King of War Tech novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: The Trap

The Admiral's dining table held a laptop, the engineer's thumb drive, and a pot of coffee gone cold.

Two investigators in plain suits sat at the far end, quiet as furniture.

"Here is how Friday goes," Admiral Wetherington said.

"I tell Stellan at seven that the Navy will fly its own drone, on a path I draw from a hat when I walk in."

"Acceptance testing is mine to call. He can't say no with the press watching."

"Then the green square has nothing to follow but the sky," I said.

"The recording in the back room shows a drone that isn't there."

"And at the ten-second mark the rig does what it does."

The Admiral turned a pen over in his fingers.

"One more thing, Wesley. The fourth key was signed for by call sign."

"Clyde was Crown. The unit's sergeant was Anchor. The third name on the form is Rook, and nobody alive has put a face to it."

"That's the name I'll say on that stage."

"Rook," I said.

I had not heard it out loud in three years.

"Where is the full system?"

"Inside the dashboard of the unit's test truck, in the Merrick garage on sub-level three."

His pen stopped.

"The truck with the rooster. That Stellan parks under a plaque."

"He walks past it twice a day."

"The chief pulled the footage today," Imogen said.

"The footage shows a janitor wiping a dashboard," I said.

"Nobody has ever pulled the panel but me."

"The drive wipes itself if the wrong hands lift it."

"Thursday night, then," the Admiral said. "After the shift change, when the lower garage is empty."

I nodded.

Imogen touched my wrist under the table.

"I need the Foundation ledger before Stellan's lawyers freeze my access," she said. "Tonight."

The Admiral's driver took us downtown.

The Merrick Foundation had four floors of a brick building on Granby Street, and the front door opened with a brass key.

Keep reading free with an account. Start King of War Tech from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.