Impossible (Fuzed Trilogy Book 3)

by David E Stevens

Josh watches the exterior suddenly change color. Frowning, he steps back to see the whole vehicle. The side closest to him takes on the color and brightness of the trailer wall behind it. Shaking his head, Josh says, “Wow. This looks like—”

  “Adaptive camouflage,” Tim finishes. “It uses the cameras on the far side to change color and brightness on this side to match the background … no matter what angle you view it from. It’s not invisible up close, but at a short distance it blends in with any terrain making it almost impossible to see.”

  Greg whistles. “Wicked! What’s it called?”

  “A Gecko.”

  Josh smiles. “Appropriate. Range?”

  “On a full charge, about 200 miles. Less at high speed or in rough terrain.”

  Nodding, Josh says, “Even the bi-static radar shouldn’t be able to pick us up in ground clutter with this thing.”

  Tim adds, “And the heat signature is about the same as a small animal.”

  Josh smiles. “Let’s do it.”

  38

  GECKO

  It’s a pitch black, overcast night. The two Geckos run single file down the desert highway at 120 mph. Josh is in the lead with Greg in his backseat. Tim follows in the other.

  The only sound is the wind and the knobby tires singing on the pavement. Josh smiles as the Gecko automatically banks into corners. Glancing into the backseat, he says, “Greg, how’re you doing?”

  “This is way cool. The VR is more realistic than my games.”

  Josh decides to leave that comment alone.

  The Gecko’s ECM gear picks up a radar signal. It identifies it as standard police radar approaching from the front. Seeing the police car’s headlights ahead, Josh turns on the adaptive camouflage. The Geckos don’t need headlights and with a closure rate of 200 mph, no radar signature and active camouflage, it’ll be a good test of the Gecko’s stealth.

  The highway patrol officer runs down the empty highway at 80 mph. He glances at the radio display but his eyes jerk back up as he senses something in his peripheral vision. With a double swooshing sound, windy shadows streak by his car. He turns his head rapidly and looks back, but sees nothing. Frowning, he shakes his head, chalking it up to a near miss with desert wildlife.

  Seeing no brake lights on the receding patrol car, Josh certifies the Geckos for stealth duty.

  He slows as they approach their turn off. It’s an unmarked, unpaved road. They follow it for several miles, until they find their planned exit point. On a topographical map, they identified a dry creek bed they hope will allow them to slip under the fence. Checking to make sure there are no cars approaching, Josh turns off the highway and resets the Gecko’s tire pressure and suspension. As he gets used to using the VR headset, he finds himself feeling less uncomfortable with no windows.

  They follow the rough creek bed for a quarter mile until they see the fence that surrounds the 12 by 12 mile security zone. It’s a sturdy, eight-foot-high, chain-link fence topped with cyclone wire. The creek bed runs under the fence with just enough room to slip the Geckos through, but another swath of fencing blocks the gap underneath. They stop.

  Using his VR helmet, Josh looks up and scans the sky for the telltale heat signature of a drone. Over their short-range comm, he tells Tim, “Sky’s clear.”

  Tim gets out of his Gecko and after attaching a jumper cable across sensor wires, he cuts the chain-link fence blocking the creek bed.

  They drive single file slowly through the hole.

  Even with the stealth coating and active camouflage, the longer they remain in the open, the greater their chance of being detected. They climb out of the creek bed and Josh takes the lead, gradually opening up the throttle. With the agility of a mountain goat and the speed of a cheetah, they run across the barren desert at over 90 mph.

  Superimposed over his VR display is their preplanned route. They designed it to avoid large rocks and ravines, but the maps aren’t perfect, and he has to deviate around small obstacles and wildlife.

  Jen is jacked into their encrypted comm and nav system, so she can provide cover by monitoring satellite imagery and radio communications from the compound. They use one of the few frequencies that isn’t being actively jammed by the facility.

  Their target sits inside a shallow, six-mile-wide bowl in the desert — ironically, an ancient, eroded impact crater.

