Edge of Tomorrow (22 page)

Hatch turned a knob on the wall and voices
could be heard from a small speaker in the wall above the knob.

“Let’s see what they’re saying. Can you
understand them, Syd?” asked Hatch.

“Turn it up a little. There, that’s
better. They’re speaking a dialect of Farsi from Western Iran. They
are trying to figure out who has captured them. They’re worried
about the failure of their mission, and what will happen to them if
they ever get back to Iran. They are wondering where the
Jew Whore
is. That’s me.”

“I didn’t know you were Jewish, Syd,” said
Sara.

“I’m not. They assumed I was because of my
association with MOSSAD. I’m not a whore either,” laughed Syd.

“Well, I guess it’s time to let them
see the
Jew Whore
. Let’s
scare the crap out of them Dr. Z.,” Sara said.

Hatch opened the door and went in, followed
by Sara. The two Iranians started yelling in broken English, trying
to appear indignant. Then Syd stepped into the room. When they saw
her, they went silent. The one on the right wet his pants.

“Well,” said Syd in colorful Farsi, “look
what pieces of camel dung Hamad bin dog-fornicator sent to kill me.
You did not think you could really be successful, did you? The
other two you sent are dead, in case you are wondering. I am a
shadow, I am the darkness. I float in the sky unseen, then
materialize before your eyes, and cut you up, and mark you with my
Z. Allah will not want your stinking carcass when I am through with
you. Do you think mere pieces of dung can kill me? This is the
first time any of you have ever laid your eyes upon me—and only
because I allow it.”

She continued for a while in flowery Arabic
metaphors while they trembled in fear. She discussed various
actions that she was considering, including cutting off their right
hands and left feet, the punishment of lowly thieves and sodomites.
This would shame them in the eyes of Allah, and all Arabs. They
could not believe that a mere, lowly woman had this power over
them. They were beginning to believe that she was an evil wraith,
as she suggested.

Finally, she said, “I must go and get my
knife. It is time to cut my mark on you.”

She turned and left the room, followed by
Sara and Hatch. They closed the door, and Syd giggled.

“What was that all about?” asked Hatch.

“I had a little fun with them. They’re scared
shitless. I told them I was going to get my knife and cut a ‘Z’ on
them. What do we do next?”

“Let them sweat, for now. We have things to
do and arrangements to make. I think turning them over to Uri is
the best plan, and he agrees. There is nothing we can do to them
legally in this country. The GS-V is being fueled and prepared in
Miami,” said Hatch. “But first, we have to deal with Lt. Jackson,
Syd. We can’t leave the country with that hanging over our
heads”

“We? Leave the country? Why do I need
to go anywhere? I’d like to get back to a normal life! These guys
are
neutralized
now, aren’t
they?” exclaimed Syd.

“Yes,
they
are. What do you think Hamad bin whatsis
will do when he finds out about his brother?” stated Hatch. “He
won’t stop now until he finds you.”

Syd was silent. She went to the one-way
mirror and looked at the two men who symbolized the fix she found
herself in. Would she have to spend the rest of her life in hiding,
looking over her shoulder? She turned and faced Hatch and Sara.

“I’m sorry, guys! I had hoped to put this
part of my life behind me. I can see now that I can’t—at least, not
yet. Do you have something in mind to get me out of this nightmare,
Hatch?” she asked, very discouraged.

“Yes, I do. What I intend to do, I can do
without you. However, your knowledge of the Middle East and your
language skills could be of enormous value to me,” replied
Hatch.

“I don’t see how you can stop this
without
neutralizing
Hamad
and most of his followers,” observed Syd.

“Exactly. That’s what I intend to do,” he
stated grimly.

“The Israelis haven’t been able to do that.
How can you possibly do it?” she wondered. “Ah, I remember you
hinting that you hit those terrorists in Syria. You never told me
how you did that.”

“I guess it is time to do that. If, after I
explain my plan to you, you want to stay out of it, I’ll
understand. You can stay here until it’s over,” said Hatch. “After
all, what we are going to do is not sanctioned by any government,
and is most certainly illegal somewhere—if not everywhere.”

