Kill Chain (31 page)

Unknown
Location

Grant
Riker watched the camera footage from several of the drones on a large array of
screens spread before him. He had to admit, reluctantly, that he was impressed
with what the Special Forces operator had done. The low profile made it
difficult for the drones to shoot their targets, they needing a minimum
clearance off the ground.

He now regretted ordering
the metal tables. His aim had been to prevent the hostages from starting a fire
that might be used to signal for help, he instructing the private security
company he had hired to use only fire retardant materials when building the
tiny oasis for his hostages.

That had backfired,
though perhaps not. If he had succeeded in killing the hostages, then the
millions now pouring into the accounts wouldn’t be happening. Part of him had
hoped that bastard Starling would fail, though right now, it appeared he might
succeed.

Brilliantly.

Yet in the end, it
wouldn’t matter.

Nancy Starling was going
to die.

He would have his
revenge.

With the exception of
them somehow identifying his computer, everything had gone according to plan.
He had used the illegal sales of his canceled prototypes to fund the operation,
it taking a few million to actually execute. The payoff would be many times
that amount, and even if it failed, money wasn’t his only motive.

And the environment
absolutely wasn’t one of them.

Though he did have to
admit the charities would prove useful idiots now that funds were actually arriving
in their accounts, appearing as donations from the United States government.
The PR disaster that awaited the President when they tried to get the money
back might be worth sacrificing the billions to avoid.

Hang Jian had come
through on the drones and their weaponization, as he had fully expected. He had
been recommended by the people who had handled the black market sale of the
supposedly destroyed prototypes, Riker keeping enough in reserve for his plan,
a plan that had been under development for over a year, a plan he had designed
so he alone, the only person left in his life that he could trust, could
execute it.

He watched the balance of
the shadow account he had set up rapidly increase. With the chaos now raining
down on Seoul, and the President foolishly remaining in the city, his only fear
now was that Starling may be killed and the transfers reversed.

It was a gamble, but he
had to wait for it to hit the exact amount he wanted. He had lost a fortune
after that bastard had destroyed the company he had built from the ground up,
his life’s work lost because he had tried to make a profit off of weapons he
had designed. Who was Starling, an unelected president, to say that he had to
destroy the prototypes? He had spent millions developing them, and the
compensation he had received was a pittance to what they were truly worth. Law
enforcement agencies around the world would have lined up to purchase them, but
Starling, inexplicably, had ordered their complete destruction, claiming that
since they were designed specifically for the Secret Service, they owned them,
even the patents.

It was bullshit.

But in a nation still
reeling from the attempted coup that had led to their rapid development, the
courts were eager to side with their new President in his challenge.

So Riker had taken
matters into his own hands.

He had destroyed them on
paper.

He had pled ignorance
when it was discovered, but unfortunately the White House didn’t buy his story,
instead canceling all his company’s contracts without just cause—eight billion
dollars’ worth—and with the US government providing over 90% of his revenues,
it had bankrupted him overnight. The moment the news hit the wires, his stock collapsed
to mere pennies before noon.

He was ruined.

It had destroyed his
company.

Destroyed his family.

And destroyed him.

And President Starling
would feel his pain, a pain so great it could never be escaped, or forgotten.

He would suffer the same
loss as him.

Today.

Operations
Center 1
CIA
Headquarters, Langley, Virginia

“Sir, I
think we’ve got a problem.”

Leroux turned to Tong.
“What?”

“Well, I’ve just been
reviewing Riker’s file and, well, something happened about six months ago that
might explain what’s going on.”

Leroux pursed his lips,
unsure he was going to like what he was about to hear. “What?”

“His daughter, sir. After
they lost everything in the bankruptcy, his wife left him and took their
teenage daughter with her. There was a custody battle but he lost.”

Leroux’s head bobbed,
pieces of the puzzle starting to fall into place. “Go on.”

“Well, his daughter
apparently fell in with the wrong crowd and was shot during a drug deal in
Miami.”

Leroux cursed. “He’s got
nothing to live for!”

Child turned in his
chair. “Then why go for the money?”

“Why not? He gets the
President to pay billions in ransom for his daughter, a number too big to hide,
and it destroys his career, just like Riker’s was destroyed. Then he kills the
President’s daughter so the President can feel the pain he feels.”

Child whistled. “Christ,
you mean he has no intention of letting her go?”

