The Agent's Daughter (5 page)

President Stone finished her conversation,
hung up the phone and sat down. “All right, let’s get this meeting
started,” she said. “Gentleman, we have a new area of concern. Our
conventional intelligence sources have come across information that
the Republic of Malazistan may be attempting to build a nuclear
weapon. The government there is considered somewhat unstable, and
there is no telling what they would do with a nuclear bomb.”

“
Malazistan?” Arthur
asked. “Do you mean the country in Central Asia that used to be a
part of the Soviet Union?”

“
Yes,” she said. “That is
the problem. When the Soviet Union controlled that part of Asia,
they built an ultra-sophisticated facility for processing uranium
into a form that could be used in a bomb. They chose to build it in
that area because it was an uninhabitable high desert region of the
country. The remoteness of that area was seen as a plus because the
facility would be harder to spy on or attack.”

“
Wasn’t the facility
dismantled when the country was given its independence?” David
asked.

“
No,” said the President.
“When the Soviet Union dissolved into Russia and the breakaway
republics, the Russians took whatever had strategic value from the
countries that they abandoned. They could not take buildings with
them, so they left them intact but empty because it would have cost
too much to destroy them. According to the Russian Prime Minister,
in the case of the nuclear processing facility, it was thought that
it would be useless without the uranium. And the Russians took that
with them.”

“
So you think that they
have gotten hold of some uranium?” Evan asked.

“
We don’t know,” said the
President. “That part of Asia is extremely desolate, so we have
only been able to get information via satellite imagery. We have
been monitoring the facility for several years, and there has been
almost no activity. However, over the course of the last few weeks,
a steady stream of trucks has visited the facility. There must be
something going on there.”

“
What is the nature of the
information you need the agency to obtain for you?” Arthur
asked.

The President leaned forward, a look of
concern on her face. “I want you to find out if they do have any
uranium. And if they do, how much do they have?”

A quiet fell over the room as everyone
thought about what it would take to get the information from such a
remote outpost.

After a few moments, Evan turned to William.
“Does the tools group have anything portable that can detect
radiation from a long distance? Say, about 1000 feet?”

William thought about it for a moment. “I
don’t think we have anything that could be considered
portable.”

“
We do have some sodium
iodide scintillation detectors,” David interjected. “The guys in
the nuclear lab use them to measure the total dose radiation in a
room. You know, in case there is a leak. They can detect minute
gamma-ray radiation levels at distances up to about 1000 feet. And
they are about the size of a shoebox. They do have one limitation
though. They do not test instantly. Because they are meant to
measure radiation over time, they require that the detector be in
the presence of the uranium for at least a minute to record an
accurate reading.”

William gave David a scowl then turned to
Evan. “I don’t understand why you are asking about portable
detectors. Where are you going with this?”

“
I was thinking that we
could dust off the glider,” Evan said.

Four years earlier, during a similar
meeting, the President had said that she needed aerial imagery of a
remote compound in the Middle East that the satellites could not
see. They tried flying reconnaissance aircraft over the area, but
the planes could not go low enough to get a clear picture. To get
the shot, Evan hiked into the nearby mountains, climbed into a hang
glider he brought with him and flew it over the compound. At 3000
feet above the ground, he put his glider into a steep dive and
swooped down to 1000 feet above the compound. He got a perfect shot
of the area and then climbed back up to 3000 feet and flew away
undetected.

“
Are you talking about the
hang glider that you used when you did that stunt a few years ago?”
William said with obvious disdain.

“
That’s the one,” Evan
responded.

“
But that desert in
Malazistan is as flat as a pancake,” William sneered. “There isn’t
a hill within fifty miles of that facility.”

“
I know,” Evan said with
contempt. “I’ve been in that desert.”

Then Evan turned to David. “Do you have any
of those multifaceted stealth containers in the building? You know
the ones about the size of a small car that you guys use to deliver
supplies by parachute to the field agents without being
detected?”

“
Supplies for the field
agents are handled by the support group in the nearest friendly
country, but we do have one of those containers in our lab,” David
replied.

Evan sat back in his chair. “Madam
President, I think I know how we can get your information.”

…………………………
.

“
Over here, Evan,” David
Winfield said from across the room.

Evan closed the door to the tools lab and
walked over to where David was standing. Towering over him was a
tall black cylinder with rounded domes at each end. On the front of
the cylinder were two doors, which were open to reveal a large
interior cavity.

“
Here it is,” David said,
pointing to the object on the floor in front of him. “The MAC-25
Stealth Supply Container or SSC for short. It is used to resupply
agents in the field, and it is twelve feet tall, four feet in
diameter and can hold up to two tons of supplies under its
parachute.”

“
That was a great
introduction,” Evan interrupted. “Can you do it in a TV announcer
voice?”

David smiled and continued. “To appear
stealthy, it has thousands of black radar reflecting facets.
Combined with the rounded domes at either end it has the radar
signature of a marble. It is resistant to high winds, and its
carbon fiber construction is designed to shatter into a million
pieces upon impact with the ground, leaving nothing but a large
crate of supplies.

Evan gave it a long look up and down. “I am
sure it is the most technologically advanced box on the planet, but
you realize that the agents in the field just call it the giant
monster pill, or GMP. That is pronounced ‘gimp.’”

