Authors: Mike Maden
Drone
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
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Copyright © 2013 by Mike Maden
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Maden, Mike.
Drone / Mike Maden.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-698-14109-4
1. Drone aircraft—Fiction. 2. Vigilantes—Fiction. 3. Suspense Fiction. I. Title.
PS3613.A284327D76 2013 2013025096
813'.6—dc23
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book is dedicated to you, Tom Lavin, my magnificent father-in-law, a combat-wounded, combat-decorated Marine. In 1952 you were just a kid hunting the enemy on night patrols with nothing more than a .45 in your hand and your head on a swivel, the point man on a zeroed-in path between rice paddies forward of the MLR. Overrun on the Yoke, bombarded on X-Ray, ambushed on Irene, you and your friends were outnumbered and outgunned, but you prevailed, unyielding in blood and valor. You did your job well, Pop, and so did your friends, the ones who came home from Korea and the ones who didn’t. You believed, and that made all the difference.
Contents
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT
DEDICATION
CHARACTER LIST
EPIGRAPH
AUTHOR NOTE
MAY
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
JUNE
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
JULY
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
AUGUST
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
SEPTEMBER
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
OCTOBER
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
FEBRUARY
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ADDENDA
CHARACTER LIST
PEARCE SYSTEMS
Troy Pearce | CEO, Pearce Systems |
Udi and Tamar Stern | Husband-and-wife team; field operatives |
Stella Kang | Former U.S. Army drone pilot; field operative |
Judy Hopper | Pearce’s personal pilot |
Johnny Paloma | Former LAPD SWAT; field operative |
Ian McTavish | Director of IT operations/research specialist |
Dr. Kirin Rao | Head of research and development |
Dr. Kenji Yamada | UUV research and operation; oceanographer (whale researcher) |
August Mann | UGV specialist; head of nuclear deconstruction division |
MYERS ADMINISTRATION
Margaret Myers | President of the United States |
Bill Donovan | Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security |
Jackie West | FBI Director |
Dr. Karl Strasburg | Foreign Affairs/Security Advisor |
Frank Romero | U.S. Ambassador to Mexico |
Faye Lancet | Attorney General |
Mike Early | Special Assistant (Security) to the President |
Nancy Madrigal | DEA Administrator |
Pedro Molina | Director of ICE |
Robert Greyhill | Vice President |
Roy Jackson | Head of DEA Intelligence |
Sandy Jeffers | President’s Chief of Staff |
Sergio Navarro | DEA Intelligence Analyst |
T. J. Ashley, Ph.D. | Head of Drone Command |
Tom Eddleston | U.S. Secretary of State |
OTHER NOTABLES
Antonio Barraza | President of Mexico |
Hernán Barraza | The president’s brother and chief advisor |
César Castillo | Head of the Castillo Syndicate |
Ulises, Aquiles Castillo | César’s twin sons |
Colonel Israel Cruzalta | Battalion Commander, Infanteria de Marina Mexicana |
Victor Bravo | Head of the Bravo Alliance |
Dmitry Titov | President of the Russian Federation |
Konstantin Britnev | Russian Federation Ambassador to the United States |
Ali Abdi | Quds Force Commander |