Dragonflies: Shadow of Drones Read Online Free PDF

filling some corporate cubicle.”
    He nodded. In her Kiowa, Raina had been about as close to the ground fighting as it was possible to get from the sky. She was Air Cav and no matter what happened, he would never question her courage.
    She looked him straight in the eyes. “We both know why we’re in this. We fell into the same crapstorm over there. I can never repay you for what you did. But right now I need to know you can complete your part of this job. I’m relying on you.”
    He nodded.
    She continued to stare at him. “Tell me you think we can pull this off,” she said.
    “Piece of cake.” He offered her a dubious smile.
    “No. Tell me.”
    He wouldn’t lie to her. Nathan Kurn had been on the cover of Time magazine. The man had a lot of powerful friends. His son Derek was playing major college football–maybe not a star or even a starter, but a scholarship player and the kid was president of his fraternity. The younger Kurn inhabited a rarified atmosphere: he was both a jock and the son of a celebrity. They were trying to expose the Kurns through the potentially illegal use of what was no doubt classified and possibly untested military technology. They had their work cut out for them, and though their cause may well have been righteous, they were in uncharted territory.
    A thousand things might go wrong.

6
    That night, Raina dreamed of flying again. Back in the left seat of her helicopter over the kill zone, watching the thermal imaging focus on some steep, nondescript moonscape. Into the picture strode the dark silhouettes of a pair of Afghan mountain horses, navigating the harsh terrain.
    They were small but powerful Lokai, beautiful creatures staged for battle and put to good use by Afghan Northern Alliance fighters and the first covert U.S. troops dropped into the mountains in response to 9/11. They reminded her of the horse her father had bought for her on their small ranch in New Mexico, a beautiful Appaloosa, the year before he came down with cancer and they ended up having to sell the pony to help pay for his treatments.
    Raina watched the horses for what seemed like a long time through her scope, until it happened as it always did in the dream. The sudden loss of control. Like falling off a cliff. The fall into darkness and the horror of impact. The feeling that she couldn’t get out of her seat, that she could never get out.
    She awoke in a cold sweat. She was alone in her bed in the temporary apartment. Tye had similar digs in another building in the same complex. He’d fallen asleep on her couch while she continued to work away at her keyboard, so she’d thrown a blanket over him and retreated to the bedroom sometime after one a.m.
    The bedside clock read a little after four. She knew she had to be sharp for the new day about to break. She had to be sharp for Tye and for Williamson, whoever they all were working for now, because their mission was good and was on target. But she also knew sleep wouldn’t be coming again, at least not for tonight, not for her.
    She crawled out from beneath the covers, fumbling in the dark for the crutch she needed to make it to the bathroom without her prosthetic foot. Sometimes the frustration of it all brought tears to her eyes, but she felt as if she were all cried out.
    She finished in the bathroom, pulling her bathrobe around her, and stumbled to her desk to check on her computers. Everything seemed normal and quiet–all systems go.
    One of the tiny hover angel MAVs lay on the table next to the computer. She picked up the drone and gently turned it over in her hands.
    What a marvel of engineering, she thought. Its translucent wings acted as miniscule rotors, not unlike those on her helicopter; except these were made of some ultra-thin but strong membrane-like material she’d never seen before. The tiny control hinges were even more elegant; she’d marveled at them when she first examined them under the microscope.
    The brains of the unit were housed