Drone Strike: A Dreamland Thriller (Dale Brown's Dreamland) Page 7

  “Yup.”

  “I thought all you Air Force guys had names like Macho and Quicksilver Hotshot and like that.”

  Turk smiled. “Turk’s enough.”

  “Yeah,” said Dome. “Call me anything. Just as long as it’s not asshole.”

  CAMP WAS A SMALL FARM IN THE SIDE OF A HILL SOME twenty miles south of where they had landed. Two soldiers met them near the road and guided the driver as he backed into a ramshackle barn. Dome introduced Turk around, then got him some food.

  The team consisted of seven men. All but one was a member of Delta Force, though they never identified themselves as such. It was obvious from their easy camaraderie that they’d trained and operated together for some time; Turk knew they’d been in Iran for several weeks.

  The seventh man, Shahin Gorud, didn’t announce his affiliation, but Turk guessed he was CIA. His beard was longer and thicker than the others’, and he was at least ten years older than the next oldest man, David “Green” Curtis, a black master sergeant. Turk couldn’t speak Farsi—sometimes called Persian, Iran’s primary language—but he guessed Gorud was fluent.

  “You speak Russian?” asked Gorud warily when they were introduced.

  “Yes,” said Turk. “A little. My mother was from Russia.”

  Gorud said something quickly; it sounded like, Where did she come from?

  “Moscow.”

  “Say it in Russian.”

  Turk did so, then added, in slightly hesitant Russian, that he didn’t remember much of the language.

  “You’ll do. You know more than the Iranians. Just keep your mouth shut unless I say to talk.”

  “How did you know I spoke Russian?”

  Gorud smirked.

  Green was the father figure of the team, and while not technically the highest in rank, was the de facto leader, the first one the others would look to for direction. The officer in charge, Captain Thomas Granderson, was surprisingly young, just a year or two older than Turk. He spoke Farsi and Arabic fluently, though a notch less smoothly than Gorud and Grease. Dread—Petey Rusco—was one of two advanced combat medics on the team. The other was Tiny—Sergeant Chris Diya—who in time-honored style was the exact opposite of “tiny” at six-eight, even taller than Grease. While in a pinch all of the men were capable of doubling as medics, Dread and Tiny could have done duty as doctors in any emergency room on the planet.

  Red—the truck driver, whose hair (now dyed black) gave him the nickname—was a sergeant from Macon, Georgia, and sounded like it, too, at least when he spoke English rather than Farsi. The last member of the team, Staff Sergeant Varg Dharr, was a pudgy soldier who did much of the cooking, and was responsible for the spiced goat that Turk devoured after arriving. All of the men looked at least vaguely Iranian, and all but two had Middle Eastern roots on at least one side of their family.

  After he’d eaten, Turk got rid of his jumpsuit, then checked his personal gear. There wasn’t much: aside from a change of underwear and socks, he had an off-the-shelf GPS unit, water, and first aid essentials. Most important was a satcom unit that looked like a standard Iridium satellite phone but was programmed with a more advanced encryption set. He shouldn’t need much more: the reason he was here was the larger rucksack he kept close at hand, which contained the control unit, its antenna, and a backup battery. If all went well, they’d be back home in three days; five tops.

  Turk took out the control unit and ran it through its diagnostics, making sure it hadn’t suffered during the trip. The controls consisted of three pieces—a nineteen-inch flat screen, a sending unit, and a panel that held the actual flight controls. This looked like a miniature version of a Flighthawk, with a few extra joysticks attached to either side. A standard keyboard sat in the middle; at the top was a double row of function keys, whose purpose changed depending on the situation and the program. Two touch pads sat at the bottom; these were similar to the touch pads on a standard laptop. Dedicated keys on the right controlled the general flight patterns and swarm commands; three extender keys on the left changed the function of each. The joysticks were flightsticks or throttles, as designated by the user. In theory, up to eight nano-UAVs could be directly guided at any one time, though it was impractical to override the computer for more than a few moments if you were flying more than two.

