Devlin's Defiance: Book Two of the Devlin Quatrology (40 page)

“
You know
it's a felony to lie to a law enforcement officer, don't you?”

“
I do.
It's also a felony to impersonate an LEO, right, Jeff?”

“
Ah,
shit, Gordy. How'd ya know?”

“
You're
from Minnesota, Jeff. Ya, sure, ya betcha.”

“
Damn;
tought I had ya goin' dere.”

“
Only
till you opened your mouth. Where are you running this from?”

“
Over
here, first gazebo.” Gordy looked up and saw Jeff waving back
at him, Laurie standing beside him, smiling.

“
Set it
down and get over here, okay?”

“
Okay.
Give me a minute.” Jeff and Laurie came down to Gordy
and
Rosemary. He fiddled with a joystick on a small control box and the
drone slowly hovered lower, until Jeff could grab it and turn it off.

“
Where'd
you get it?”

“
Online.”

“
How
much?”

“
Forty
bucks, plus fifty for the audio-video transmitter-receiver, plus
tax.”

“
So about
a hundred.”

“
Ye,
sure, ya betcha,” Jeff said, chuckling.

“
Nice
toy. Can I see it?”

“
Sure.”
He gave it to Gordy.

- 104 -

February
6, 2013
12:09
p
.m.
local time

Aboard
Defiance

In the Gulf of Aden

“
How long
till it's ready?”

“
About
ten minutes, sir. The thorium is a little unstable, even up
on
plane.”

“
But will
it work the way I need it to?”

“
I'd give
it a 70 percent chance – no, 65. I'm sorry, sir; that's the
best I can do at this range.”

Jake picked up
the intercom. “Yuric, come about; we're going
back.”

“
But,
sir, don't we want to get away from that boat?”

“
No,
Yuric, we want to head back. Come about now.”

“
Sir, the
thorium,” Greg cut in.

“
Yuric,
slow turn, careful, but 180 degrees.”

“
Yes,
sir. Coming about.”

“
Greg,
can you do a soccer ball?”

“
Yes,
sir.”

Ten minutes
later, Greg said, “It should be ready, sir.”

“
Good.
Get it started.

“
Yuric,
get the C4 ready, and rig one of the blasting caps with a ten-second
fuse.”

“
Da.”

Five minutes
later, Greg said, “It's done, sir. But, again, I can only give
it a 65 percent probability.”

“
That's
enough. Julie, you've input the coordinates?”

“
Yes,
sir; both sets, from the drone's data. I'd give it a 70 percent
chance of being on time.”

“
With my
65 percent, that's a little over a 45 percent chance, sir,”
Greg added.

“
I can do
the math, Greg, but it's better than zero. Get ready.”

“
But,
sir” –

“
You do
it or I will.”

“
Yes,
sir. Okay.”

Jake lit the
fuse. “Now.”

Greg pressed
the button.

- 105 -

February
6, 2013
2:37
p
.m.
local time

Bonita Beach, Florida

“
So this
is the camera?”

“
Yeah,
right – oh, don't press that!”

“
Which –
oh, this thing?”

“
Yeah.”

“
What's
that do?”

“
It's the
self-destruct button, blow us all to smitheroons.”

Gordy jerked
his finger away. “You're kidding.”

“
Ya,
sure, ya betcha,” Jeff said, as Laurie snickered. “Gotcha,
Gordy.”

“
Yup.
Good one.”

Rosemary said,
“'Smitheroons'? Don't you mean 'smithereens'?”

“
It's a
Minnesota thing, Ro.”

“
Really?”

“
Ya,
sure, ya betcha. Right, Jeff?”

“
It is?
Nah, it's 'smitheroons.'”

“
Sorry,
Jeff. In the rest of the country, it's 'smithereens.'”

“
Really?”

“
Ya,
sure, ya betcha.” Rosemary and Laurie both nodded.

“
Never
knew that.”

“
Well,
now you know. So what does the button really do?”

“
It turns
the audio-video off or on.”

“
Ah,
okay. And the four rotors, you can run those separately?”

“
Nah,
that's all in the joystick for direction and this thumbwheel for
speed, kinda like a steering wheel and a throttle.”

“
Cool.”

