Kirk Palmer was Simon’s best friend.He and three other SEALs from their platoon, Jagger Shepard, Austin Burke, and Cruz Torres, left about three months ago for some kind of specialized training that had been all very hush-hush.Since then, no one, including anyone in headquarters, had heard a single word from––or about––the four absent SEALs.If the rumors were true, even Commander Hunt, the head of SEAL Team 5, was worried.Unfortunately, the only thing they’d heard from the higher brass was that Kirk and the other three guys weren’t currently SEAL Team 5’s concern.
Needless to say, that didn’t make anyone feel better, but they were especially hard on Simon.The two men hadn’t parted on good terms, because Simon had been pissed Kirk had been accepted into the training program while Simon hadn’t.It was a stupid reason to fracture a friendship, but that’s what the two men had done.Darwin had no doubt Simon regretted every harsh word he’d said to his buddy.
“If Kirk and the other guys were sent off somewhere to test a new weapon system, I doubt they would have needed that complicated selection process we all went through,” Darwin finally said.“I mean, the psych-eval was bad enough, but the blood test crap was over the top.No, they’re definitely off somewhere doing some bizarre out-of-the-box training that pushes the envelope of what we’re used to.I’m sure we’ll hear from them soon.”
Simon didn’t say anything, but Darwin could see his friend’s shoulders relax in the darkness.
“Alpha Team,” a deep voice suddenly crackled through Darwin’s earbud.“The test begins now.Move to waypoint seven-tack-one by any route you choose.Stealth is to take priority over speed.You’ll receive further instructions once you’ve reached the objective.”
Darwin would have liked to ask a few questions––such as why the hell these people wanted them to wander around the island or if they should expect to run into some kind of opposition––but bit his tongue.Noting none of the guys appeared any more thrilled than he was, he pulled up the waypoint location on his forearm-mounted GPS navigator.Then he flipped down his night vision goggles and started moving toward the heavier sections of scrub brush to the north, his fellow SEALs silently spreading out until there was at least ten meters between each of them as they followed his lead.
He had no idea why, but if these people wanted them to be stealthy, then that’s what they’d be.Shadows moving through the shadows.
As they crossed the rough ground, rocky in some places, heavy with thickets in others, Darwin recalled everything he knew about San Nicolas Island, which honestly wasn’t much.He’d only been out here one other time for a nighttime parachute drop onto the airfield.It had been pitch black during the descent, and he’d left immediately after hitting the ground, so he’d never gotten more than a vague sense of the island’s layout.
He did know the island was part of the Point Mugu Sea Range and about sixty miles off the coast of Long Beach.It was off limits to the public because of all the various missiles and free-fall weapons tested there.
They’d just moved into a thicker section of scrub brush when Darwin heard a soft humming noise.Throwing up a closed fist to let his Teammates know to halt, he immediately dropped to a knee to tuck himself under the leaves, knowing the guys were doing the same.
He scanned the skyline with his NVGs but didn’t see anything.Holding his breath, he turned his head slowly, trying to pick up the sound again, but couldn’t hear a thing.It made him wonder if he’d heard anything to begin with.Maybe it was the wind.
“I heard it too.”Simon’s voice was soft in his earbud like he’d been reading Darwin’s mind.“A light humming sound.”
“Me too,” Lennox murmured from somewhere out in the darkness.“I think it’s a safe bet we’re dealing with a new kind of surveillance system.Probably a drone.They obviously want us to try and slip past it.”
“If it’s a drone, it’s gotta be the quietest one ever,” Darwin said softly as he continued to scan the darkened sky, looking for any trace of the unmanned vehicle.“Or flying at really high altitude.”
“A surveillance drone this silent would definitely be of interest to the Navy,” Dean confirmed.“But how are we supposed to avoid the thing if we don’t know where it is?”
“I’m pretty sure that’s the idea,” Darwin murmured.“I think the only option is to use the concealment provided by scrub brush and get as close to waypoint seven-tack-one as we can before we break cover.It will add a couple kilometers to the trip, but it’s the only thing I can think of.”
Everyone murmured their agreement over the radio before he and his buddies spread out through the brush, moving in the general direction of the waypoint.As he moved, Darwin kept an ear out for the soft humming sound.He picked it up a few times, but if it wasn’t for the other guys saying they’d heard it too, he would have assumed he was hearing things.
When they were finally forced to break cover and move across open ground, he and his Team did it one at a time while the others provided overwatch.That way, one of them might just spot the drone.Assuming therereallywas a drone out there somewhere.
“Alpha Team,” the now familiar voice crackled through Darwin’s earbud.“Break into three groups and converge on the rally point tango-two-two via separate routes.”
Wordlessly, Darwin peeled off to the south with Simon as Trace and Dean moved further to north, and Lennox and Colt continued along the middle path they’d been following.Splitting up to deal with unforeseen scenarios was something SEALs practiced a lot.It helped when things went sideways suddenly.
Thirty minutes later, Darwin and Simon slipped into a hanger along one side of the airfield.Getting into the secure flight line area had required climbing a fence, but this building matched the coordinates for the rally point, so they didn’t feel too bad about not going through the front gate.
The hanger was filled with a mix of uniformed officers and civilians who had that decidedly nerdy engineer look.All of them were likely from the program office running the Genesis Project.They didn’t pay much attention to Darwin and Simon, too focused on a wall covered with a TV screen and computer monitors to even notice them.
A few minutes later, Lennox and Colt arrived immediately followed by Trace and Dean.That’s when the other people in the room finally realized Darwin and his Team was there.Two of the men walked over to talk to them.
“I’m Seth Stevens, Program Manager for the Genesis Project,” the dark-haired man said, reaching out to shake their hands.“And this is my lead engineer, Giles Chambers.I wanted to thank all of you for helping us exercise the system.Your assistance will be invaluable.”
“No problem,” Darwin said, recognizing the man’s voice as the person giving them orders over the radio.“Though I’m not sure how much we helped since we’re not even sure what we were doing out there.”
“Join us for the outbriefing, and you’ll have a better idea of what we were doing,” Giles said, leading them over and introducing them to several of the other program engineers sitting in front of the computers.Graying at the temples, he wore wire-rimmed glasses.
Darwin watched the monitors along with his Teammates as their entire journey across the island was replayed in front of them in crystal clear clarity.Given that the videos were all shot from above, it appeared they’d been right about the drone idea.
“As you can see, our Genesis system was able to successfully track your team across the island, regardless of the evasive techniques you employed,” Giles said.“The system’s tracking algorithms were able to maintain an identity lock, even when one or more of you were out of view.”
That’s when Darwin noticed the little digital tags that followed each of their silhouetted figures as they moved across the screen.Each tag had a four-digit series of letters and numbers, and it wasn’t hard to figure who was who.The tag DS01 followed the silhouette moving toward the scrub brush first, which meant it was him.The tag SM02 stayed close to Darwin the whole time, which meant it had to be Simon.
The amazing thing was that the tags moved with them even when Darwin and the others disappeared behind trees and rocks.Somehow, the system knew where they were going, even if it couldn’t see them.He wasn’t sure how the computer operators were able to do that.Hell, how were they able to ID him and his Teammates when there wasn’t ever a clear view of their faces?
