Game of Drones Read Free Page A

government--his patiently developed cell had been activated. Plans went into motion.
    As an officer he had driven the route to the JBAB many times before, where the Naval Support Facility Anacostia and Bolling Air Force Base were joined together as a single base.
    He knew the facility well, knew the enemy even better, as he drove the first of seven military cargo trucks to the front gate. Sitting beside him was former Army Ranger Naji Mihran, his second lieutenant.
    A sentry posted at the guardhouse with an MP5 submachine gun slung over his shoulder held his hand up. A second sentry remained inside, pecking at the keyboard of a computer.
    “Papers, please.”
    Shazad smiled. “Certainly.”
    As he reached into his shirt pocket, Naji Mihran leaned across the truck’s cab with a suppressed firearm and did a double tap, the two bullets finding the sentry’s head, killing him instantly.
    When the sentry inside the guardhouse saw his comrade fall through his peripheral vision, he sprung to his feet, reaching for his holstered Glock pistol. Before his hand could reach his weapon, three quiet shots from a suppressed weapon impacted his chest and drove him to the wall. As the soldier slid to the floor with a surprised look regarding his own mortality, a trail of blood marred the wall behind him.
    Good shooting , thought Shazad. But then again, he expected nothing less from his team, especially from Naji. “Maintain the guardhouse,” he told him. “You’re the first line of defense. Make sure that no one enters or leaves. Should there be problems...” He lowered the curved arm of his lip mike. “Then advise. Is that clear?”
    Naji nodded. Quite clear .
    Shazad held up his wrist to show his lieutenant the face of his watch. Eighteen minutes left to complete the mission.
    Naji understood as he jumped down from the truck along with two others. They exited from the rear, all dressed in the same uniform as that of the downed guards. While the others dragged the bodies out of sight, Naji lifted the arm gate to allow passage.
    They had seventeen minutes left.
    #
    In a housed facility approximately six hundred yards from the main gate stood a hanger with the number ‘17’ stenciled on the doors. It was massive, with enough interior space to contain several Boeing jets. But this particular hanger contained items of far more value.
    When Shazad pulled up to the doors, four heavily armed guards stood their posts, one of them holding up a hand and patting the air for him to stop.
    Shazad whispered into his lip mike. “Four tangos, all armed. One approaching the vehicle. The others are manning their posts by the doors. On five.”
    “ On five. We copy .”
    Shazad glanced at his watch, which was synchronized to the second with those of his team.
    Four seconds .
    The guard approached the vehicle with a questioning look on his face, then settled about ten feet from the vehicle, advancing no further.
    “Sir, state your purpose.”
    Shazad noticed that the sentry was holding the mouth of his weapon toward the truck.
    Three seconds .
    “Sir, I'm asking you again to state your purpose.”
    Shazad nodded, produced a set of counterfeit documents, and held them out the window for the guard.
    Two seconds .
    The guard reacted with a measure of caution by arching a brow as he reached for the documents. He eyeballed them briefly.
    “We have no confirmation of your arrival from Main Gate."
    One second .
    Shazad gave a cocky grin. “I don’t think that really matters much."
    The guard’s eyes suddenly detonated with the realization that the JBAB had been breached. He raised the point of his firearm. But Shazad beat the guard to the draw, directing his suppressed weapon to a particular point on the man’s forehead.
    He pulled the trigger.
    The guard stood for a long moment as a ribbon of smoke exited from the bloodless wound, his eyes now alight with wonder as the moment of death approached, and then he fell like a stone to the ground, hard