn’t the shooting,” she said. “It was the baby. I–I didn’t know what to do.”
“Bloom was there.”
“She was. She was panicking about everything except the baby. For me it was the other way around.”
“Everybody has a breaking point,” said Danny.
“I didn’t break. I might have. I could see it.”
“True,” said Danny.
“I didn’t think about them as people when I got here. But now, I see them and I think, oh my God…”
Melissa trailed off, silent. Danny wanted to say something but wasn’t exactly sure what.
“Maybe you realized why we fight,” he said finally, still unsure that he had the right words.
They continued in silence toward the warehouse they had hit the first night. Hera and one of the new Whiplash troopers, Shorty, were standing outside, waiting. They’d just finished searching it, with no sign of any of the missing UAV components. Hera and Shorty had also checked on two small buildings nearby, both deserted. Neither appeared to have been even entered by anyone for months if not years.
“Sorry,” Hera told him. She and Shorty got in the back.
“I shouldn’t have let the Osprey get hit,” Danny told Melissa as they drove back toward their camp.
“How is that your fault?”
“I could have kept it back.”
“Would it have been as effective?”
It was a good and obvious question, and one he wasn’t entirely sure how to answer. There was always a balance between taking action and being safe.
“I don’t know,” he said finally. “But I guess I feel I should have told them to be more careful.”
“If someone told you that, would it have made any difference?”
“Probably not,” conceded Danny.
“I don’t see how you’re supposed to be perfect — doesn’t every plan get changed once the battle starts, or something like that?”
“Something like that.” Danny smiled. It was odd how suddenly he felt so comfortable talking to her.
Chapter 6
Jonathon Reid was about to open his car door in the Langley parking lot when a black government limo pulled up behind him. Reid knew exactly who it was, and could have guessed more or less accurately what was going to be said. He wanted to be anywhere but here, but there was no way to escape. He sighed to himself, then turned to face Herman Edmund as the rear window rolled down.
“Jonathon, come in here a moment, would you?” said Edmund.
“I’m actually late for an appointment,” said Reid.
“It’ll keep.”
Reluctantly, Reid walked over to the far side of the car and got in the back, next to the CIA director. There was a partition between the driver and the backseat; it was closed.
“Why are you doing this?” demanded Edmund. “I thought we were friends.”
“This isn’t personal,” said Reid. “There’s nothing personal involved.”
“You were trying to make me look bad with the President.”
“Herm, that’s not true. I barely spoke.”
“Your tone was atrocious. Raven is an important project,” continued Edmund. “It was started two directors ago. It wasn’t my idea.”
“I’m sure it’s important.”
“So why are you sabotaging it? What if I were I to do the same with Whiplash?”
“I don’t see that as a parallel situation in any way,” said Reid.
“No, of course you wouldn’t.”
“You do oversee Whiplash, the Agency component at least.”
“Oh come on, Jon. Everyone knows it’s your baby. You got it assembled, you got the funding, you convinced Magnus and the others in DoD to go along. It’s your baby. If anyone were to look at it cross-eyed, you’d scream.”
“The way Raven was deployed was not characteristic of your best decisions,” said Reid. He consciously picked his words, making the stiffest choices. Distance would be useful. This wasn’t a personal matter, and Edmund shouldn’t see it that way.
“Deploying the weapon without extensive testing and safeguards was ill-advised,” Reid continued. “You were almost guaranteed that something would go wrong.”
“You have no idea of the safeguards we employed,” said Edmund. “Or how much testing it’s undergone. Sooner or later it has to be used. That’s the real test. This — This was just a bizarre set of circumstances. The Predator caused the accident. It was part of the safeguards and it bit us in the butt — if we hadn’t had it with the flight, we wouldn’t be here talking.”
“It’s a powerful weapon,” said Reid.
“So powerful it should be under your control. Is that it?”
“Not necessarily, no.”
“But if it were a Whiplash project, that would be all right. If your private army had it, then nothing could ever go wrong.”
“Whiplash is just our — is just the action arm of the Joint Technology Task Force, of Room 4,” said Reid. “Nothing more.”
“No, ‘our’ is the key word there.” Edmund had a smug expression on his face, strangely triumphant, as if Reid had proven his point. “I want you to think of what you’re doing to the Agency here, Jonathon. I know you’re jealous of me. But think of the Agency. The institution. Our oaths. Our history. You’re going to drag the Agency through the mud. Again. You. Both of us swore we would never let that happen. I’m just surprised that you went back on that. I expected a lot more from you.”
“I’m not involved in the politics at all.”
“Oh come on. You didn’t tell Ernst?”
“Absolutely not.”
“I know you’re the one who went to the President, Jonathon. What did you do? Use Breanna Stockard? Did she tell her husband? Was he the one who tipped off Ernst? I know he has his own agendas. I don’t buy all that hero crap.”