“But back to the matter at hand,” said Todd. “The presidency. Given everything I’ve said—would you consider running?”
“I don’t know.”
“I think you’d make a great President. And, since my medical condition will be . . . tiring, I don’t think I should run for reelection. So, you would have a wide-open shot.”
“I see that.”
They were both silent for a moment.
“You don’t want the job?” Todd asked.
“I’m, uh—I hadn’t realized you were sick.”
“Nor did I. And I don’t feel it either.” Todd smiled. Not today anyway.
“Why back me? We’ve never completely gotten along.”
“Oh, I think we have, in the important areas. And frankly, I liked your opposition. It kept me honest. Besides, I think you’d make a great President.”
“Well, thanks.”
Todd rose. “Think it over, Senator. There’s no need to give me an answer, but you will want to start getting your ducks quietly in place. These things take an enormous amount of energy and time.”
“So I’ve heard,” said Zen, wheeling forward to shake her hand.
2
Fort Benning
TURK MAKO REMAINED AT ATTENTION AS THE BUGLER’S notes faded. The ceremony honoring Grease and the rest of the team had come to an end.
Their bodies hadn’t been recovered. The Iranians had been curiously silent so far, despite the President’s statements and numerous analysts’ pronouncements that the U.S. had managed to destroy the Iranian bomb program with weapons that it steadfastly refused to describe. Todd had promised that the details would be revealed when appropriate; Turk understood that to mean never.
They’d given him a place of honor at the front. He remained standing as the others left, nodding as people looked at him but remaining in his own cocoon. Soldiers, civilians, filed by silently.
Turk glanced at Stoner, standing toward the back. He hadn’t seen him since the hospital in Bethesda when they’d returned. Stoner hadn’t said much. Turk couldn’t tell whether he was fighting some inner demon or simply a very quiet man.
Stoner had saved his life, not least of all by disobeying orders to kill him.
No one said those were the orders, but Turk knew they were. He wasn’t sure exactly how to treat Breanna. She’d known all along that he was to be killed.
It was her job; he knew that. It was his job; he knew that, too. But it was hard to know what to feel about a person after that.
Turk’s body had taken a beating, but the mission had done more than that to him. He’d changed. He’d been a cocky pilot when he started, sure of himself in the air. On the ground, he’d been a bit of a dweeb, awkward and timid at times.
Now he wasn’t.
A pair of jets passed overhead. Turk glanced upward. They were F-35s, the latest multirole fighters in the U.S. inventory.
And maybe the last. A lot of people thought manned combat flight was over. Machines could now fill the gap, making their own decisions, flying more reliably than men ever could.
Had he proven them wrong? If he hadn’t been there, the nano-UAVs wouldn’t have succeeded. A human was still needed in the mix, and a good one.
Or was this just one last gasp? The next generation of aircraft, surely only a few years away, might have enough processing power to handle all decisions on their own.
Turk wasn’t sure. He liked to fly, and he was very good at it, and that colored his opinions.
One thing he did know: true courage would never go out of style. It would just be harder to find.
About the Author
DALE BROWN is the author of numerous New York Times bestsellers, starting with Flight of the Old Dog in 1987, and most recently, Tiger’s Claw. A former U.S. Air Force captain, he can often be found flying his plane over the skies of Nevada.
www.dalebrown.info
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Also in the Dreamland Series
(with Jim DeFelice)
COLLATERAL DAMAGE
RAVENSTRIKE
BLACK WOLF
WHIPLASH
REVOLUTION
RETRIBUTION
END GAME
SATAN’S TAIL
STRIKE ZONE
RAZOR’S EDGE
NERVE CENTER
DREAMLAND
Also by Dale Brown
STARFIRE
TIGER’S CLAW • A TIME FOR PATRIOTS
EXECUTIVE INTENT • ROGUE FORCES
SHADOW COMMAND • STRIKE FORCE
EDGE OF BATTLE • ACT OF WAR
PLAN OF ATTACK • AIR BATTLE FORCE
WINGS OF FIRE • WARRIOR CLASS
BATTLE BORN • THE TIN MAN
FATAL TERRAIN • SHADOW OF STEEL
STORMING HEAVEN • CHAINS OF COMMAND
NIGHT OF THE HAWK • SKY MASTERS
HAMMERHEADS • DAY OF THE CHEETAH
SILVER TOWER • FLIGHT OF THE OLD DOG
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
DRONE STRIKE: A DREAMLAND THRILLER. Copyright © 2014 by Air Battle Force, Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition JUNE 2014 ISBN: 9780062122834
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062122827
FIRST EDITION
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