Jacques put the aircraft through its paces practicing takeoff and landing, touch and goes, then flew to the practice area to do rolls, loops, stalls and all the acrobatic stunts the aircraft was capable of handling when he heard a “harrumph” behind him.
“You seem to have mastered flying our XD-25J on your first flight.”
Jacques turned slightly to see the source of the comment, even though he recognized the voice as the Baron’s. “Piece of cake,” Jacques bragged with his slyest grin.
“Bring it down, smooth, young man. I want to talk to you.”
“Yes, sir.” Jacques flew the aircraft back to base, cleared the runway for landing, flew the perfect landing pattern, glided down the macadam for a perfect touchdown, and taxied the plane to its parking spot. Jacques felt a sense of pride. He loved to show off his learned and natural piloting skills. He took off his helmet and control gloves and stood up. He looked to Louise for affirmation.
Louise said, “Congratulations, cowboy. You outdid even what I expected on your first flight.” The congratulations spoken belied the professional jealousy in her eyes, and the carnivorous smile on her lips.
As Jacques passed by Herman, Herman gave him two thumbs up, and a look of almost hero worship.
The Baron and Mr. Benz stopped their conversation as Jacques strode up to them. “Congratulations Mr. Armand, that was some impressive piloting,” said Mr. Benz. He shook Jacques’ hand with a firm grip. “You’ve found a keeper,” Mr. Benz said to the Baron, and walked away.
The Baron impatiently chewed on his unlit Havana cigar. Even he wasn’t allowed to smoke in the hangar. “My boy, you’re a marvel. Normally, I would wait months, maybe even years to bring you into my fold, but with the reports I received from my daughter and Herman, and even Louise, I’m going to take a chance on you.” The Baron chewed on his cigar, as if the cigar was approving his approach.
Jacques waited for the Baron to continue as though he had all the time in the world.
The Baron continued in his ponderous demeanor. “You’re not going to hurt my little girl are you? She seems attracted to you.”
“Of course not, sir. I think she is quite the fine lady.”
“Just remember that, and I expect you to be a gentleman. So watch yourself, you hear,” the Baron nearly chewed the end of his cigar off as his eyes flashed warning.
“I understand.”
“Good. Now, we can get to the subject at hand.” The Baron leaned toward Jacques and whispered, “Would you like to make a difference in the world?”
“I would.”
“Can you commit what would be considered a heinous act in the narrow perspective, but serves the greater good in the grand perspective?”
Jacques knew his answer would make the difference between being allowed into the inner circle, or serving as a test pilot for the Baron’s drones. “As long as I’m serving the overarching good cause, I see no problem with the means justifying the ends. Isn’t that what war, for example, is all about, maximize enemy casualties while minimizing your own and other innocents.”
“Exactly. I want you and your team to join me for dinner at my home tonight so we discuss what I have in mind. Are you available?”
“Of course, sir.”
Twenty Five
Jacques was greeted at the door by the Baron’s butler, Gerald, and led into the parlor. “Please make yourself comfortable,” Gerald said, and left Jacques to admire the magnificent room with its antique German furniture, huge fireplace, large comfortable sofas and oil painting of the Baron hanging over the fireplace. The ends of the Baron’s handlebar mustache pointed skyward, and his blue eyes flashed from the canvas.
Louise and Herman were seated on opposing sofas.
Herman stood and said, “I’m glad you’re here.”
Louise stood and greeted Jacques with a kiss on the cheek, which seemed to linger too long and gave him a hug which seemed more than fraternal, and lasted longer than Jacques expected.
Louise joined Jacques on the sofa close, but not too close, and Herman sat back down on the sofa across from them.
“I’ve worked for the Baron for several years and this is the first time I’ve been invited into his home,” volunteered Herman.
Before either Jacques or Louise could reply, Gerald called from the doorway, “Dinner is served.” Gerald led the way from the parlor to the grand dining room where Katherine, and Giselle, the Baron’s wife, were already seated at the far end of a fourteen setting table.
Jacques went immediately to Giselle and said, “My name is Jacques Armand, my lady,” and kissed her hand in greeting.
“Oooh,” she cooed, “I do so love the French and their manners. My name is Baroness Giselle, Baron Hapsburg’s wife, and this is my daughter, Katherine.”
Jacques approached Katherine and kissed her hand, also. “We’re acquainted from work, my lady. Good evening to you, my dear.”
“I’m so glad you could make it,” Katherine said. She nodded coolly to Louise and Herman, “I take it, Father has some after dinner business with the three of you.”
“I hope it’s more pleasure than business, but you surmise correctly, my dear,” said the Baron making his entrance. He sat at the head of the table and nodded to Gerald as a signal to bring the food.
The food was authentic German, well prepared and delicious. The meal was eaten as civilized persons eat, polite with trite and superficial small talk about the latest cultural and social events, of which Jacques had no notion. Jacques was comfortable with Giselle and Katherine dominating the dinner conversation. Jacques noted hints of animosity between Louise and Katherine. He tried his best to balance his banter between the two women, but focused on Giselle to avoid tension between the two young women. He synchronized his eating with Giselle so he would finish when she did.
