3.
High Stakes
"We need to fast track Airwolf"
"She's not ready yet Michael. We're not ready yet," Branson said from Jo's living room, hissing into his phone to keep his voice down. He knew that being able to complete The Lady's testing and the new crew's training in relative peace was too good to be true.
"Besides, we're not under contract yet, we still have five days." Branson reminded him that their obligation started after AMRB officially put their search for Airwolf to bed. There was no way they could fly Airwolf out of her desert confines any earlier.
"I'm aware of that Richards," Michael said in all seriousness. "It'll take at least that long to organise everything so you can hit the ground running."
"Wha.." Branson reeled in shock, "we need more time!
"Well you'd better hope Airwolf is up to speed. Because with what we've uncovered means we don't really have time.
"You need to get your crew together, we've got a communications room set up at the new Superior Security office in Van Nuys and from there, we'll patch you in on the latest. I'll send you the address and a code for entry into the building. You'll be screened and given further information when you get there."
Within twenty minutes, Branson and Jo had fetched the others had headed off in the two black SUV's he always had on call and arrived at the Van Nuys Industrial Precinct that sat adjacent to The Airport and was only minutes away from Santini Air.
The building was simply a standard warehouse building with a lower level front of house that had large floor to ceiling glass windows and entry doors. A large Superior Securities sign was hung above the office area and was brightly lit in the dark of the night. Next to the section of windows was a large roller door for goods and vehicle access.
The lot was surrounded by a security fence, which could be accessed via a keypad set near the gate in easy reach of the driver's window. Branson's driver, David punched in the code and the large entry gate slid open to allow the two vehicles to enter.
At the same time the roller door started to rise slowly bathing the hardstand they were occupying in light from within.
Two staff members stood waiting and ushered for the cars to be moved through and once they were all inside, the roller door closed again behind them.
Only introducing themselves as Debbie and Max, the two smartly dressed people welcomed them and took them through the huge warehouse area that held a number of cars that ranged from limousines to armoured guard trucks.
"Holy cow, Chapman got this up in a hurry," Jo said, looking around while the group weaved through the fleet and towards a security door on the far wall.
"Mr Chapman bought this as a going concern just after Ms Bouvier was appointed in Vegas, Ms Santini." Debbie said.
"Of course he did," Jo said under her breath uneasily, the information also alarming the rest of facilities guests.
Just how much surveillance had their family actually been under in all this time?
That was the general thought that collectively spread through the group as they filed through the door held open by Max, who had accessed it with an iris scan.
Inside the room, the visitors were presented with security tags and had their faces and irises scanned to activate them so that they too, could access the covert area of the facility without general staff ever being involved.
Escorted through another door that led the crew down a sort hallway and to an elevator that was hidden behind a door that disappeared within a vertical mini shiplap feature wall. Another Iris scan by Debbie this time and they all packed into the lift before Max pressed a blank button that promptly caused the small room to move downward and into the underground.
"This subterranean bunker was part of a tunnel system left over from prohibition to connect the city centre to the airport. Tunnels were blanked off or filled in over the years to stabilise new building lots with some sections now unofficially back in use." Debbie said while descending.
The elevator doors opened after the ride came to a stop and opened out onto a landing. Nash was more than happy to see that it had been fitted out with a coffee station and a vending machine. A set of shallow steps led them down the centre of a large room with a dozen or so comfortable seats on either side, making it look like a private theatre or compact auditorium in a bomb shelter kind of way. The rounded ceiling line was inclined down a hill and the floor levelled at the bottom to make a space that was installed to look like some sort of a control room.
The end wall was filled with a large screen divided into smaller displays of CTV images of varying locations and the side walls each had a three computer stations. None of which were currently occupied.
"Impressive set up" Branson said echoing what the others were thinking as they looked around with large eyes and in relative wonderment.
"This is our new West Coast control room for Project Guardian. In a few minutes Michael will be patched in from Washington." Debbie said as she swiftly tapped at the keyboard of the nearest computer and the screes went blank for a moment configuring to a single screen and before displaying the Project Guardian Logo.