  Even one was difficult to work at all but the slowest speeds. If he had to take over, Turk knew he would designate the course and allow the computer to fly the plane along it. Assuming, of course, there was time.

  Granderson and Gorud squatted down on the floor next to him as he finished his tests.

  “You’re ready?” asked Gorud.

  “Yes.”

  “They want us to go into action tomorrow night,” said Granderson. “There are two windows, one starting at eleven, the other at three. I’d like the eleven. Gives us a lot more room to maneuver. But the schedule will be tighter getting to the airport where we’ll meet your ride. We’ll have to travel while it’s still daylight. Just for an hour or so, but still.”

  “It’s not a problem,” replied Turk. “Not for me.”

  “Good.”

  The “windows” were times when an X-37B delivery vehicle would be in the vicinity overhead and in range to launch the nano-UAVs. The X-37B was an unmanned space shuttle. While the X designation was supposed to indicate it was experimental, in fact the shuttle had been flying missions since 2011. Just over twenty-nine feet long and nine and a half-feet high, there was more than enough room for the three dozen nano-UAVs in each spacecraft’s cargo bays. The X-37Bs had been launched about the time Turk was landing in the Azores.

  “So where’s my helicopter?” he asked.

  “We’re meeting it in Birjand,” said Gorud. He took a piece of paper from his pocket, unfolding it stiffly. The paper was thick and stiff, treated with a waxy substance that would make it burn quickly. The map printed on it was a hybrid of a satellite image and a more traditional road map.

  “Why?” asked Turk.

  Gorud gave him a look that told Turk he was not used to being questioned. Turk had seen that look before, from Nuri Abaajmed Lupo, the lead CIA officer on the Whiplash team. It must be common to all CIA employees, he thought, implanted when they got their IDs.

  “Because it’s convenient,” said Gorud. “The security there is also nonexistent. It’s close enough to where we have to go that we won’t stretch fuel reserves. And it’s the way I drew it up. Enough reasons for you?”

  “Do they teach that look in the Agency?” retorted Turk.

  “What?”

  “I asked a simple question. You don’t have to get all shitty about it.”

  Grease clamped his hand on Turk’s shoulder, attempting to calm him. Turk brushed it away.

  “It’s already arranged,” said Granderson quietly. “The helicopter’s going to be waiting.”

  “What is it?” asked Turk.

  “A Russian Mi-8. It’s leased to a Russian company. It will fit with your cover story, if that’s ever needed.”

  “How far is it from Birjand to the target?” He looked at the map. Turk wasn’t a helicopter pilot, and far from an expert on Russian helicopters like the Mi-8, an old workhorse that came in dozens of variations. But he knew helicopters in general, and he knew that the distance between Birjand and the target area would test the chopper’s range.

  “Roughly four hundred and fifty miles,” said Gorud. His tone remained hostile. “Yes, it’s far. We’ll carry extra fuel, and refuel halfway. The flight itself shouldn’t be a problem. The Russian oil exploration company that uses it makes that flight through the area all the time. We get it at 2000 hours, refuel by midnight, begin the operation at 0100. Then we fly on to the farm near Dasterjad, wait out the day, and leave.”

  “Disney World after that,” said Granderson. He got a few smiles, but no laughs.

  Turk visualize
d the map he’d half memorized on the flight out to the Azores. The target was a hidden complex in Abuzeydadab northeast of Nantz, which itself held a major facility, though its existence had been made public by the West years before. Abuzeydadab’s had not. The Iranians believed the U.S. didn’t know about it, and had studiously avoided anything that would draw attention to it. That gave the operation certain advantages; chief among them was the absence of serious air defenses or a detachment of troops. They’d have to worry about shoulder-launched weapons—MANPADS, or Man Portable Air Defense Systems—and grenade launchers, but if things went well they wouldn’t be close enough for those to be a problem.

