Shortly, the airplane began to descend. Stone could see a low line of land appearing out of the mist ahead of the wing.
58
Quentin rearranged himself in his chair and began. “I’ve been studying up on this. We can put drones into three categories for our purposes: One, aircraft that are like large, remote control model airplanes that can be launched simply by running with the drone and throwing it. Their payload is fuel — liquid or battery, maybe a small camera. Two, let’s call these mid-sized — drones that are like a cross between a flying saucer and a multi-vaned helicopter — usually with four small propellers. These are amazingly maneuverable. I’ve seen a video with a dozen of them flying in tight formation inside a gymnasium, controlled by a computer. They can be controlled by a man with a joystick, too, and they can carry more payload — a camera and other equipment, even a significant amount of explosives. The operator can control the airplane when it’s out of his sight line by watching the camera feed on a monitor. Three, military drones, which can vary from something the size of a very small airplane, all the way up to something that looks like a pilotless jet fighter. These can carry multiple cameras, can stay up for days, and can carry serious armaments like the Hellfire missile. The Hellfire, which was originally intended as an anti-tank weapon, is old technology these days: it weighs about a hundred pounds, and twenty to thirty pounds of that is in two explosive charges — the first designed to penetrate armor, and the second, right behind it, to blow shrapnel everywhere. It’s laser-guided: you point it at a target, and it goes directly there, even if the target is moving.”
“It seems likely that if Moe, Larry, and Curly use drones, they will be in the middle category. We know that’s what Moe has been practicing with in Rock Creek Park — something about three feet in diameter.”
“With what sort of payload?” Dame Felicity asked.
“A larger version could carry twenty to thirty pounds,” Quentin replied. “Including the camera. The one Moe was operating in the park seemed to be electric, because it was very quiet. His type of drone is excellent for surveillance work — it can fly right up to an office building and hover outside an assigned window.”
“If they have an armed drone, how would we deal with it?”
“If it has a gasoline engine, we could bring it down with a heat-seeking rocket. If it has an electric engine... well, that’s another story. It would be hard to shoot at and hit. Think of how hard it is to swat a fly: they have very fast reactions. The drone could carry a GPS unit that could fly it to selected coordinates, while using a computer-controlled flight path that could zig and zag on its way to the target. The control unit could be no larger than a hardcover book, maybe even a paperback.”
“Is there a guided missile small enough to be carried by such a drone?”
“Not that I’m aware of. You’d have to design one from scratch, and that’s a time-consuming and expensive operation. But — and here’s the rub — if you want to go after a fixed target with a drone, you don’t need to fire a missile at it, you can just crash the drone into the target. Without the multiple warheads and electronics of a Hellfire missile, you’d just have the explosive, some shrapnel, and a contact detonator as payload, and with an explosive of twenty to thirty pounds. That’s quite a lot of C-4 plastique.”
The phone rang, and Dame Felicity picked it up. A monitor came alive with a split-screen image of Lance Cabot and Lev Epstein.
“Good morning, Dame Felicity,” Lance said, and Epstein gave a little wave.
“Good morning, gentlemen. I want to thank you both for your participation in this mission, and I want to bring you up to date. From the available evidence in both London and Washington, it would appear that the Three Stooges may be assembling drones, each on the roof of an embassy building here and in Washington. These drones would be large enough to carry a considerable explosive payload, and they are highly maneuverable. The work is being conducted under canvas awnings that hide them from view.”
At the invitation of Dame Felicity, Quentin repeated his theory of how the drones might work. When he had finished there was a long silence from everybody on both ends of the conference call.
Finally Lance Cabot said, “This is very worrying.”
“Yes, sir,” Quentin said. “We can’t see what they’re doing, and we can’t enter these premises to find out because both buildings are embassy properties. We also can’t arrest the suspects because they have diplomatic immunity. Not that we have a case that could be prosecuted, anyway, except after the fact of whatever they plan to do.”
Lev spoke up. “If we had hard evidence that they plan a terrorist attack of some sort, I would not hesitate to order agents into those buildings and face the consequences later.”
“Nor would I,” Lance said. “Have you given any thought to what their targets might be?”
Ian spoke up. “I have. If I were a terrorist, I would go for the most important available targets, both from a political and a publicity point of view. In the absence of large airliners to use as weapons, I would go for something more pinpoint.”
“Such as?” Lev asked.
“Such as the president of the United States and the prime minister of Great Britain. I’ve checked: the president will return to Washington from Rome tomorrow afternoon, and the prime minister will be mostly at Number Ten Downing Street for the next three days. The day after tomorrow at nine o’clock AM London time, he will be holding a Cabinet meeting. That would be four AM Washington time, when the president would presumably be in bed asleep, so she won’t be surrounded by advisers. However, she is with child, and her assassination would inflame the world.”
“They can both be moved to secure locations,” Lev said.
“But for how long?” Ian asked. “All these people have to do is wait. They are secure in their physical positions and need be in no rush.”
“Then why do you think the day after tomorrow is such a strong possibility?” Dame Felicity asked.
“I’m sorry to have to use the word,” Ian said, “but it’s a hunch, one based on the earliest moment when it would be advantageous to execute an assassination.”
“It sounds like a pretty good hunch to me,” Lance said. “Is there a place at Number Ten where the PM and his Cabinet could be made secure?”
“There is such a place,” Dame Felicity said. “And I assume that one must be available in the White House, as well.”
“I expect so,” Lance said. “Quentin, what do you think the chances are of our shooting down their drones with our drones?”
“Somewhere between slim and nil,” Quentin replied, “and we can’t afford a lack of certainty.”
“Neither can we afford the risks associated with firing Gatling guns and air-to-air missiles over densely populated areas,” Lance said. “Those bullets and rockets, if they missed, would end up on the ground, and no one could predict where.”
“I can suggest a way to get one clean shot at them,” Quentin said.
“Please do so,” Lance replied.
“I can’t speak for MI6, but in Washington we have the possibility of stationing an armed drone above the Dahai building and firing on a drone the second it tried to take off.”
“That is a possibility in London, as well,” Ian said. “But if something goes wrong, then what?”
“It seems clear to me,” Lance said, “that we cannot allow those drones, if that is what they are, to be launched, and that we must use whatever means are at our disposal to see that they are not.”
“And face the consequences later?” Dame Felicity asked.
“I’m afraid so,” Lance replied.
“We certainly cannot do that without the concurrence of our masters,” she said.