The Toymaker (11 page)

Chase said nothing.

Kaplan wrapped the man’s head in cellophane and grabbed the water bucket. “Last chance asshole.”

The man laid stoic. He began to chant.

Kaplan started pouring water over the man. Water quickly worked its way under the cellophane and licked at the man’s head. The man’s gag reflex kicked in. He bucked against the board, bulging eyes revealed his fear of drowning.

After thirty-three seconds the man begged for mercy. Kaplan was impressed; the average was fourteen, even though on rare occasions a few al Qaeda terrorists had been known to last nearly two and a half minutes.

Kaplan cut the cellophane away from the man’s head. “Ready to talk now?”

CHAPTER 18

“
M
R. WILEY SAID you had a full day in store for me, what will we be doing?” Jake asked.

“All work I see.” Kyli said. “We’ll get to everything in due time. Mr. Wiley wanted me to show you around the classified electronics lab first.”

“I thought we already did a walk-through.”

“Nope. That was the assembly area. There’s a secure room where high-priority items are housed.”

Before they left for lunch, Kyli removed her lab coat and hung it on a hook by the lab door. She wore a black dress, cut slightly above the knee with black pumps, a classy yet professional look. A smile never left her face. Full of non-stop energy, she stirred something in Jake he hadn’t felt in a long time—feelings he thought were dead. It gave him a glimmer of hope that he could have a life after Beth. But still, there was the anger. Yet now the anger was mixed with feelings of betrayal of his love for Beth and a newfound excitement he felt when he was with Kyli.

Kyli’s cell phone beeped announcing the arrival of an incoming text message. “It seems,” she said. “You’ve got a video conference to sit in on. Mr. Wiley will be here in a few minutes. Follow me.”

“Where to now?”

“The conference room, where else?”

Less than five minutes later, Wiley entered the room. “Kyli, Jake and I need a few minutes.”

Kyli walked to the door. “I’ll be in the bio lab if you need me.” She winked at Jake.

Jake tried not to react.
Stay focused.
He followed Wiley’s lead and sat down.

Without speaking, Wiley walked over to a podium and started typing on a computer. A fifty-inch monitor mounted on the wall lit up. Speakers on the wall crackled then three figures appeared on the split-screen monitor—Bentley and Fontaine on one side, Gregg Kaplan on the other.

“What’s up, Scott?” Wiley sat next to Jake and spoke into the three-winged audio device in the middle of the oval conference table.

Bentley was the first to speak. “Good and bad news to report. The good news is we’ve located Isabella Hunt. Jake, Mr. Wiley has agreed to assist me on this mission, which includes having you help rescue Isabella. Something you said you wanted to do.”

“Yes, sir. Very much.” Jake said.

“We’ve put together an extraction plan but due to terrain, some logistic issues, along with the political unrest in the region, this will have to be a night op with no chance for detection. Gentlemen, this is a hostile country so this mission is silent in, silent out. We can’t afford any blowback. The United States will disavow any involvement. This is totally unsanctioned, if anyone gets caught, they’re on their own.”

“I hope that was the bad news too.” Jake said.

“I’m afraid not, Jake.” Bentley glanced at Fontaine then back at his camera. “Gregg will brief you on the bad news. Go ahead, Gregg.”

“We located and detained one of the locals who knew about Isabella and the al Qaeda cell here in Yemen.” Kaplan paused. “After some…enhanced interrogation, we’ve learned that the cell has already left Yemen and is enroute to Western Europe. We don’t know where but apparently Isabella does. That’s why it’s imperative we rescue her ASAP before al Qaeda attacks and a lot of people die.”

“George.” Bentley said. “You take it from here.”

“According to Gregg’s source, Isabella is being held in the Hajjah Palace.” Fontaine and Bentley disappeared from the screen and a satellite view of Hajjah appeared. “The palace is here.” A circle electronically drew around a building.

“As you can see, the palace is surrounded by a rock wall and the front gate is well guarded twenty-four hours a day.”

The screen rotated and a topographic view of the area popped up. “Our problem is that there is literally no level ground in Hajjah. It is built on a mountain.”

The view expanded outward. “The highway passes at the base of mountain leaving only one road in and out of town.”