  Next to the jetpack, Josh decides the Gecko’s the coolest thing he’s ever driven. They scream silently through the desert at ludicrous speeds, the responsive suspension soaking up the terrain like a mop.

  Before he knows it, he hits the small ridge surrounding the compound. Doing 90, he catches air as they top the ridge. Landing on the other side, Josh’s exhilaration is squelched by a loud beep from his ECM panel. They were painted by a radar. Once again, he allowed adrenaline to override caution. He cuts his speed in half as he scans the now visible lights of the compound three miles ahead.

  Jen comes up in his headset, “Intercepted an encrypted radio transmission to one of the roving patrols. The facility got a radar hit and they’re sending a patrol vehicle your way to investigate.”

  “My bad. I shouldn’t have flown over that ridge. Those bloody bi-static radars can see a hummingbird.” He scans left and right with the VR headset, zooming in on several areas. He locates a dip in the desert a couple hundred yards ahead and tells Tim to follow him.

  Jen says, “They’re 30 degrees left of your nose, about two miles out and headed your way.”

  Josh switches his headset from low light to infrared. He immediately sees a brightly lit object approaching. The roving patrol is using IR floodlights, which means they’re wearing night vision goggles. He hopes what little heat the Geckos produce will dissipate with the motors off. As soon as they drop into the dip, they stop next to some rock outcroppings. He tells Tim, “Let’s lay low here for a while … be the rock.”

  After a couple minutes, Josh can make out an Oshkosh JLTV bumping toward them and swiveling a powerful IR searchlight. The big ugly Humvee replacement is armored, and very proficient off road. He hopes the Gecko’s camouflage blends them into the rocks.

  Jen decrypts the transmission between the roving patrol and the base. “You’re on the bearing where we had the radar contact. Do you see anything?”

  The patrol responds, “Looking.”

  Josh watches the Jeltev slow to a crawl and come within 100 yards. This close, he can make out an M-134 minigun on top. The Gecko’s light armor won’t hold up to the Gatling gun. Its thirty-ought-six rounds fired at fifty per second would carve them up like Swiss cheese.

  The Jeltev swings its IR searchlight around them. The beam sweeps right across the Geckos, temporarily blinding their IR headset.

  Josh and Greg hold their breath.

  The minigun explodes into life, ripping the night open with a blinding muzzle flash, deafening staccato and the metallic “clinking” of hundreds of spent shells bouncing off the vehicle. Dirt and rocks only a few dozen yards away explode under the onslaught. They’re sitting ducks as they watch the glowing orange tracers sweep the desert floor like a laser beam.

  Josh is about to make a run for it, when he realizes the train of bullets is moving away from them. Looking carefully, he sees a young coyote running across the desert floor. The bullets quickly catch up and rip the coyote apart. The gun stops. In the silence, they hear laughter coming from the Jeltev.

  Within seconds, they hear on the radio, “We neutralized the threat … a dangerous coyote.”

  The base replies, “Coyote’s don’t create that big of a radar return.”

  As the Jeltev starts moving again, they hear, “Maybe you need to recalibrate your radar. We’re heading back.”

  39

  CONSPIRACY

  Josh waits until the Jeltev is a football field in front of them and then follows them back to the compound.

  Greg says, “You’re keeping them between you and the radar?”

  Josh nods.

  As they follo
w the Jeltev into the compound, Greg asks, “Where are we going to park these things?”

  Smiling, Josh turns the adaptive camouflage off and drives the Gecko right onto the well-lit parking lot, pulling into an empty space reserved for electric cars.

  Tim pulls in next to him.

  Josh gets out and plugs the Gecko into the charging port. Tim does the same with a nod of approval.

  “Hide in plain sight.” Greg smiles and then looks around. “This place looks just like a university campus.”

  Tim nods. “They clearly don’t want their people going in and out much. Because of the extreme security required to get in, I’m hoping it’s more relaxed inside.”

  They’re dressed in the same type of casual clothes they saw in Tim’s video of the front gate.

  As Greg takes off his black windbreaker, Tim says, “You’re wearing a red shirt.”

