Hide and Seek Read Online Free PDF Page B

the chair.
    The team stared at him for a few minutes. Jose was the first to speak. “Yep, that’s a bad joke alright. Can we send him back, Boss?”
    “We put up with Shaq’s musicals, we can tolerate a few punny jokes.”
    “Don’t bet on it,” Mike said. “I’ve heard them all and haven’t laughed yet.”
    “I think I’ll just keep going,” J. J. said. “You’ve met Crispin Collins. He’s our surveillance guy. We call him ‘Hawkeye,’ when we’re being nice.”
    “We call him other things too,” Pete said.
    “And the comment belongs to Pete “Junior” Rasor, communications. Last, and sometimes least, is Jose ‘Doc’ Medina. When he’s not patching us up in the field, he’s home with his wife trying to build his own basketball team.”
    “How many kids?” Mike asked.
    “Four.” Jose seemed proud.
    “Colonel Mac selected Aliki and Mike to bring our team back up to full strength. Mike will be filling my old position as weapons and explosives; Aliki will be second in command. Clear?”
    “Clear.” The response came in unison.
    “Got it,” Crispin said. “Ready when you are, Boss.”
    “This should be good.” J. J. moved to the back of the room. “Roll it.”
    “It’s all digital. Nothing really rolls—”
    “Crispin, don’t make me shoot you.”
    “Okay, Boss.”
    The flat screen lit up and a moment later a blurry image of something gray appeared.
    “That’s the roof of this building.” Crispin sounded oddly pleased.
    A few seconds later the indistinct image seemed to fall away and clarify. Sure enough, it was a roof. The little device hovered a dozen feet above the structure and moved over the air base. Buildings passed beneath, cars, people walking.
    “Tell me this isn’t going by the enlisted women’s barracks.” J. J. put as much threat in his tone as the situation would allow.
    “No, Boss. I’d never do that, even if Pete offered me money to do so.”
    “Funny,” Pete said.
    “Just what am I seeing?” Mike asked.
    J. J. kept his eyes on the image. “Hawkeye is an expert in nano drones. We used a couple on our last mission. To hear him tell it, his skill saved the mission.”
    “No one can deny it,” Crispin said.
    J. J. ignored Crispin and continued. “Micro aircraft like the one on the table is being used in the field more and more. Part of our team’s directive is to test new DARPA and private contractor toys in the field. I kinda hate to admit it, but it is pretty cool.”
    Something on the image looked familiar. From an estimated forty-foot altitude, J. J. watched himself and the driver from earlier enter a Humvee and drive away. Voyager II followed overhead.
    “Tell the truth, Boss. You didn’t even know I was there, did you?”
    “I can’t say I did. Didn’t see or hear a thing.”
    Crispin smiled. “And this is broad daylight. You see, the body of the craft doesn’t reflect light. No glint to catch someone’s attention. The camera rocks. I can even zoom in or switch to wide angle. Pretty sweet.”
    “Except you were spying on me.”
    “Um . . . well yeah, technically, but in my defense I was making a demonstration video. I have one more seminar to lead for the incoming spec ops team. When Jose told us you were headed to pick up the new guys and that we were to meet in the conference room, well, it was too much to resist. It will be a great teaching tool.”
    The device followed the vehicle as it moved along access roads and past fabric-covered Quonset-hut-style structures and long tent-buildings, each colored desert-dirt brown. They passed through a parking area. People moved from place to place, some in uniform, some in civilian clothing.
    Voyager II kept pace with the car and began to climb slowly. “The key is not to make quick movements. People notice sudden changes but not slow ones.” Crispin slipped into lecture mode. “The device is less that six inches square. At an altitude of fifty or sixty feet, it becomes almost invisible. If