“But no matter how smart this thing is, there has to be a way to track it, right?”Simon asked.“You’re not supposed to be able to operate any weapon on the Point Mugu Sea Range without a tracking telemetry and flight termination system.”
Reynolds and Seth exchanged another uncomfortable glance before the latter cleared his throat.
“Yes, Genesis is equipped with a telemetry system that can be monitored by the Point Mugu range control facilities, along with a non-energetic flight termination system that cuts power to the rotors, which immediately drops the platform,” Seth said.“However, it appears the Genesis AI has disabled both of them.Those two subsystems were located on different circuit cards, with their own power sources, so we never considered Genesis would deem them a threat.So, we can’t find where the platform currently is, and we can’t shut it down.Somehow, the AI found a way to deactivate those circuit cards.And since the system is invisible to current radar technology, our hands are tied.”
Darwin’s head spun at the reality of how dangerous this damn drone actually was.Glancing at his buddies, he saw that they were thinking the same thing.No wonder people in Jameson’s investment group wanted to sell Genesis to the highest bidder.If it were even half as advanced as Reynolds and Seth were implying, it would be worth millions.Billions.
“You mentioned needing proper authorization codesto upload a new mission into Genesis,” Darwin said, fishing to determine if there was a connection between Jameson’s group and the disappearance of the weapon.“Thatimplieswe’re talking about someone already high up in the program.Who has access to these codes, and are any of those people missing as well?”
Reynolds’ mouth tightened.“We’re aware that there are several individuals who could be involved, and you can be sure that NCIS is investigating them as we speak.But that’s not anything your SEAL team needs to worry about.We have that part handled.”
Darwin opened his mouth, ready to tell Reynolds about everything that had happened over the past few days at the vineyard, as well as his suspicions about what Jameson’s investment group might be up to.He hated doing it because of what it would mean for Katrina, and yet, this wasn’t something he could hide.
But at the last moment, something stopped him.
“If you don’t want us to worry about who might be doing this, whatdoyou want us to worry about?Why are we here?”he asked instead.
“Your team is going to be our emergency response force,” Reynolds said.“When my NCIS investigators track down the people responsible for the theft of Genesis, we’ll need your team on standby in case whoever took it decides to use the weapon against us.”
Darwin exchanged glances with his buddies.
“A response force against an AI-controlled drone that can’t be tracked, is essentially invisible, and is designed with one purpose in mind: killing people?”
“We certainly hope it doesn’t come to that, but if they turn Genesis against us, we’ll need to take it down,” Reynolds said.
“While causing the least amount of damage to the platform as possible,” Seth interjected quickly.
Reynolds ignored him, focusing on Darwin and the other guys.“At this point, your team is the closest thing we have to experts when it comes to going against this drone.”
“The experts who got their asses kicked the last two times we dealt with the damn thing?”Simon muttered.“And that was before Genesis was carrying live ammo, which we have to assume it will be–if we go up against the thing again.”
“That might all be true,” Reynolds agreed.“Yet, you’re still the most experienced people we have when it comes to facing the Genesis drone.Again, I hope it doesn’t happen, but if it does, you’ll have a better chance to take it down than anyone else.”
Darwin wasn’t confident if that was very reassuring.Having next to zero chance of surviving a run-in with the Genesis drone was technically better than having no chance at all.But not by much.
As Seth moved over to talk to his engineers, Reynolds pulled Darwin and his Teammates aside and let them know he was working with SEAL headquarters on Coronado to make sure they’d have access to their full complement of weapons available in the event they had to actually go up against the Genesis drone.When Darwin voiced their concerns when it came to the legalities of active-duty military carrying loaded weapons for what was essentially a police operation, Reynolds claimed the DOD and the feds would “deal with it.”Whatever the hell that meant.
“You were thinking about telling Reynolds what you suspect about Katrina’s father and brother, weren’t you?”Lennox asked Darwin as their Team walked out of the hangar to pick up their cell phones.
Darwin nodded, glancing at his phone to see if he’d missed any calls or texts.There was a text from Kyla asking him to call when he got a chance, but he wouldn’t be able to do that on the flight line or the aircraft, so he’d have to wait until they got back to Coronado.
“Yeah.Not sure if it’s a good reason as much as a hunch I’m going to trust when it comes to why I didn’t,” he said as they all walked toward the Osprey waiting at the end of the flight line.“I figured Katrina and I should talk to her father before NCIS comes calling.If he is involved, it would go better for him to get in front of all of this before it gets ugly.”
“I can’t disagree with that,” Lennox said as they walked up the back ramp of the bird.
“Unfortunately, I’m not sure Jameson is the kind of man who will listen to good advice, even when it’s coming from his daughter,” Darwin said.
“All you can do is try,” Lennox said, grabbing a seat across from Darwin and hooking up the straps of the complex restraint harness system.“The other guys and I will head back to base and start working on Captain Reynolds’ scheme to use us for a response force.If you head straight back to Escondido as soon as we land, you should at least have a couple hours to talk with him, hopefully before anything hits the fan.If you’re lucky, Jameson will listen to reason.”
As plans went, that wasn’t the worst, Darwin thought.He and Katrina had been intending to confront her father and brother, even before this trip out to the island.It was even more important to do it now that the drone had been stolen.
As the Osprey took off, Darwin glanced at his watch.If there wasn’t too much traffic, he should be able to make it back to the vineyard before the wedding.Though he wasn’t sure how easy it would be to talk to the father of the bride that close to the big event.They’d just have to find the time, he supposed.
This had to work out.
For Katrina’s sake.
Chapter fifteen