“That confirms what our inside source told us.” Kaplan said. “She volunteered to assist us with our infiltration.”

“As you can see here,” Fontaine continued. “With all the roadblocks and checkpoints along the highway, access or exit by vehicle is out of the question. With all the political turmoil in the region, we’ve determined that our only option is to drop you in from overhead. You’ll have to locate, extract Isabella, and escape on foot undetected.”

Bentley and Fontaine reappeared on the screen.

“What if she’s injured and unable to travel on foot?” Jake asked. “We can’t just leave her there.”

“We can’t take that risk.” Kaplan said. “Figure something else out, I’m not leaving her there.”

“George?” Wiley spoke for the first time since the conference call started. “There might be another way.”

“If you have an idea, I’d like to hear it.” Bentley said.

“Is there any place in town that’s remotely level, like a large parking area or a field? I only need four or five-hundred feet.” Wiley asked.

“There is one area where kids play kick ball or soccer games. It’s about fifty feet wide and maybe, repeat,
maybe
four hundred feet long. It isn’t totally level, it has a gentle slope toward the edge of the mountain.” Fontaine brought up the satellite image again and electronically circled the area. “It’s a dark area at night, no lights at all.”

“Can you zoom in, George?” Wiley asked.

“Sure.” The image zoomed in closer. “How’s that?”

“Good. Now tilt the topo so I can get an idea about the side of the hill.” Wiley said.

The image rotated. The topographic view revealed the vertical terrain of the mountain.

“It’ll do.” Wiley said. “A couple of buildings will add to the challenge but an approach and departure can be accomplished.”

“E. W.?” Bentley interrupted. “What are you talking about?”

“Scott, I have two prototype gliders that are rigged for this type of night time op. Infrared heads-up displays and a silent electric motor for self-launch capability. You can fly in, locate and rescue your asset, and fly out. No one will ever know you’re there…or even been there for that matter.”

“Kind of ballsy, don’t you think?” Jake asked. “And who exactly is going to fly the gliders?”

“It’s been a long time, but I’ve flown a glider before.” Kaplan said. “I’m sure it’ll come back to me.”

“Okay, for the record, I’m not flying with Gregg.” Jake said. “Who’s going to fly the other one?”

Wiley ignored Jake. “Scott, I can have Jake and the two gliders in Aden by tomorrow evening. We’ll arrive shortly after dark. The gliders will be ready within a couple of hours after we arrive. I’ll need you to make arrangements for two tow planes at Aden. George and I can work out the details of mission planning.”

“Alright E.W. I’ll take care of it.” Bentley said. “Gregg, we’ll be in touch soon so wait for instructions. Jake, control yourself, do I make myself clear?”

Jake paused. He knew the number one priority was to rescue Isabella. “Yes sir, I promise.”

Wiley interrupted. “Jake will be fine, Scott. You have my word.”

The monitor blinked then went blank.

Jake looked at Wiley. “How did you think of all that stuff so fast?”

“Fifty years in the business. That’s where experience trumps youth.” Wiley pushed up his glasses, swiped his hair, and smiled. “You’re not afraid of heights, are you?”

CHAPTER 19

W
ILEY PRESSED THE intercom button, “Have Kyli meet us in the RF lab.”

“RF lab?” Jake asked.

“Radio frequency. How soon we forget.”

“That was fast thinking.” Jake said.

“You haven’t seen anything yet, junior.” Wiley smiled. He opened the door. “I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve.”

The RF lab was a side room with Plexiglas walls adjacent to the main electronics lab floor. One wall was a showcase of gadgets MEtech had created. On the top shelf was a device Wiley called the
spook radio
. A device that monitored as wide a frequency band as possible targeting only signals of interest, which allowed the operator to identify and track the signals while remaining anonymous.

Kyli arrived at the RF lab door the same time as Jake and Wiley. She slid her key card through the reader, opened the door, and entered the lab. Jake followed. Wiley was speaking to someone in the electronics lab when the door closed—another soundproof room.

“I assume you’ll be leaving soon.” Kyli said.