“Thanks a lot, Hatch. That really makes me
feel like a heel. The only reason you’re doing this is because of
me. Of course, I’m with you, whatever you have planned,” Syd said,
feeling ashamed of her reluctance. “And as far as legality is
concerned, it has never been clear to me that government-approved
assassins are really legal. They’ll sure leave you blowing in the
wind if you get caught!”

“My position exactly.”

“No more discussion of this,” Syd said.

“Then it’s time to show you Fantasyland.
Let’s go,” he said.

• • •

Hatch drove them down another road with
multiple switchbacks. After about ten minutes, they reached another
clearing larger than the one they had left. This clearing also had
a green, concrete-block building, but its prime feature was a
large, metal aircraft hangar, covered in camouflage paint.

“Welcome to Fantasyland, Syd,” said Hatch.
“This area is manned strictly by LRD personnel. You can’t see it
from here, but there is quite a shooting range down that road over
there.”

Syd was awed one more time. The surprises
never seemed to come to an end. True, they had hinted about what
was in the North Forty, but actually seeing it was something else!
Hatch stopped near a door in the green building and the three of
them dismounted and entered the building. As in the previous
building, there was a receptionist at the desk. She was a
twenty-year-old, slightly plump girl with dark skin. Her hair was
done in corn rows.

“Hi Sara, Mr. Lincoln,” she said with a big
smile that showed a lot of white teeth.

“Good morning, Hettie Jo. This is Ms.
Steppe,” answered Hatch.

“Good morning, Ms. Steppe,” said Hettie
Jo.

“Pleased to meet you, Hettie Jo. Please call
me Syd.”

“Is Smitty around today?” asked Hatch.

Hettie Jo looked at her sign-in sheet and
said, “Yes, sir. He signed in at 7:58 this morning. I think he said
he would be over in the hangar.”

“Thanks.”

The three of them signed the log sheet and
Hatch led them down a hall and through a door which entered the
large hangar. Smitty was talking to a man in blue coveralls. The
two were standing next to a large, strange-looking helicopter which
was in the center of the hangar. A door on the helicopter was open
and folded down to form steps leading into the interior of the
aircraft. Syd noticed that this was much larger than the Bell 430
she had seen earlier. She had never seen anything like it before.
It had a very strange skin for an aircraft, as if it were covered
with millions of tiny beads. It had a large, four-bladed rotor on
top, and a small one mounted vertically on a short tail boom. She
couldn’t see any windows. It rested on two main wheels and a nose
wheel, all of them retractable.

The man in blue coveralls nodded to Smitty
and went up the steps into the strange aircraft. Smitty walked
toward them. They all greeted each other.

“What do you think of my toy, Syd?” drawled
Smitty.

“I don’t know, Smitty. I’m not sure I even
know what it is,” replied Syd with a laugh.

“This beauty is Shadow-5, the latest of our
super-stealth choppers. I’ve been putting her through her paces,
checkin’ out all her systems. Most of her systems are our newest
available. She’s a beauty, Hatch. She’s got triple backup on the
skin circuits,” bubbled Smitty.

Syd walked over to it and examined its weird
skin.

“Shadow-5? Does that mean there are five of
these things, or is that a model number?” asked Syd.

“Sure ‘nuf, there’s five of these
sweethearts, Syd. Each better than the last. The Toy Master is
always looking for perfection—especially fail-safe systems,”
replied Smitty.

“Why aren’t there any windows? And this skin
is so weird,” Syd observed, running her fingers over it.

“Well, in a way, the entire skin is a window.
It is kinda complicated technically,” Smitty drawled.

“Before you get into the details, Smitty,
which I’m sure Syd would be interested in, I want to arrange a
demo. After the demo, I think Syd will have better questions. We
are going to the Middle East to wipe out a nest of terrorists, and
Syd is skeptical about out ability to be successful. They’re the
ones who have been after Syd, by the way,” said Hatch.

“Now, Syd, have no fear that Hatch can take
care of those bastards,” said Smitty. “Let me go fire up the skin
systems. I’ll have a demo ready in a few minutes.”

“Super-stealth
? Does that mean radar can’t
detect this thing?” queried Syd.

“Much better than that, Syd,” replied Hatch
as Smitty entered the strange aircraft and closed the door behind
him. “No known detection system can find this bird. Come over and
sit down.”