  The actual penetration of the plant and the final attack were preset with the computer, so assuming nothing went wrong, Turk believed the toughest part of the job would be “picking up” the nano-UAVs as they descended. This was as much a matter of being in the right spot as pressing the proper buttons when they needed to be pressed. When prompted, the control unit broadcast a lower-power signal for the aircraft to home in on. But to make sure he got the connection, he’d have to start broadcasting well before the UAVs were due to arrive, and stay within a two-mile-square box. Once the assault began, two UAVs would circle above the attack area, relaying the signals to the rest of the swarm. They would self-destruct when the last signal from the swarm members was lost, a security precaution hard-wired into the units and that could not be overridden.

  Two miles sounded like a large area, but a helicopter flying in the vicinity for nearly twenty minutes as the mission unfolded was certain to attract attention. Fortunately, the area to the east of Abuzeydadab was desert and largely empty. Even if they were heard, it would presumably take the Iranians a while to respond.

  “Problem!” said the man at the door of the barn. “We got a car coming down the driveway.”

  “Lights,” said Granderson, even as they were doused.

  Grease grabbed Turk by the arm and began tugging him toward a window at the back. “Stay close to me.”

  “Who’s in the car?”

  “Just come on.”

  Turk tried to object, but it was useless—Grease pushed him to the ground, smothering him with his body as gunfire erupted at the front of the house.

  ADVENTURER

  1

  Iran

  BY THE TIME GREASE LET TURK UP, THE GUNFIRE HAD stopped and the barn was empty.

  “All right, let’s go,” said Grease, pointing. “Through the window.”

  Turk pushed the control unit back into its pack, took his rifle and followed Grease to the window. He went out first, waiting while Grease jumped through.

  “What’s going on?” Turk asked.

  “Don’t know. We’ll find out soon enough. Keep your gun ready. This way.”

  Grease led him across the flat yard to a small outbuilding that the team had agreed earlier would be a first regrouping area if they were attacked. Grease checked around the building, then had Turk kneel next to him on the side farthest from the road.

  “Uh, thanks for watching out for me,” said Turk as they waited.

  Grease didn’t respond.

  You have to be the coldest son of a bitch I’ve ever met, thought Turk.

  Sergeant Major Curtis trotted toward them a few moments later, followed by Dome. The younger man was carrying an M-240 machine gun.

  “We’re clear,” said Curtis. “We move out as soon as the captain gives the signal.” He looked at Turk. “You OK, Pilot?”

  “I’m good.”

  “Careful with that rifle, all right? Especially if that safety is off.”

  Turk realized he was pointing it at Curtis. “Sorry.”

  “Someone told me you were a good shot.” Curtis smiled. “So you don’t need to prove it.”

  Dome laughed.

  “I’m all right,” said Turk defensively. “Not as good as you guys, I’m sure.”

  “Don’t worry. Your job isn’t to shoot,” said Curtis mildly. “Wait for the truck.”

  Curtis and Dome left, circling around behind the house as they checked the perimeter. Two troopers were moving near the front of the barn; Turk asked Grease what they were doing.

  “Dunno. Probably hiding the bodies.”

  “Shouldn’t we be getting out of here?”

  “Relax, Pilot. We’ll get you where you got to go.”

  They waited in silence until the truck emerged from the barn a few minutes later. Then Grease wordlessly nudged Turk into motion, trotting alongside him as the truck moved up to the front of the house. The others were waiting there in a semicircle, standing by a Toyota sedan.

  “In,” said Grease, pointing to the truck.

  “Where are we going?”

  “We’ll find out when they tell us.”

  2

  CIA campus, Virginia

  DANNY FREAH PAUSED FOR A SECOND, WAITING FOR the computerized security system to recognize him by his biometrics, then continued through the large, empty basement space surrounding the “Cube”—Whiplash’s secure command center on the CIA headquarters campus in McLean, Virginia. He walked directly toward a black wall, which grew foggy as he approached. The wall was actually a sophisticated energy field, which allowed him through as soon as he touched it and was recognized by the security system.

