“They were landing the other UAVs in the water,” said Turk. “I just think that they’d want to be closer. Near the intercept. Because, what if something goes wrong — what if the Sabres get shot down? You want to recover them. Easily. Five hundred miles away? Anything could happen.”
Rubeo played with the lobe of his ear, considering.
“We have several search plans under way,” said Reid, speaking for the first time since the session started. “And we do believe that the UAVs must have been operated from someplace closer. We have a possible location for that station.”
“They had that many bases?” Danny asked.
“It would make sense to have several,” said Reid. “They need to move around, and be sure of having a safe haven.”
“We have circumstantial evidence on this one,” added Breanna. “A link to Braxton’s business holdings.”
“So where is this?” asked Danny.
“A container ship and tug that have been sailing in the vicinity for several weeks,” said Breanna. “It’s currently anchored about fifty miles north of where the aircraft were last seen.”
“We should check it out immediately,” said Danny.
“I’m glad you agree,” said Reid. “How soon can you put together a mission to do so?”
6
Breanna got up from the console as soon as the call with Danny was finished. She needed to take a long walk, but there wasn’t time for that. There wasn’t time for anything.
She settled for the kitchenette suite across from the lower conference room. It was a poor substitute.
“You must be floating in that stuff,” said Jonathon Reid, entering the room as she poured herself a fresh cup of coffee.
“Almost.” She took a sip; it was hot, but a little bitter.
“Our call to the President is in five minutes,” said Reid.
“I know.”
“Do you want me to take it myself?”
Breanna shook her head. “No.”
“This wouldn’t have happened if she had agreed to our original plan,” said Reid. “If it had been a full Whiplash mission from the very start.”
“I don’t know about that.”
If the conspiracy had been out to get the UAVs from the very beginning, the results would have been the same, Breanna realized.
Except for the Chinese, maybe. Though even there, there was no way to tell.
“You’re blaming yourself,” said Reid. “That’s foolish. You’re not to blame.”
“No, but I’m responsible,” said Breanna. “The buck stops here.”
“And here,” said Reid. “Should we take the call in the conference room or your office?”
“Conference room. Change of pace.” She smiled weakly.
A tone announced that a communication from Air Force One was incoming. Reid took his seat and directed the computer to open the line. Breanna closed her eyes while the encryption synchronized, readying herself.
“Breanna, Jonathon, I understand the Chinese ship is no longer on fire,” said the President as soon as the line was established. Her face loomed in the large holographic screen at the front of the room. “We measure that as progress, I assume.”
Reid started to answer, but the President cut him off.
“I also hear that we’ve lost two Sabres,” said Todd, clearly in a bad mood. “What’s the explanation?”
“The conspiracy appears to have taken over the controls via a transmission that mimicked one of the original command overrides,” said Breanna. She spoke quickly, not because she was nervous or wanted to get it over with, but because she felt it would be better if she was the one who told the President rather than Reid. The military aspects of the operation were hers, not his. And of course there was the Dreamland connection. “It was a vulnerability we hadn’t anticipated. It affects all of the combat UAVs, not just the Sabres. I’ve asked the Pentagon to ground all versions of the Flighthawk until we have a solution.”
“For how long?”
“We’re not sure,” admitted Breanna.
“And we’re working on getting the aircraft back?” asked the President.
“We are,” said Breanna.
“What are the prospects?”
“I can’t honestly say.”
“We believe we have located another of the conspiracy’s bases,” said Reid, cutting in. “They’re on two ships, a cargo container carrier and an oceangoing tug. We think they may have used the cargo containers to hide some of their equipment, perhaps even the minisubs they use.”
“How many bases do these people have?” asked the President, clearly exasperated.
“They have a lot of money.”
“If they were spending it on feeding the poor, we wouldn’t be talking about it,” said Todd bitterly. “What are they going to do next?”
Reid shook his head. “We’ll know more if we take those ships.”
“Take them.”
The President seemed to be staring directly at Breanna. She knew this wasn’t true — Todd was merely looking at the camera above her screen on the plane. Still, Breanna felt as if she was on the spot.
And she deserved to be. The “leak” had turned out to be far greater than she or Reid had feared. Nothing in this operation had gone entirely as planned. Breanna knew it wasn’t her fault, or Reid’s — but someone had to take responsibility.
“What else?” asked the President.
“I think that’s it,” said Breanna.
“It’s quite enough,” snapped Todd. “Update me. Try to avoid doing any more damage to our relations with the Chinese. And stay away from the Philippines.”
“If the Chinese attack—” started Reid.
“Defend yourself, of course,” said Todd. “But try to keep them out of it, if at all possible.”
There was a pop on the line as it shut.
“I understand the Secretary of State has been talking to Beijing for the past hour,” Reid told Breanna, breaking the silence. “I would have liked to have heard the conversation. The secretary doesn’t like to be woken up in the middle of the night.”
He smiled, clearly meaning the comment to somehow cheer her up. But Breanna couldn’t find anything humorous in the situation whatsoever.
“I have to go over to the big house for a breakfast meeting,” said Reid, using his new favorite expression for his office in the headquarters building across the campus. “I’ll try to get back for the operation. If there are any delays or other complications—”
“I’ll let you know.”
“We’ll get through this,” added Reid. “Always darkest before the dawn.”
“I’m sure you’re right,” she managed.
Alone in the elevator to the surface, Reid thought about Breanna and the conversation they had just had. She was taking the matter far too hard, blaming herself, and Whiplash, for things that neither had any control over. The seeds of the conspiracy had clearly been planted years before. The vulnerability in the UAVs was extremely serious, but surely a solution would be found.
Breanna was working herself too hard. He couldn’t remember when she’d had a vacation. While the same could be said about him, he didn’t have a child or a spouse to take care of.
When the crisis passed, he decided, he would urge her to take some time off. It was only right.
7
Needing to move quickly, Danny decided to fly down with Turk to the Marine base and talk about a possible strike using Captain Thomas’s men. Despite the fact that they’d only returned a few hours before, the Marine commander told Danny they’d be ready to launch as soon as their Ospreys were ready to go. That would be in another two hours, shortly after dawn.