“I think so. I don’t really know yet.” Jake smiled. “I guess I’m not part of the fraternity yet so I haven’t been given the key to Wiley’s cryptic communication.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll catch on soon enough.”

Moments later the door clicked and Wiley entered. He walked over to the showcase wall, removed a box, and laid five items on a table in the center of the room. “Kyli, I need you to bring Jake up to speed on the RTI. When he’s got it, bundle it in the backpack. We’re taking it with us tomorrow. I’ll be in my office. After you finish, you can take him back to his hotel. Why don’t you show Jake around town tonight but make sure he gets in early, tomorrow’s a long day.”

Wiley turned and left before Jake could verbalize the questions formulating in his mind.

“This must be big.” Kyli said.

“Why is that?”

“We haven’t used the advanced RTI in the field. We’ve done dozens of tests under different scenarios but never a live mission. It’s still in the experimental stage so this is very exciting. You get to be the first.”

“What is RTI?”

Kyli grabbed Jake’s hand and pulled him toward the worktable. “Radio tomographic imaging. It will allow you to see through walls, literally. You will be able to locate and track moving people or objects in a given area.”

“I like this toy already. It’s like Superman’s x-ray vision.”

“It’s not that simple.” Kyli held up four ball-shaped objects. “First, you have to put these in place. One at each corner of the structure you want to look into. Radio transceivers—they transmit and receive radio signals.”

Jake picked up one of the balls. He noticed the thick rubber studs protruding from its surface. “Might be easier said than done.”

“Not really, but I’ll get to that in a minute.” She took the ball from Jake’s hand and placed it on the table with the others. “You know, the Patent Office is full of some really good ideas that just haven’t been perfected to their full potential.”

“Wait a minute.” Jake said. “You’re telling me that Wiley raided the Patent Office and stole someone’s idea. That’s illegal.”

“Steal is such an insensitive word, Jake. Borrow is more appropriate. Borrowed concepts are never used commercially. If Mr. Wiley comes across an idea he and a few others feel are commercially viable products then we kind of
leak
a better way of doing it back to the originator and let them perfect their invention. Wiley likes to make ideas work and understands there is no need to reinvent the wheel.”

“So, where did he
borrow
this idea?” Jake asked. “Or should I not ask?”

“No that’s fine. You should know.” Kyli smiled. “This idea came from the University of Utah. But their computer display and software were lacking. They used transceivers spaced roughly six feet apart lining the entire perimeter. So many, in fact, that it was impractical for real world application. For an average sized building, they might need dozens, perhaps hundreds of transceivers. Grossly underpowered and inadequate to do the job. And their monitor display was almost illegible. Each person showed up as a blob on the screen. It literally served no useful purpose in the covert world, so Wiley improved it.

“The concept is the same but our design far surpasses anything they had considered possible. We use four transceivers, one on each corner. Radio signals are bounced off targets and the returning echoes provide the target’s location and speed relative to the transceiver. The data from each transceiver is received by the computer and displayed on the screen. Individual targets are distinguishable by their mass and frequency. Our program has a database that allows you to mark and label each target and the computer will monitor their movements allowing us to track each target individually.”

“Do the targets ever get confused?”

“Not a chance. Not with Wiley’s design. Everything and everyone has its own distinct frequency signature, so once you tag a target, the computer will always distinguish it from all other targets.”

Kyli flipped on the computer. “Because RTI measures shadows in radio waves created when they pass through a person or object, our display will also accurately depict stationary objects.”

“What if the building has multiple levels or a basement?” Jake tapped on the monitor. “Can it account for that?”

“That’s the beauty of these.” She picked up a transceiver ball. “First these are shock-proof, so you can throw them where you need them. That allows you to place them discreetly reducing your odds of being detected. You just need to make sure they are at least ten feet away from the structure. Second, they are self-orienting. They operate with a tiny gyro inside, they automatically level themselves then locate their siblings—the other transceiver balls. But the best feature of all is what happens next. When initiated by the computer, the transceivers will literally draw a 3D model of the building on the display. At ten feet from the building, we can deliver two sub-levels and four above ground levels. At twenty feet spacing, six above ground levels, and so on. You get the picture. We’re always limited to two sub-levels though.”