Chapter 56

56

The Vendor’s invited guests were seated in the small, darkened theater, focused on the large screen display. The rays of the digital projector shot through clouds of cigarette smoke. They were all intensely focused on the first-person view from the Yari drone as it hurtled toward the wreckage of the Makṛī and Rahul’s broken body lying nearby. Seconds later, the image turned to digital snow.

“Keiko, kill the transmission,” the Vendor ordered as he stood. His AI assistant snapped the monitor off immediately.

The young Chinese general stood and faced the towering Vendor.

“Overall, a very impressive demonstration.”

“Thank you.”

“Up until the moment your system was utterly defeated.”

A smattering of hushed laughter burbled in the darkened room. The lights popped on.

The Vendor’s fists clenched at the insult as the other guests stood.

“What do the Brits say? ‘Hoisted on your own petard?’ ” the Nigerian colonel said.

More subtle laughter rippled around the room.

“The test isn’t over yet!”

“Of course it is,” the other Nigerian said. “It’s only a matter of time before the other flags are captured. Twenty million dollars is a great incentive to finish their mission.”

“Unless, of course, you decide to murder them,” the Italian said. He was the head of a dark web assassination outfit.

“I am an honorable man. I would never violate the terms of an agreement.”

“Then face it,” the Nigerian said. “They won. You lost.”

“I admire the tactical logic of your opponents,” the Chinese general said. “Defeating your network rather than your fighting systems was a stroke of genius. How do you suppose it was done?” He flashed a thin smile.

Rage flooded the Vendor’s nervous system. The humiliation was nearly unbearable. Worse, if word of this disaster got out into the arms community, his reputation would suffer.

He was about to issue an order to have them all arrested and killed, and their bodies dumped in the shark-infested waters around the island. But his cold reason overrode his animal instinct for vengeance. Their disappearances would cause more problems than they would solve.

“I want to know how your network was breached,” the blond Serbian said. “That is the technology we need to acquire.”

“Why assume it was breached?” the Vendor asked. “It was most likely a hardware or software failure that triggered the return-to-base function.”

“I suspect you have a security problem,” the North Korean said in her thickly accented English.

“Which means we are all now at risk,” the Italian said.

“There is no reason for us to remain here,” the Chinese colonel said. “We demand immediate transportation back to Mindanao.”

Heads nodded all around. The group was clearly nervous.

“Keiko, notify the pilots to prepare for immediate departure.”

“It will be done.”

The Vendor smiled, raising opened hands. “You see? There is a transport helicopter on twenty-four-hour emergency standby. It will arrive on this building’s helipad within twenty minutes.”

“Very good,” the Chinese colonel said, relieved.

“I would ask all of you to remember the nondisclosure agreement you signed before you came here.”

“Don’t worry,” the Serbian said. “Your secret is safer with us than it is with you, apparently.”

“I will be in contact with each of you as soon as I have solved the issues and a new test can be conducted—”

“Don’t bother,” the Chinese general said. “The obvious imperfection in the technology is quite sufficient for my taste.”

The Vendor forced himself to ignore the insult. He pointed to the head of his personal bodyguard unit, an armed Japanese officer in crisp jungle camouflage standing in the corner. He drew the lieutenant over with a sharp draw of his index finger. The officer dashed over.

“Sir?”

The Vendor lowered his voice. “Escort my guests to the helipad. Put four snipers on the roof and a squad of armed guards outside the building. Contact me as soon as they are airborne.”

“Yes, sir.” The Japanese lieutenant turned to the guests. “If you will all please follow me.” He pointed in the direction of the elevators. The Chinese delegation led the way, followed by the others.

The North Korean scientist slipped over to the Vendor. “Please be sure to contact me when the next test occurs.” She patted him on the arm. “I’m sure you’ll find the problem.” She offered a forced smile before turning and catching up with the others.

The Vendor watched the large elevator doors shut and waited for the hum of hydraulics that signaled their lift up to the roof helipad before he allowed himself a bone-rattling, primal scream.

---

★Juan and Linc crested a small hill to get their bearings, no longer afraid of being spotted by drones overhead. After destroying the Makṛī, Juan ordered the remaining drones to ground and disarm themselves, then used the Mini-Sniffer to scramble and disable their software permanently. He also killed the radio signals to all of the island’s hidden cameras, blinding the Vendor.

Unfortunately, the handy device didn’t have a controller function or the ability to display camera feeds, otherwise he would have deployed the drones to take out the Vendor in a direct assault on his fortified compound. He made a mental note to raise those deficiencies with Stoney and Murph before they began a Mini-Sniffer version 2.0 build-out.

“There it is,” Linc said, using the spotter scope for a better view. He handed it to Juan.

They had both heard the heavy helicopter blades beating the air earlier, but they were under the jungle canopy at the time and couldn’t see it. But now up on the hill with a clear line of sight, Juan saw the big chopper leap off the tallest building in the compound and arc out over the ocean.

“I guess the party’s over, now that we’ve tossed a turd into their punch bowl,” Linc said.

“I’m just praying the Vendor isn’t on that chopper.” Juan checked his watch. “Oregon’s still four hours away.”

“We’re still a fair hike from the strike zone. We should get moving.”

Juan wanted visual confirmation of the spider-bot’s destruction. What he was really hoping for was that Rahul was standing close by when the first drone hit. If so, maybe there was some intel on the corpse or on the robot they could use against the Vendor. They had plenty of time to get there before the Oregon would arrive.

They also both agreed there wasn’t any advantage to hanging out with the other mercs. They were already on Plata’s radar and the prospect of splitting twenty million dollars with two fewer members of their team could prove too tempting to resist.

Juan pulled his canteen and took a swig of water as the beating helicopter blades faded in the distance. The scent of sweet and musky jasmine in the air brightened his spirits after a long and adrenaline-fueled day.

“Yeah. Let’s get after it.”