The Peanut App transmitted as easily as two middle-school teenagers gossiping about a classmate, and the communications satellites picked up the signals as if Wu was using a home Wi-Fi in Seattle and attempting to get a local website. The texts, along with all the Devil Dragon apps information from the phone, went from Wu’s hotel Wi-Fi, out to the computer structure of the China Telecom, and then right over to the Ops Center. The entire sequence, along with full encryption, was only seconds. Because Mark Savona and crew were going to be off the grid awhile and traveling, he arranged for all the team’s texts to arrive to the Watch Officer first.
The report from Wu’s phone generated an automatic report titled “OPERATION WHIRLPOOL” and sent the entire raw content to the DIA Operations Center at Bolling AFB. The amount of data in the report was quite large, and consisted of additional emails, locations, websites visited, emails, and aircraft performance reports going as far back as the initial flight. The attachment in the email had a day/time stamp of just four minutes ago, and the Watch Officer on duty was fast on his feet to make the phone call. He looked up the point of contact who needed the information, and was surprised to see it was the Deputy himself.
“Mr. Jason Cohen, sir, this is the Watch Officer, Major Scott Howard. Your boss has a priority message here that just came in. Want me to run it up?” asked Major Howard.
“Yup, bring it up. Thanks. Make sure it’s sealed,” Jason asked, considering he wasn’t cleared for whatever the contents were.
Jason immediately went in to the Deputy’s office, and Major Howard hurriedly made his way up to the Deputy’s office.
“Sir, you have a priority message coming up from the Watch Officer. A Major Howard.”
“Hmm. Thank you. Who is it from?”
“Unknown at the moment.”
Just then, Major Howard entered the foyer of the Deputy’s office.
“He’s here now, sir. Want me to send him in?” asked Jason.
“Yes, please. Have him come on in.”
Major Scott Howard entered the room and greeted the Deputy. The Deputy took off his badge so Major Howard could identify the Deputy, and write down his number on the back of the badge. He checked the clearance list for this message, and was on it.
“Good to go, sir. Here you go,” handing the paperwork in the locked, cloth pouch to the Deputy.
Calvin Burns sat at his desk, unlocked the pouch, and took out the report on OPERATION WHIRLPOOL. He opened the heavy folder and saw 212 printed pages of data, a majority of the pages full of numbers in columns. The dates, and times were there, in addition to longitude and latitudes, or the positions of the aircraft. It also displayed airspeeds in knots, converted to miles per hour, outside air temperatures, and altitudes of the vehicle. It also gave, in number form, their navigational route, where they started, and where the flight ended. It showed engines numbered one through four and their performance data, including engine oil pressure and temperature, fuel tanks and their levels, in addition to their temperature. The weapons data was empty, and showed they had not started testing the aircraft yet as a weapon of war. A whole host of information was important to an analyst who would not only enjoy reading the report, but relish in reading it more than once.
Calvin also noticed the shutdown of the number two engine during the last entry, which was just dated hours ago, seeing the engine instrument numbers increase in temperature. He ran his finger across the page, turned it to the next, and on page 210 to 211, he saw it: FIRE. Oh, shit, he thought, Wu had a fire.
“Jason! Get me Mark Savona on the phone!” the Deputy hollered.
The Omni Hilton Head Oceanfront Hotel was a spectacular waterfront resort, recently remodeled and decorated beautifully. Robert drove up to the hotel parking lot on the south side, and they walked into the small General Store inside the lobby so Mark could reload on his coffee fuel. Judi from the lobby at DIA wasn’t here to make him his special drink by facial recognition, so he was forced to order like all the other normal customers.
Ford grabbed a table for them and everyone but Mark sat. He arrived shortly with a round of decafs, and sat down with him. As he was stirring his drink, his smart phone vibrated. Mark looked, and the screen read, ‘Work — Big Room’.
“Hey, Ops Center calling. Check it out,” showing the phone to the table.
“Hello. This is Mark,” he answered.
“Mark, this is BIG ROOM. What is the last initial of your last name?” asked the caller.
“S, as in Sierra,” Mark answered.
“And what is your code number?”
“747652TU.”
“What is your code word or phrase?”
“Bryce Harper. Washington Nationals.”
“Thank you. Please hold for a call from the Deputy.”
Mark placed his hand over the phone. “Deputy is calling,” he told the table. Mark checked to ensure they were green, and they were.
The gang all looked at each other, then Ford looked at his watch.
“This guy ever sleep?” asked Ford.
“Mark, Calvin here. How’d things go in Savannah today?” asked the Deputy.
“Good, sir. All good. Thumbs up on the request. Reggie sends his best,” Mark answered.
Mark thought about telling him they were heading up to Corning tomorrow, but decided not to. The Deputy called him, not the other way around. No reason to bend the boss’ ear if he was calling him.
“Okay, good. Reason I am calling. Our friend. He had a fire. Fire on number two. Looks like all okay. But, ah, just wanted you know for planning purposes. Certainly, more details when you get back,” the Deputy said.
“Whoa. I see. Ok, sir. Thanks for the call. We’re heading up north past you tomorrow to see your other friend. Should be back to you in the evening.”
“Got it. Tell him I said hello, and please pass my sincere thanks. Safe travels and see you then,” answered the Deputy, then hung up.
Mark disconnected the call on the phone and looked down, then at Ford. “Ford, Wu was flying and had a number two engine fire. Deputy received the report. He didn’t say how, but must be the Peanut relay. Wu landed safely, and the Deputy said more details upon our return.”
“Bloody hell,” Emily exclaimed.
Robert was thinking that based upon Peanut’s performance in the past, the report must have come from the Ops Center, then to whoever requested in. The Deputy must be the most senior person on the list to be notified, he thought.
“Shite,” said Emily.
“Shit is right. Well. Those things happen. Engine fires are somewhat normal and you just shut it down, and hope it didn’t catch on to other components of the jet,” Ford said.
“Are you for real? A fire is normal?” Robert questioned.
“Not normal, but we get a lot of stuff thrown at us and a fire is just on the list of all sorts of crap that can go wrong,” Ford answered. Ford kept silent, but remembered a flight crew just last month that had to eject out of an F-15 due to an engine and fuselage fire. Ford also didn’t even know if Wu had ejection seats, of which he made a mental note to ask.
“On nearly every single flight I have ever been on, something breaks. Something gets damaged, or doesn’t work anymore. Not surprised. It’s a machine, no different than your washer or dryer at home,” Ford added, trying to explain the similarities to non-pilots.
“I’ll remember that next time I’m flying home on British Airways to Heathrow,” Emily added.
They walked out of the General Store and made their way back to the front desk. Getting room keys, they met one last time to touch base for the morning flight to Elmira/Corning Airport to checkout their chariot. The Corning G650ER was waiting their arrival.