  He went down the hallway—these walls were “real”—to the central command center, where Breanna Stockard, Jonathon Reid, and six specialists were monitoring the Iran operation in a small, theaterlike room. Three rows of curved console tables, arranged on descending levels, sat in front of large screen. The floor, chairs, and tables moved, allowing the room to be reconfigured in a half-dozen ways, including a bowl-like arrangement that reminded Danny of a baseball stadium. While the designers had hailed the flexibility, it turned out the room was almost exclusively used as it was now, in a traditional “mission control” layout.

  Paul Smith looked up at Danny from the back bench. Smith was a military mission coordinator “borrowed” by Whiplash from the Air Force’s Space Reconnaissance Command. He’d worked as the liaison with Dreamland on the nano-UAVs, and was now the primary communications link to the command center with Turk and the ground team. Like the others in the room, he generally handled a variety of tasks, often all at once.

  “He’s in-country,” Smith told Danny.

  “Any trouble?”

  “Not with the jump. They had to move, though. One of the owners came to the house where the Delta team had hidden. Just one of those things. Murphy’s Law.”

  “Were they compromised?” Danny asked.

  Smith shook his head. He wore civilian clothes to fit in with the rest of the team; only Danny was in uniform. “Bad luck for them.”

  Smith meant for the people who had undoubtedly been killed, though Danny didn’t ask.

  Luck, good or otherwise, was the wildcard of life. It was also the one ingredient of every operation, covert or conventional, that could never be fully factored in. Things happened or didn’t happen; you planned for as many contingencies as possible, then thought on your feet.

  As it happened, the team’s presence at the farm was already part of a contingency plan—they’d moved from what had been an abandoned warehouse complex when workmen showed up suddenly to start tearing down the place. But then the entire operation was a cascading series of contingencies, revamped on the run.

  “They have another site about two miles farther north,” added Smith. “They have two guys there who’ve been watching it from a hide nearby. They should be OK there.”

  “Danny, do you have a minute?” asked Breanna, rising from her seat at the front. She came up the stairs slowly, obviously tired. Danny guessed that she hadn’t slept the night before. “Just in my office. Coffee?”

  “No thanks. Too much on the plane.”

  Danny followed Breanna as she detoured into the com
plex’s kitchenette. The smell of freshly brewed coffee tempted him.

  “How was he?” she asked.

  “He looked good. He nearly beat one of the trainers to a pulp.”

  “There’s yogurt in the fridge,” she told him, going over to the coffeepot. “Good for your allergies.”

  “Haven’t been bothering me lately. Desert helped.”

  “How was Ray?”

  “A sphinx, as usual.”

  A smile flickered across Breanna’s face as she brought the coffee to one of the two small tables and sat down. She put both hands around her coffee cup, funneling the warm vapors toward her face.

  “Cold?” asked Danny.

  “A little,” she confessed. “It’s sitting in one place, I think. What did Sergeant Ransom say?”

  “Sergeant Ransom knows his duty,” Danny told her.

  “I wish we could have trained someone else for the mission. The timetable just made it impossible. It wasn’t what we planned.”

  “I think it’ll be better this way. Easier to train Turk to get along with the snake eaters than to have one of them try and figure out the aircraft.”

  “But—”

  “They’ll make it out,” Danny told her, reading the concern on her face. “I would have preferred it if it were our team,” he admitted, “but they were already there. They’ll do fine.”

  “God, I hope you’re right.” Breanna’s whole body seemed to heave as she sighed; she looked as if she were carrying an immense weight. “The second orbiter will be launched tomorrow night. Once it’s in place so we have full backup, we’ll proceed. Assuming nothing happens between now and then.”

  “Sounds good,” said Danny.

  Breanna rose. “I don’t think it will be necessary. I think they’ll make it out.”

  “So do I,” answered Danny. “I’m sure of it.”

  3

  Iran

  THE NEW HIDING PLACE WAS A COLLECTION OF CRAGS at the back end of what had been a farm in the foothills. It hadn’t been tilled in years, and the two men who’d been watching it reported that they hadn’t seen anyone nearby since they’d arrived some forty-eight hours before.