Giselle said, “The Baron loves his German food more than I do, but I insist that it be prepared by our French chef. A German chef could adequately prepare these dishes, but they would be a beastly affair.”
“The food was brilliant, German fare cooked by a French chef. You are a genius madam,” replied Jacques with more than faux sincerity.
The Baron wiped his lips with his napkin, laid it next to his plate and went to Giselle’s side. “Madam runs the household like an iron mistress, but she still remains the gracious Queen you see here this evening. My congratulations for another excellent meal are in order, again.” The Baron took Giselle’s hand and caressed it between his own two hands and gave her a loving, appreciative smile.
Giselle blushed slightly, and replied, “You give me too much credit, Liebling.”
The Baron released her hand, and said, “Now my dear, if we may take our leave, I do have important business to discuss with our friends.” Without further ado, he instructed his dinner guests, “Come with me.”
The four of them followed the Baron through the house to the library. Jacques noted with slight discomfort that Louise and Katherine sandwiched him between them, and walked so close that he could not avoid touching their sides as they walked. He noted Katherine glare across him at Louise when Louise’s right hand brushed across Jacques backside as they walked, and accidentally touched Katherine’s hand behind Jacques back.
The Baron approached one of the bookcases, pulled out a copy of A Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, and the book case rotated to reveal an entrance to another room. The Baron entered followed by Jacques and the others.
The secret room was larger and more comfortable than Jacques would have imagined. A large sofa in the round filled the center of the room, with a glass top table in the middle of the open space. A wet bar and what appeared to be a suite of state of the art audio/visual equipment occupied one end of the room with a projector built into the ceiling pointed at a wall space painted to accommodate video projection.
Katherine went to the bar and asked, “What would each of you like to drink?”
Jacques answered first, “Scotch on the rocks.”
&nb
sp; Louise replied, “Same here.”
Herman asked, “A beer please.”
“You’re wondering why I called you all here this evening.” Without waiting for any reply he continued, “Jacques, most of what I am about to say is already known by everyone else in the room, but I will present the basics for your benefit, and the others can listen quietly.”
“Yes sir.”
Katherine handed each of them their drinks from a silver platter.
“Thank you, Katherine,” each replied in turn. The Baron sipped his drink and then set it on the glass topped table. Katherine, drink in hand, sat next to Jacques, on the opposite side of Jacques from Louise. She sensually crossed her long glamorous legs and gave her skirt a demure tug down to mid-thigh level.
The Baron seemed to be oblivious to the sexual tensions among the two women and Jacques. He continued, “several of my friends, very important individuals, I may add, would like to see our earth preserved as it would have been if not over run by destructive and unworthy people.”
The Baron addressed his comments directly to Jacques, which made Jacques even more uncomfortable in the sealed room, sandwiched between two breathtaking, but potentially dangerous females. “It’s not important for me to reveal all of our good intentions at this time, but I have to know if you are like minded to our cause,” the Baron paused for a response from Jacques.
“Yes sir, but the world is so big and there are so many people. Global warming, the destruction of the world’s forests, the polar ice caps melting, it’s almost too much to - -”
“Tut, tut, my boy, Rome wasn’t built in a day. We’re a patient and determined group. I’m not offering you membership into our group at this juncture, but would like to include you in some preliminary operations to help our vision along. A vision which may take years, or even decades, to bring to pass. Are you interested?”
“Yes sir. What would you have me do?” Jacques noted that Katherine edged slightly closer to him on the couch.
“For a grand visionary group like ours to be able to cause a major paradigm shift in the way the earth is being treated, we need to be able to acquire the power required to make change. Our first activities, our baby steps as it were, are to create chaos in the super powers now running the planet, distracting them and allowing us to step in to key positions of influence and authority.”
“I see.”
“We have activities going on in many fronts, but these are not your concern, at least for now. Our current activity is to assess our drones for their viability in carrying out some of our purposes. We plan to use the drones to attack certain countries making it appear that countries considered rogue by most nations of the world have conducted the attacks. We will create chaos.”
“For example?” Jacques asked.
“For example, North Korea attacks South Korea, Iran attacks Israel, Pakistan attacks India.” the Baron paused to allow his concepts to sink in. “We will keep the US and her allies, France, Germany, and others so busy handling crises that they will not be able to pay attention to our strategies.”
“The rogue countries will deny their involvement to prevent attacks on their own soil,” Jacques added.
“Of course they will, but chaos will still reign.”
“This sounds like a clever tactic, but taking over the world will require more than a few drone attacks and conflicts between major world powers.”
“We’re working on a comprehensive plan, but you have to prove yourself willing and able, and faithful to our cause before I will reveal any more to you. Do you understand?”
“Of course, sir. I like what I’m hearing thus far, so I see no problem.”
Katherine had scooted herself increment by increment closer to Jacques, so they were now touching at the hip.
“May I ask a question?”
“Of course, Roland, I mean Jacques, I understand from Kat, that you prefer Jacques.”
“It’s no major concern, but I do prefer Jacques.”
“Yes, ask away, you must agree with our goals if you are to be an integral part of the team. What is your question?”
