Page 55 of V-Day
“What else?” Calli replied. “I’m going to break out of here.” She clutched at her belly. “After I vomit,” she added, with a gulp.
*
AS SOON AS THE SUNcame up, Cristián set up the solar charger to charge the battery on Chloe’s laptop. He positioned the flap to absorb the maximum amount of light and adjusted it throughout the morning as the sun climbed higher.
While he worked, the men not on guard duty handed out more jerky and freeze-dried oatmeal which reconstituted when the pack was torn open. Two of them moved back into the trees to boil water to make coffee for everyone.
When he was not adjusting the solar charger, Cristián sat in the shade cast by the big kapok at the edge of the trees, his knees bent and his arms on his knees, the field glasses to his eyes. He didn’t move, except to minutely shift the glasses as he took in the movements of personnel on the base.
They were high enough above the base, up here, that they could clearly see the layout of the buildings. It wasn’t as good as looking at a map, for they were far to one side and at too low an angle. It was possible to monitor the entire base, though. Cristián was doing exactly that.
“Isn’t it bad security to clear out trees this way, so anyone can sit and watch?” Chloe asked Parris, who sat on her pack and worked on her laptop.
Parris shook her head, preoccupied. “Drones can see way more. Why bother shielding the perimeter, when clear land lets the sharp shooters keep the open spaces clear of the enemy?”
Chloe shuddered and returned to her oatmeal.
After two hours of close observation, Cristián stiffened and grew more alert. He held his position for another five minutes, while Parris stopped typing and Chloe gripped the metal of the coffee cup she was drinking from, her heart thudding.
Cristián lowered the field glasses, got to his feet and moved back up the slope to where Parris sat. He crouched beside her and handed her the glasses. “I know where the control room is for the drone.”
“Can you point it out?”
“There’s a mix of air regiment and field regiment personnel on the base, and every building but one is co-ed.”
“Please tell me it is not at the bottom of the flight control tower,” Parris said. “If they’re that obvious about it I’ll be even more disappointed in these jerks. They take all the challenge out of it.” Her mouth curved up in single-sided grimace.
“It’s a wash-house attached to a barracks. One of the buildings toward the center, although way out of the normal path of business,” Cristián replied. “I waited this long to see if anyone went in wearing bath slippers, carrying a towel or a bathroom bag. Everyone in and out is wearing a full uniform. No damp hair, not a toothbrush in sight and it’s just before the seven-thirty chow time. There should be a steady stream of people coming and going. Instead, two entered at five-thirty and two came out.”
“Pilot and backup,” Parris murmured. “Damn, Cristián.” It was all she said, although the admiration in her voice said the rest.
Cristián held up his hand. “There’s a complication.”
“Of course there is,” Parris said, her tone dry.
“You can’t just waltz up to the fence, hold up Pia’s laser painter and not expect them to take the top of your head off,” Cristián said. “The security sweep will pick you up within four minutes.”
Parris looked at her watch. “The drone coming to take out the control center will need coordinates in twenty-eight minutes.”
Cristián nodded. “Chloe can hack the security AI and make it think it’s seeing nothing.”
“That’s the catch?”
“The catch is, she needs to be by the fence to do it. Her laptop won’t be able to plug into the network if she isn’t that close.”
“It can plug into the network from thefence line?” Locke asked, looking interested.
“With a dongle I’ll give her, yes,” Cristián said.
Parris rubbed her forehead. “Wait. Let’s lay this out. We have to get Chloe down to the fence. Then make sure she isn’t drilled through the temples with a fifty caliber while she hacks the security feeds. Chloe makes the AI think it can’t see anything, then the rest of us get to the fence and paint the bathhouse for the drone. All that in less than thirty minutes, when the drone gets here. Have I missed anything?”
“Yes,” Cristián said flatly. “We don’t get Chloe to the fence. She’ll get herself there.”
“Me?” Chloe gripped the cup even tighter. She already had visions of her brains erupting from the impact of a large caliber bullet.
Cristián didn’t look at her. He was watching Parris. Convincing her this madness would work with the power of his own conviction. “There’s a weakness in the pattern of the stops the cameras make. It leaves a straight line to the fence which someone can cross in under three minutes and stay undetected.”
“You happen to know what square footage the cameras focus upon with each stop?” one of the resting soldiers asked. Chloe thought his name was Donaldson. His tone was withering.