Hatch led the two women to a table with
several pieces of equipment on it. He motioned for them to sit
down. Sara had a smile on her face, because she knew how awed Syd
would be in a few minutes. Hatch picked up a headset and put it on
and spoke into the boom mike, “OK, Shadow-5. Walk me through the
spectrum when you are ready.”

He turned to Syd and said, “While they get
everything up and running in there, let me give you a quick,
non-technical overview of what you are about to see. I assume you
know about the electromagnetic spectrum, which essentially
classifies energy transmission by wavelength from radio waves—the
longest wavelength—to gamma rays, the shortest.”

“This wasn’t one of my strong points in
school. Remember, I was in liberal arts, history, and languages,”
answered Syd.

“OK, let me just skim over things. The demo
will speak for itself. The skin of that aircraft over there is
covered with thousands of small—micro, actually—transceivers of a
special design. That means, of course, that they can both transmit
and receive,” said Hatch.

“Are they those bead-like things?” asked
Syd.

“Yes. Now, the skin can be bombarded by
all kinds of energy sources—across the entire spectrum: gamma rays,
X-rays, ultraviolet, infrared, microwaves, radar, and radio waves.
Each
bead
, if you will,
absorbs the energy bombarding its microface. This is analyzed by
one of the hundreds of molecule-size computers in the skin
subsystem and the signal is transmitted
out
the
bead
which is most nearly axial to the
receiving bead
,” continued Hatch. “The net
effect is that the energy beam essentially goes right through the
aircraft without reflection.”

“Wow! Like I said, I’m not much on physics,
but I would guess a radar pulse would not give a return, right?”
marveled Syd.

“You’ve got it! Let me demonstrate. This
device on the table is a simple radar gun. This screen will
register the distance to the object detected by the radar. Now,
I’ll turn it on and you can see that the object
detected—Shadow-5—is twenty-five feet away. Now, I will have Smitty
activate the system to pass through all wavelengths of one
millimeter or longer,” said Hatch.

He called Smitty and explained what test he
was trying. Syd watched the radar read-out screen and saw the
twenty-five foot number change to 205 feet, about the distance to
the far wall of the hangar.

“So the signal just doesn’t go through, it
bounces off the far wall and comes back through—as if the chopper
wasn’t even there!” exclaimed Syd.

“You’re a fast study!” observed Sara with a
smile.

“And that phenomenon is true is true
for
all
wavelengths,” stated
Hatch. “Even the visible spectrum, which is a small slice of
wavelengths between ultraviolet and infrared.”

“What? I don’t understand that part,” said
Syd, her brow wrinkled.

“Just watch. Smitty, activate the visible
spectrum,” requested Hatch.

As Syd watched, the body of the helicopter
slowly dissolved. She could see the far wall of the hangar, a
forklift, and various pieces of equipment. The three wheels stood
on the floor and the large rotor and tail propeller were floating
in midair.

“Whoa! Have you got David Copperfield stashed
around here somewhere?” gasped Syd. “This is an illusion,
right?”

“In away, but not really. All wavelengths in
the visible spectrum are passed through on their axis, just like
the radar beam. So what you see is what is behind the chopper,”
explained Hatch.

Syd sat in awe, not believing her eyes. She
got up and walked around, trying different angles. She finally
walked to the other side of the chopper and she could see Hatch and
Sara sitting at the table.

This is too spooky! If I can believe my
eyes, I can see how they can get in and out of Iran without being
detected. Freakin’ invisible!

She walked back to the table and sat
down.

“All right, guys. I’m still not sure I fully
understand this, but if I can believe my eyes, I can see how potent
this chopper is. This is like Star Wars! What kind of weapons does
it carry, if any?” said Syd.

“Now, that’s my girl! Getting right to the
core of the situation!” laughed Hatch. “The Shadow is extremely
well armed—better than any gunship in the world. We have four
different models of missiles—of our own design, of course. Very
powerful, penetrating warheads—some HE (high explosive), some
incendiary. No nukes, of course. The missiles have On-board Global
Positioning System guidance systems, so once the missile is
launched it never misses a stationary target, and rarely misses a
moving target because it receives updated positioning information
from the Shadow’s Offensive Weapons Control System. Also, we have a
.50 caliber automatic rifle with sniper accuracy—single shot,
selected bursts, up to full automatic. You’ll see all of this in
action soon.”