“What goes on in Hangar Six? It appears to be another special UAV activity.”
“Very observant. The US Air Force is conducting some operations over Europe and Asia that they need to have based outside the United States.”
“The CIA, you mean.”
“Whoever they are, they pay well for the space and the facilities. Occasionally, I support them with logistics, materials and personnel, tit for tat, if you get my meaning. I don’t ask them any questions and they leave me to my own devices.”
“Cozy.”
“Very. They even provide me with funding to develop stealth technology.”
Jacques eyebrows raised. “You’re not telling them of your progress?”
“I give them quarterly reports on my progress, and tell them we’re making progress, but haven’t succeeded yet. I have a couple of more years of incremental progress, and failed development to feed them. Nothing gets US funding easier than research that fails to produce, but promises results next year, or the year after, and so on.”
“Ironic, and brilliant, but ironic. I like the way you operate.”
“Very well. It’s settled. Your first mission is to fly our special drone on an attack from North Korea to South Korea as a demonstration, and kick off an initial phase of our plan.” The Baron lifted his glass and took another sip of his favorite scotch. “A toast,” he held up his glass, and the rest followed suit. “To our new pilot.”
“Hear, hear.”
Jacques sipped his drink, and said, “Thank you.” Then he asked, “What’s so special about this drone? How can we fake an attack from North Korea?”
“Excellent questions. Herman, fill him in.”
Herman, who had sat quietly throughout most of the evening, perked up at being involved. He leaned forward on the sofa, and addressing, Jacques said, “We have a special drone in our ‘skunk works’”
“Like Lockheed’s skunk works,” Jacques interrupted.
“Like Lockheed’s skunk works. Our drone is not 100% invisible, but it does have a very low radar target strength, and is visually ambiguous. That is, a man on the ground looking up would see the underside as sky and a man in the sky would see the topside as ground. Our drone is designed to be flown at low altitude, be visually ambiguous, be radar transparent, have a minimum heat signature, and be virtually noiseless. Most of these stealth capabilities can be turned ‘on’ and ‘off’ remotely. The drone can be completely destroyed once it hits its target, eliminating all telltale traces of its origin. You flew the prototype of the one to be used today.”
“Clever.”
“We like to think so,” added Kat.
Louise, anxious to be an active participant in the discussion, added, “We’ll launch it from the sea, fly it over the mainland of North Korea, then south across the 38th parallel so that it appears to have originated from North Korea, and hit a sensitive government target in South Korea.”
“The North Korean’s have made it easy for us with their ongoing saber rattling,” continued the Baron. “Once this flight is successful, we’ll move on to other targets, while pressing forward on other phases of our plan.”
“I’m impressed. When do we start?” Jacques asked.
“We started today when you gained familiarity with the prototype of our special drone. Keep up the good work. I’ll let you all know when the other mission aspects are ready. Meanwhile, learn to fly the aircraft until it’s second nature for you. Herman has charts to familiarize you with the intended route. Any questions?”
“No sir.” Jacques finished off his drink and leaned forward to set the glass on the table. When he leaned back he found his right side pressed against Katherine, and Louise had scooted closer to him, touching his left side.
“Excellent, well my bride is probably wondering if we intend to cloister ourselves all night in here, so let’s join her for a nightcap.”
Jacques felt more uncomfortable now than he did earlier, he had obtained a tidbit of information about a near term part of the Baron’s overall plan. He had to stick with his charade as long as possible. He was going to have enough difficulty breaking off his introduction to the family without committing some faux pas that would either give him away, or destroy his entrée into the inner circle. Having both Louise and Katherine vying for his attentions was ego boosting, but dicey.
Giselle was patiently waiting in the parlor as though she was used to her husband shutting himself off with dinner guests for long periods of time. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re back. Have you completed your business, my dear?” she addressed the Baron without rising from her chair.
“Yes, my dear,” the Baron replied, and stooped down to give her a kiss on the lips. Now we can relax and enjoy some pleasant light conversation, and some wine.”
Gerald appeared in front of Jacques, and held out a tray of full wine glasses.
Jacques accepted one and said, “Thank you.”
The others each accepted a glass of wine. The Baron held up his glass, and proposed, “A toast to a long and productive association.”
“Here, here,” the group replied.
Jacques was again seated between the two gorgeous, strong-willed young women. He would be flying drones with Louise in a close, dangerous, working environment, and he needed to get close to Kat, the boss’ daughter, confidant and office manager. If he pursued Louise, it would make working conditions awkward, and if he pursued Kat, to get close to the Baron, and his merry band of Select, he would have to show a genuine interest in Kat, or he might come to a bad end.
Somewhere out there was the Baron’s younger daughter, Aloisia, and Kurt Brandt. If Kurt recognized Jacques from their encounter in Brazil, Jacques would be in grave danger. Jacques’ current clean shaven face was a helpful departure from the full beard he wore in Brazil. He had only been in Kurt’s presence for a few minutes, in the restaurant, but mostly in the dark in front of the jungle house. It was unlikely Kurt would recognize him if they met again, but deadly, if he did.
The Noble Mercenary Page 24
