Piranha Read Free Page B

too much and wasn’t used to hearing the word, either. He ruled his fiefdom with an iron fist and would argue loudly with anyone who disagreed with his viewpoint. He sat to Weddell’s left with his feet up on the counter, a tablet computer in one hand and a coffee mug in the other.
    If the three of them couldn’t crack the drone’s command system, no one else in the world could. After confirming that the drone would in fact proceed on an intercept path toward the derelict barge, Weddell planned to veer it from its course and have it waggle its wings over Patuxent in a final flourish before returning it to Ventura control.
    Pearson slurped his coffee loudly before setting it down and tapping his tablet against the counter. “What’s happening, Larry? I’ve got nothing on the linkup so far.”
    â€œDr. Weddell,” Kensit said without looking away from his screens, “please remind Dr. Pearson that I don’t respond to that nickname. I prefer ‘Dr. Kensit,’ but I will accept ‘Lawrence,’ even though that privilege is usually reserved for people who could be considered equals.” He paused before adding, “If it’s not clear, I don’t consider him an equal.”
    â€œEqual in what way,
Dr.
Kensit?” Pearson said with a mocking laugh. “We sure aren’t equal in height.”
    â€œOr weight.”
    Pearson snorted. “Why don’t I just call you
shorty
? Or how about
pipsqueak
?”
    â€œMy height is lower relative to yours, but close to average,” Kensit replied without inflection. “Much like your IQ.”
    â€œEnough,” Weddell said, fed up with their constant bickering. “We’re not going through this right now.” He had spent half of the last six months playing referee between them.
    â€œWe’re about to win this thing,” he continued, “so try to remain civil until we’re done. We’ll only have a direct line of sight for two more minutes. What’s your status, Lawrence?”
    Kensit pressed a final key with a decisive snap. “If Dr. Pearson’s hardware calculations are correct, as soon as you are able to wrest the control signal away from Ventura, I will be able to reconfigure the onboard navigation protocols.”
    Weddell nodded and put his plan for blocking the transmission into motion. Spoofing the GPS navigation wouldn’t work because all U.S. drones relied on inertial navigation to prevent just such a tactic. He had to be much more creative. Using an antenna of his own design mounted on the deck of the boat, he blasted the receiver on the X-47B with an overload spike that would cause the onboard systems to momentarily freeze. The sensitive part of the operation was to do it just long enough so that its receiver would immediately go into search mode again, but not so long that it recognized someone was attempting to compromise its protocols and cause it to revert to autonomous operation.
    â€œGet ready, Lawrence,” Weddell said. “Remember, you’ll have only twenty seconds to acquire the signal.”
    â€œI know.”
    Of course he does.
    Weddell turned to Pearson. He was responsible for disabling the drone’s automated self-destruct, which would engage if the drone’s sensors detected an unauthorized signal controlling it. “Doug, are you ready to go?”
    â€œLet’s do this,” Pearson said, rubbing his hands together.
    â€œOkay. On my mark. Three. Two. One. Mark.”
    Weddell pressed the ENTER button, and the pulse bombarded the drone. His screen confirmed that he had a direct hit.
    â€œGo, Lawrence!”
    Kensit began typing furiously. The seconds ticked by. All Weddell could do from this point was watch. He kept his eyes on the monitor above him. The drone remained on its original heading.
    â€œStatus, Lawrence.” The countdown timer he’d programmed into his laptop gave them ten more