George “Gomez” Adams was the Oregon’s helicopter and drone pilot. Before joining the Corporation, he’d served in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, an elite unit known as the Nightstalkers, which carried Army Rangers and Delta Force teams into combat. Linda knew he got the call sign Gomez because of a dalliance with a woman who looked just like Morticia from The Addams Family. She supposed he looked somewhat like the character from the musical she’d seen on Broadway, but he was much more handsome, with a handlebar mustache, alert green eyes, and an ace pilot’s cocky swagger.
Not that Linda had ever considered dating Gomez. Friendships and working connections in the tight living conditions on board the Oregon could go badly if the romance fizzled, so keeping relationships platonic was one of the Corporation’s unspoken rules. Besides, mustaches didn’t do it for her. Too scratchy.
“How are we with the drones?” she asked him.
Gomez gave her the thumbs-up. “The Oregon tells me they’re set to launch. We’ll go whenever the Chairman’s set.”
“Weapons ready?”
“If we need them,” Murph answered.
The Gator was equipped with a wide array of hardware, from submachine guns and assault rifles to flashbang grenades and RPGs. If everything went to plan, they wouldn’t need them. Once the Chairman and Eddie were in position with Machado, Gomez would direct a swarm of drones to buzz the Dragão and provide distraction for Juan, Eddie, and Machado during their getaway.
The small quadcopter drones would fly low across the water from the direction of the yacht’s bow, where they were less likely to be seen approaching by the partygoers aft. When the drones reached the Dragão, they would land and set off tiny explosives and smoke bombs. Nothing that would cause damage or injury, but enough distraction and confusion for the three of them to jump overboard unseen in the haze of smoke covering the yacht. The Gator would surface just long enough to bring them aboard and then quickly dive again. Murph and Gomez were prepared to provide covering fire if needed.
Gomez controlled the drones using an antenna that floated on the surface instead of jutting into the air. To anyone passing by, it would look like a piece of seaweed or garbage. The transmitter allowed Linda to see the Gator’s position on the cockpit monitor without using a periscope. A winged drone flying a thousand feet above them was disguised to look like one of the many seagulls circling over the bay. Its high-definition feed gave her, Murph, and Gomez a panoramic view of the scene, with the Gator’s location marked by a red dot.
“Alpha team, this is Omega,” she said over the radio to Juan and Eddie. “Now approaching you starboard amidships. We’re ready to go. Beta and Gamma teams are getting into position.”
The Chairman acknowledged by tapping on his molar mic twice with his tongue.
Now all Juan had to do to get the operation under way was speak the signal words.
Dead quiet.
6
Keep us going in a lazy circle,” Abdel Farouk said to the driver of the small powerboat as he huddled over his control panel and listened through his headphones. “Make it look like we’re out here sightseeing.”
Li Quon, the newest member of the Imito organization, muttered, “No problem.” He inched the wheel clockwise, and they began making a circuit of Guanabara Bay a quarter mile south of the Dragão.
Farouk glanced at him with annoyance. “Is this boring you?”
Li, in his early forties with an upturned nose and caterpillar-sized eyebrows, rolled his eyes behind his frameless glasses. “I thought I was going to get to do something more exciting than this. Do you know what I used to do?”
“Of course,” Farouk said. He wiped his receding hairline and brow with a handkerchief. Fifteen years older than Li and out of shape, Farouk didn’t do well with the sweltering humidity. “You owned your own shipping company in Singapore.”
“I worked my way up from nothing. I started with one fishing boat and built my company up into one of the biggest shippers in Southeast Asia. Now I’m driving a dinky little boat around Rio de Janeiro and I don’t even know why.”
“You lost your company because you were selling American secrets to the Chinese. You’re lucky you escaped to Brazil before you were sent to prison for life.”
Li smirked at him. “I mean, I don’t know why you and I are out here.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know,” Farouk said.
“Care to enlighten me?”
Farouk sat back and pushed the headphones down to his neck. His equipment was ready. He supposed he could take a few minutes to bring Li up to speed.
Li had agreed to the organization’s terms. If he ever talked to anyone outside Imito about the organization or betrayed them in any way, he wouldn’t just be killed. He’d suffer horrors that he couldn’t imagine. Graphic postmortem photos of previous violators convinced Li of the potential consequences.
Once you became a member of Imito, it was for life. There was no going back.
“Do you know why the commander recruited you to join us?” Farouk asked.
Li shrugged. “You needed someone with few scruples and knew I fit the bill?”
“And you’re an excellent seaman. But neither of those is the primary reason.”