  Greg looks down. “Uh … yeah?”

  Josh and Tim exchange half-smiles.

  Frowning, Greg looks at them.

  Tim says, “Let’s get moving.”

  Following them, Greg says, “What?!”

  Josh shrugs. “Never mind.”

  They see only a few people walking outside as they move toward the largest building. The main entrance is busier so they decide to try a door on the side of the building. Tim tentatively turns the doorknob. It’s locked. Greg pulls the blue bracelet out of his pocket and holds it near the doorknob. They hear a mechanical click and Tim opens the door.

  Inside is a set of fire stairs.

  Josh shrugs. “Start at the top?”

  Tim nods. “Check your weapons.”

  They all have gas-fired Tasers, and Josh and Tim have compact nine millimeters. Greg opted out of carrying a pistol, since the only ones he’d fired were virtual. He had, however, tased himself.

  The stairs end five flights up. Tim carefully peeks out the door and then motions them to follow. They appear to be on a maintenance floor. The hall is long and unoccupied, running the length of the building. There are metal doors spaced every 75 feet.

  Josh tries the first door. It’s locked and the bracelet doesn’t unlock it.

  They go to a door halfway down the hall, but it’s also locked.

  Tim steps in and in less than 30 seconds is able to pick the lock. They carefully slip through and close it. They’re standing on a black metal catwalk that services overhead ductwork and lighting. It’s imbedded in an industrial ceiling 60 feet above a room twice the size of a football field. Their vantage point is “midfield.” The right side of the room is filled with orderly rows of square cubicles. Each cubicle is about seven by seven feet with seven-foot high walls separating it from the next cubicle. Josh counts 20 rows of 25 cubicles. They can look down into the ones closest to them and tell that most of them are occupied.

  They creep slowly out onto the catwalk and pull out small binoculars with built-in cameras.

  Zooming in, they see that inside each cubicle is a high-tech console with a large display. In front of the console are two nicely padded seats. In one chair, someone sits wearing a VR headset and operates what looks like a video game controller. It reminds Josh of the military drone pilot stations. The second person sitting next to the “pilot” has a large monitor and a conventional keyboard in front of them. They wear a regular audio headset and microphone. The big monitor is divided into three windows: one big one and two small. The biggest display looks like a moving video image from a flight game. Clearly, it’s displaying what the nano-drones “pilot” sees in their VR headset. One of the smaller windows displays a satellite map and a location clearly marked with a seven-digit code. The other window has video and audio controls.

  It appears that one flies the nano-drone while the other monitors the subject via camera and mic. As Josh scans across the consoles, he notices some displays are dark or blank and have only one bored operator. He guesses the individual being monitored is asleep or out of range.

  He zooms in on a display with an active video feed. There’s a woman wearing a bathrobe working at a desk. Josh recognizes the Prime Minister of France! He hits the record button on the binoculars and systematically scans as many consoles as he can.

  Tim whispers, “In addition to world leaders, I see heads of law enforcement and intelligence agencies.”

  As Josh continues to scan, he finds one of the consoles with a dark screen that reads, “Commander Josh Fuze.” He notes the seven-digit number next to his name.

  Tim points toward the left side of the room. There are another 10 rows of 10 cubicles but all have ceilings on top of them preventing them from seeing inside. “Guessing these might be higher level subjects?” Pointing further back to the left, he says, “Supervisors?”

  On a raised platform overlooking all the cubicles are stepped rows of occupied consoles looking like Mission Control. There are four rows of ten consoles. Behind the consoles is an even higher glassed-in room that looks like a stadium skybox. It has a commanding view of the consoles and cubicles, but the glass is too dark to see inside the room.

  Greg whispers, “This isn’t a terrorist operation; it’s an epic conspiracy that probably goes to the White House.”

  Josh nods. “We need to find out who’s behind that glass.”

  In their headset, they hear Jen say, “Base security just found your Geckos.”

  They slip quietly back across the catwalk and into the hallway. Running down the stairs, they stop at the exit door and peek out. Josh sees a Jeltev parked next to their Geckos. Four men are standing around it with automatic weapons.