Help yourself to the refreshments on the landing." Debbie said finally before climbing the steps and leaving the room via the elevator.
Minutes later, Michael appeared on the screen, larger than life. He both thanked his guests for coming and apologised for the inconvenience while the group settled themselves into their seats with their beverages and snacks.
Michael's image was replaced with a still.
An older photo of a pretty Asian lady in her early twenties was placed up on the screen with her particulars listed in a section next to it.
"This is Dr Mei Zuan. She came to the States in '94 as a gifted student from China to study medicine at UCLA and was recruited by the CIA in '99 before returning to China after she graduated with honours.
"She became an intern at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and shortly after and reported back regarding the study she was involved in on Epidemic Haemorrhagic Fever and its possible threat as a biological weapon.
"A report from the Government Accountability Office didn't consider it to be enough of a threat for an alert to be implemented due to its inherent instability, the dangerous nature of working with the virus and constant assurances from the Chinese Communist Party that their studies were for research purposes only. They found it wouldn't likely be viable to produce it on mass, so her warning was dismissed.
"Mei has worked her way up the ladder and for the last three years, she's been the chief pathologist at the institute." Michael said, listing the milestones of the subject in question.
"So what makes this so much of an emergency that we all had to cut short our pleasant evening?" Branson asked Michael's image on the screen.
The corners of Michael's lips drew up into more of a grimace than a smile. "Yeah, sorry about that," he said truthfully. "But there's had been a development that really couldn't wait." He said before continuing.
"Two days ago, President Tobias called me when he was informed that a Doctor, an epidemiologist and a senior researcher had been detained at the institute for the last three weeks. Now that wouldn't ordinarily raise a red flag on its own, because quite frankly it's none of our business. The President likely wouldn't have brought it up at all, except that shortly after those employees were interned, President Li Chinlung also made an unscheduled appearance to the facility."
"What was the significance of his visit?" Jo asked.
"Again, maybe nothing, which is why intelligence didn't see it as a priority.
"Luckily Tobias put Marella onto it to do a little further digging and she happened to come across an encrypted file which was sent by Dr Zuan more than two months ago.
"The file was mysteriously archived with the other information that came under Dr Zuan's previous intelligence from '99. It never saw light of day and we haven't managed to trace who dumped it there.
"The file is code named, Shǔ nián and if we were to take the translation literally it means Year of the Rat." Michael said, looking up from his notes again.
"You know it is currently the Chinese year of the Rat," Le said, his brain immediately overthinking, leaving the others with their own realisation.
Michael nodded, "Yes, it is and the information within the file suggests that the Chinese Government ordered their offshore companies to procure medical equipment from all over the world and ship it back to the motherland."
"Don't they make enough of their own?" Nash asked, a little surprised.
"Well you'd think so, which is why the President put a watch on our supplies, a screen on all overseas exports, has purchased surplus and stored it in Government warehouses all over the country until our supplies are adequate enough for a worst case scenario.
"What are the supplies for? Are they stockpiling for a pandemic?" Le asked.
"Stockpiling? Or purposely trying to deplete other countries?" Branson asked cynically under his breath. His mind ran along the lines of Le's idea before coming up with another, far more sinister realisation. "Are you suggesting that China have manufactured the virus for release?"
Michael shook his head. "We don't know Branson, but we assume so because the file indicates that Dr Zuan's team has been working on Gain of Function research and that the Institute was producing a vaccine for EHF." Michael said emphatically.
"What are the implications?" asked Jo with justified concern.
"They're potentially enormous depending the reasons for making something like that in the first place." Michael said in his own worried tone.
"We can't really wait for China to make a move on what they're going to do with their discovery. They're a closed state and we know that no good ever comes from that." Michael paused for a moment, the silence building the concern and figuratively drawing the group to the edge of their seats.
"That's why we've decided to get Dr Zuan and the vaccine out of there." Michael said finally.
"You've got to be kidding us!" Branson said, with an incredulous tone. He scanned the room to check the other's reaction, who unsurprisingly also looked equally shocked.