“
Ya, it's
simple. Wanna give it a try?”

“
Maybe
another time; I'd hate to screw it up. But I do think I'll get one
of my own; it's pretty cool.”

He pulled out
his notebook and wrote down the info on the drone.

Soon, a small
crowd of the curious gathered, and some of the techie types began
asking Jeff questions about range, speed, cargo capacity, agility and
battery power.

“
Lemme
try it,” Ron's squeaky voice broke through the crowd, and he
pulled the control box out of Jeff's hands.

“
Hey,”
Jeff said, reaching out to reclaim the box. But Ron turned away and
thumbed the throttle wheel to the max. The drone popped up from the
ground and quickly rose fifty or sixty feet in the air. Most of the
people in the crowd rapidly scattered, other than Laurie and a few
men who'd been most interested in the little drone.

“
Hey,”
Jeff said again, “don't touch that!”

“
Hey,
Ron,” Gordy said loudly, getting up from his lounge, “give
it back.”

“
What
does this do?” Ron said, pushing the joystick all the way
forward. The drone sped out over the Gulf. “Ah-ha.”
Then he pulled the joystick all the way back and the drone stopped,
stalled and then headed backwards toward the shore. Ron ran the
joystick around the
outside of its limits, and the
drone bobbed and weaved in the air, still high in the air, but closer
to the shore. Then Ron moved the joystick to its neutral position,
so the drone simply hovered, maybe thirty feet up.

Gordy got to
within five feet of Ron when Ron thumbed the wheel back to zero and
the drone plummeted toward the water. But just as it was about to
plunge into the light chop, he thumbed the wheel up to the max again
and the drone bounced up from what would have been a watery grave,
rising and continuing to rise, up to fifty, sixty,
seventy,
eighty feet up, to a point where it virtually disappeared.

Gordy moved up
and got right in Ron's face, as Ron shifted the
box
to one hand and then up, out to his side and back. “Give that
back, Ron.”

“
Yeah?
Or what?”

“
Well,
this, for one,” Gordy said, reaching out and pressing his
thumb
into a point on the front of Ron's shoulder, simultaneously
stretching his other arm out to catch the control box as it fell from
Ron's hand.

“
Owwwww,”
Ron screamed, grimacing, as Gordy handed the box to Jeff, who took
back control of the drone.

“
Ronald
Cecil [last name deleted], you get your ass back up here right now,”
Jenny shouted, striding down from her chair.

“
Shut up,
you bitch!” Ron sotto voced, then “Owwwww!” as
Gordy pressed harder and whispered in his ear, “That's not very
polite, asshole.”

“
What did
you say?” Jenny yelled at Ron. “What did you say?”

“
Owwww,”
was all Ron could manage until Gordy released the pressure and
stepped back.

“
He's all
yours, Jenny,” he told her, stepping back, but keeping an eye
on him.

She walked up
to Ron and slapped him hard in the face, then kicked him in the shin.

“
I'm not
gonna tell you again, Ronald; get your ass back up there and sit
down.”

As Ron limped
off, pouting and glaring at Gordy, Jenny walked over to Jeff, who had
brought the drone back down and was just catching it.

“
If
there's any damage, let me know and we'll cover it.”

Jeff examined
the drone briefly and said, “It looks okay. But thank you.”

“
I mean
it. And I apologize for him. He can be such an asshole
sometimes.”

“
Keep him
away from us,” Laurie said.

“
I will.
Don't you worry about that,” Jenny said. “In fact, I may
be keeping him away from everybody.” Then she looked at Gordy,
said, “Thank you. Sorry,” and walked back up to her
husband, who was rubbing his leg and shoulder and sulking.

“
Definitely
an asshole,” Laurie said; Rosemary, Gordy and Jeff all nodded.

- 106 -

February
6, 2013
9:54
a
.m.
local time

Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant,
Wales

The Ocelot
limped up to her room, closed the door behind her, tossed her cane
and purse on the bed and pulled a faux cold cream jar from her
overnight bag, dabbed a dollop of its contents onto her
right
hand, then rubbed it off with several more tissues, which she placed
in another plastic bag, which she sealed and rolled into a
hollow
in a fake cigar, which she then placed in an aluminum cigar tube,
screwing the top tight.