“
I did not know that, but
yeah, it does look somewhat like a giant pill,” David said,
smiling. “You are lucky that we still have one. We got it about two
months ago so we could perform some wind tunnel tests. We planned
to give it back last week, but one of the technicians in the group
had already put some cushions in it and turned it into a couch for
the lab. We told the supply guys that we lost it.”

“
On the phone, you said
that you were able to find the old glider,” Evan said.

“
Yes, we found it,” David
replied. “ We had to look way in the back of our storeroom. It was
still in the crate from when you used it last, and all of the
pieces are still with it.”

“
That’s great,” Evan
said.

“
Okay then,” David said.
“Let’s talk about your plan.”

Evan had experienced conversations with his
tools group contact that had started this way before. Invariably,
they ended with a list of reasons why his plans would not work.

“
As you described it to me
upstairs, your plan is to put you and the glider inside the SSC.
Then, the SSC would be dropped from an airplane, and when it is low
enough, the SSC would fall away, at which time you would float down
under the parachute and put the glider together?”

“
That’s the plan. Any
problems?” Evan asked.

David slapped Evan on the back. “Many. But
I’ll give you credit. At least you are thinking. You are correct,
though. The glider cannot be dropped intact from an airplane
because a plane can’t go slow enough for it not to be torn to
shreds by the wind. Protecting it with the SSC on the way down is
an excellent idea. The problem we have is that, unlike the previous
time that you used it, you cannot just assemble it in midair. The
crosswinds at that altitude would rip it right out of your
hands.”

“
I was hoping that, under
an open parachute, the winds would be going slow enough to allow me
to assemble it. There are only two key parts that need to be
snapped into place.”

“
The wind would still be a
problem,” David said. “I have a better idea though. One of the guys
in our group is an excellent mechanical engineer that has some
experience with retractable joints.”

“
Retractable joints?” Evan
asked.

“
Yeah,” David said. “He
used to work on one of the NASA spacecraft that landed on Mars.
Everything that traveled on any of the Mars spacecraft had to
collapse down into some freakishly small form factor for the trip.
Then it would spring back into normal size when it got there. They
got particularly skilled at making the joints that allowed that to
happen. He says that getting this glider to collapse down into a
configuration that will fit into the supply container and then
spring into a usable form at the push of a button would be, how did
he put it, ‘junior level NASA engineer work’.”

“
Well then,” Evan said.
“Sounds as though we have that covered.”

David gestured to the inside of the supply
container. “And as far as getting you and the radiation instrument
in here as well, we can rig up some harnesses and latches to make
the sequence from airplane drop to level hang glider flight as
seamless as possible.”

“
That’s perfect. What
planes will these SSCs fit into?” Evan asked.

“
I’ve put into my mission
plan that we need the use of a B2 stealth bomber for the drop,”
David said.

“
Mission plan?” Evan
asked. “You mean you are on-board with this crazy
scheme?”

David laughed. “I’m confident that we can
work through all of the technical issues. I have scheduled a
mission briefing for this afternoon. Is three o’ clock okay?”

“
Absolutely,” Evan said,
looking at his watch.

“
That reminds me,” David
said. “I have a new watch for you. You have had that one a year
already.”

All of the agents were issued a standard
watch. While ordinary looking, the watches held a small assortment
of smart functions. For instance, hidden behind a retractable watch
face was a tiny projector lens that could display an image up to
two feet square on any flat surface, even during the daytime.
Agents used this feature in the field to display preprogrammed maps
or the exact location of the agent as calculated by the integrated
GPS receiver. The watch also had the ability to send out a homing
signal that allowed the agency to track the agent’s location
anywhere in the world.

“
I sure could use a new
watch,” Evan said as he took off his old watch and put on the new
one. “This one is pretty beaten up. Did they add any new
features?”

“
No. Just software
upgrades this year.”

“
Did they fix that problem
with the dictation feature?”

“
What problem with the
dictation feature?” David asked.

“
When you record a message
using it, then go to play the message back later, there is a delay
of about thirty seconds before the message is retrieved and starts
playing. Agency watches have had this problem for a couple of years
now. I heard that it was a software issue.”

“
I don’t know if they
fixed it in this release of the watch software,” David said. “Why
don’t you try it and see.”

“
Okay,” Evan said as he
initiated the dictation feature on the watch and began speaking
into it. “Hey software doofus, did you finally fix the dictation
feature?”

David smiled, “Okay, then. How about a
playback?”

Evan pushed the playback button on the
watch. They looked at each other as they listened in silence. For
thirty seconds. Then from the watch speaker came the message ‘Hey
software doofus, did you finally fix the dictation feature?’

“
Apparently not,” David
said.

“
Oh well,” Evan said.
“They will fix it eventually. Well I better get out of
here.”

Evan turned to leave. “See you at the
briefing.

“
Evan, wait,” David said.
“Can I ask you a personal question?”

“
Sure,” Evan said. “What’s
on your mind?”

“
Well … it’s a question
that my son has,” David said. “He wants to know if your daughter
is
aware
. You
know, so he knows what not to say to her. He has been aware since
the beginning of summer.”

Evan thought for a moment.
The agents called being
aware
when a family member knew what the agent did for
a living. Those with kids usually kept their agent status a secret
until they reached high school, although, in some rare instances,
the kids were never made aware.

“
No,” Evan said. “Melina
is not aware. We were going to tell her this past summer, but then
Laura …”

David interrupted. “I am sorry, Evan. You
don’t need to say anything else. Alex just wanted to know her
status. They are friends, and he did not want to slip up and say
something. ”