Leroux shook his head. “I
don’t think so. The moment that account reaches the total he wants, he kills
her.” Leroux glanced at the screen, the balances updating, the Maritime Defense
League balance suddenly rolling to the exact amount ordered for the American
contribution. “Shit. Looks like we’ve completed our part.” He sighed. “I don’t
think he’s going to wait for the rest.”

The balance suddenly
updated again.

To zero.

Leroux shook his head.
“Sometimes I hate being right.”

Yangcheon
District
Seoul,
Republic of Korea

“Zero-One,
Control Actual. They’ve drained the account.”

Dawson pressed the comm
against his ear. “Has there been any communication since they did?”

“Negative. This is
personal. They’re going to kill the President’s daughter, no matter what.
You’ve got to get in there.”

Dawson peered around the
corner, ducking back as the sentry’s gun whipped toward him. “We’re a little
outgunned at the moment. We’re waiting for reinforcements. There’s no way we’re
getting past those automated guns with MP5s and half a dozen men. Not in time.”

Gunfire erupted from
inside the warehouse again, Dawson exchanging a concerned look with Atlas.

“Control, they’ve opened
fire again. You’ve got to disrupt their kill chain. These weapons are being
controlled by someone. Cut their lines of communications or the hostages are
dead!”

 “Everyone
stay down! No matter what happens, keep your heads down!”

Niner reached over and
grabbed Kim’s hand, squeezing it. She stared at him, fear and determination in
her eyes. Then smiled.

“So, when this is all
over, would you like to go grab a coffee somewhere?”

Kim’s eyes popped. “Are
you crazy? Guns are firing and we might die, and you’re asking me out on a
date?”

Niner shrugged. “Doesn’t
that make it seem like you’re very important to me?” He grinned. “And besides,
can you think of anything better to do right now?”

Kim laughed, the fear
gone. “Are all Americans insane like you?”

“Only the handsome ones.”

Nancy groaned. “Oh man,
adults are sooo weird.”

Niner gave her a look.
“Enough out of you, young lady.” He returned his attention to the vision in
front of him. “So, what do you say? Coffee?”

Kim shook her head,
Niner’s heart breaking just a little. “No, but I’ll cook you dinner.”

Niner beamed. “Even
better. I’ll bring the wine and the good time.”

Kim rolled her eyes. “I’m
thinking I might be regretting—”

She was silenced as a
ricochet rang off a metal table leg then slammed into the side of her head.

She dropped.

“Yunhui!”

Operations
Center 1
CIA
Headquarters, Langley, Virginia

“What did
that kid’s email tell us? A cellphone tower was pinged on the western coast of
South Korea?”

Child nodded. “Yeah, it
looks like the source video was uploaded via satellite link except for a few
bytes of data that were sent through this tower.” He motioned toward the
display, a map of the Korean coast shown with a small, pulsing red circle
indicating the tower’s range.

Leroux stepped toward the
display. “Okay, so they didn’t think they had a cell link, but for a brief
moment they did. If we look at ideal conditions, favorable atmospheric bounce,
whatever, what’s the max range that they could have possibly connected from?”

The red circle expanded.

“Okay, so we assume
they’re not on land, otherwise they would have had a constant cellular
connection, and they would have intentionally shut that capability down on
their equipment so they’d use the untraceable satellite. What does that leave
us with?”

The part of the circle
covering land blacked out.

“Okay, so now assume they
were far enough out that they expected this tower couldn’t be reached.”

A little bit more
disappeared.

“Okay, we’ve still got
some serious real estate there. Get me the Director, we’ll need to get some
assets in the area to start looking for them.”

Child immediately lifted
his phone to make the call.

“But what about the
signal?” asked Tong. “If they’re at sea, they’re still directing those drones
by satellite.”

Child covered the
mouthpiece of his phone. “Umm, no they’re not.”

Tong turned to look at
him. “What do you mean? They have to be.”

Child shook his head.
“No, those drones have been modified to work on the cellular network. Remember,
we’ve already examined a few of the ones that were shot down. Riker is using
his satellite connection to connect to the South Korean cellular network, and
the data is then being transmitted through that.”

Leroux’s head bobbed. “So
shut down their cellular network, and we disrupt the kill chain.”

Tong’s eyes widened. “Can
we do that?”

Child cracked his
knuckles. “Challenge accepted.”