  Josh says, “Ok, parking in plain sight was a bad idea.”

  Greg taps his chest. “I got this.”

  Josh and Tim look at him curiously.

  “Look, you guys are too old to pass as one of these gamers. I look the part.”

  Tim shrugs. “He’s right.” To Greg, he says, “Ok, we’ll come in from the west side of the parking lot.”

  Greg says, “West?”

  Tim points. “Over there.”

  Greg slips the blue bracelet on and walks toward the men standing around their Gecko. As he approaches, he says, “Those are wicked cool looking. What are they?”

  When he speaks, they initially lift their weapons as they turn toward him, but as Greg moves into the parking lot lights, they lower them. “Son, you don’t need to be here. Move along.”

  Greg shrugs. “Ok, but who were those guys dressed in black?”

  “Did you see someone get out of these?”

  “No, but they came from this direction. Couple older looking guys, like you, but wearing black shirts and baseball caps.”

  “Where?!”

  Greg points behind him toward the main building.

  “When?!”

  “Just a few seconds ago.”

  The one speaking says something in his radio, and then to the man next to him, “Stay here.”

  Three of the four jog toward the building as Greg moves slowly toward the east side of the vehicles.

  Greg says, “Man, I’d love to have one of these things.”

  The remaining security guard shakes his head. “You need to get out of here.” With a condescending smile, he adds, “Stick with your video games. The real world is dangerous.”

  As Tim slips in behind him, Greg says, “You think so?”

  The guard turns and Tim tases him, grabbing his weapon as he falls.

  Josh pulls the charging cables and pops the canopies, as Tim tosses the rifle into the bushes. They hop in but before they can lower the canopy, a head pops out of the top of the Jeltev. The man yells excitedly into his radio.

  Josh’s Gecko is already in motion as the canopy comes down.

  Strapping in, Greg looks back with his VR headset and says, “Uh oh.”

  Josh and Tim turn on the adaptive camouflage and accelerate rapidly through the parking lot, but this close, and under the artificial lights of the parking lot, they’re still visible.

  The Jeltev is pursui
ng. Its minigun opens up, ripping up parked cars next to them. They’re outrunning the Jeltev, but they can’t outrun its bullets.

  Over the radio, Josh tells Tim, “We both have the data. I’ll drag ‘em toward the front gate. You head out through the desert.”

  He gets a double mic click.

  Josh knows the hybrid Jeltevs are capable of over 90 mph. Resetting the Gecko’s suspension for highway, Josh accelerates to 150.

  By the time the Jeltev clears the parking lot, their Gecko is 200 yards down the road. Their active camouflage makes them almost invisible, but staying on the road makes them predictable.

  Sure enough, the 7.6 mm tracers stitch across the road behind them like a red laser, chewing up asphalt and desert in a cloud of debris. It’s obvious they don’t have a clear target and are just sweeping the road, but at 50 rounds a second, that can be effective—

  There’s a loud pop and Josh feels a couple of thumps. Two dime-sized holes open up in front of him as rounds slice through the Gecko from back to front. Josh jerks the wheel away from the stream of bullets, yelling to Greg, “You ok?”

  “I think so!”

  Josh’s display flashes, “Adaptive Camouflage,” “VR” and “Battery” warnings. Looking over his shoulder, Josh realizes he’s lost some cameras and their camouflage is failing. The VR display has blank spots and it’s flickering. “Greg, I want you to put your hand on the yellow and black canopy jettison handle.”

  “You told me not to touch that!”

  “Don’t pull it ‘til I tell you. The bullets damaged the VR display and we’re about to lose it. Without it, we’re blind inside and visible outside!”

  Josh watches the beam of red tracers stop its sweep off their left side and begin moving back toward the road and them. The gunner has the distance right this time and they’ll be nailed by more than just a couple rounds. Just before the stream crosses them, Josh yells, “Pull it!”

  With a bang and whoosh, the canopy blows off into the night, and Josh tears off his headset.