"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Michael said not showing any humour. "I don't like it either, but the fact remains that we can't go in all guns blazing especially with the Roosevelt already in the South China Sea. That ship's undoubtedly under close surveillance. Besides it doesn't have the ability to dispatch a specialised taskforce that's fast enough, with the range and VTOL capabilities to be able to get the job done." He said with vehemence.
"Get the job done? Why Michael, I think our President is rubbing off on you." Saint John said, razzing the man with his usual calm demeanour. Michael gave a half shrug in answer, his white moustache twitched as he tried to suppress an emerging grin.
Saint John understood what Michael was saying with regards to the logistics for such a mission. With Wuhan being almost smack bang in the middle of mainland China, it meant that it would be extremely difficult to get to without being noticed, even if they had the time to strategize.
And time was something they appeared to have precious little of.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but Airwolf is nowhere near mission ready and for that matter, neither are any of us. We haven't even pushed The Lady past her old parameters yet, Cait and I are the only ones with mission experience that truthfully, is limited at best. We just don't have Strings ex..."
"Yeah well, you'd better find the experience." Michael said, cutting Saint John off abruptly in his frustration. "If Nash's gift is anywhere near as good as Stringfellow Hawke's and his reputation stacks up like it does on paper, you're set up streets ahead of anything that the US Government can currently deploy. The consequences could be far more dire if we wait until it's too late."
"We're not going to risk ourselves on hearsay Michael." Nash said, speaking with authority. "There's no way Defence would send out troops ill prepared, why would you expect us to?"
"Because if we don't send you ASAP, The President will be forced to bring Defence into it and the evidence we do have to be submitted through Congress and we all know how that would go." Michael said, rolling his eyes and shaking his head at the prospect.
"We'll not pass that bill either Michael, not on the poor evidence you have currently," Branson said, continuing to defend his position. "But I'm more than happy to work with Project Guardian, the POTUS, and Raytheon and get everyone's hours up while we wait for something more credible.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I think we're done here," Branson said rising from his chair and prompting the others to also make a move.
"Richards! We have a deal!" Michael said increasing the authority in his voice and using words that could be construed as a veiled threat.
"Yes, we do, and I remember a couple of clauses in that deal... something about having us provide the suitable platform to work with and something about you engaging our services with reasonable expectations.
"Both parties are equally falling well short of those conditions, aren't they? So let's not waste any more time and instead, continue with our preparation.
"I have other business matters to attend to from tomorrow, but you know how to contact me." Branson said dismissively as the group gathered to exit the room.
"And Michael?" Branson asked, making sure he had the aging agent's attention before he left, "I trust that you'll cooperate with us and facilitate anything my team need in order to provide you with the best possible outcome for the mission should you get that evidence."
Michael knew Branson was right and conceded with a nod before Branson and the others signed off and the screens went blank.
"You owned him uncle Bran," Dale said later, as they stepped back out into the warehouse where their cars and security had been patiently waiting. Dale was always impressed with her uncle's masterful business conduct.
"Oh I don't know about that sweetheart, he started high and I was simply negotiating the terms." Branson said, as he held the door open for his niece.
Pilot theory and combat strategy continued over the next day or so in the time that Le tweaked Airwolf and built extra security into his diagnostics program so that he could ensure that any ground based support couldn't be interfered with. Not a moment was wasted during the downtime.
The next opportunity that Airwolf had to leave the ground, it was time to really run her through the ringer. Firstly, they'd go over old ground and then work up to her red line speed on the level, followed by the same test while climbing, in decent and during hard manoeuvres.
Traveling through Mach 2 was where the excitement started to build.
"There we are, we're just passing Concord speed." Saint John said as they pushed The Lady up to 80% thrust.
"Mach 2.2," Le counted off as The Lady blasted away, smooth as silk.
At Mach 2.4, the Lady started to slide around like she did when pushing beyond her old turbo cruise speed of Mach 1.4. She wasn't unmanageable, just a little loose - like a drift car.
At 90% thrust, they were great numbers it looked as though they'd gained approximately 700 miles per hour on the old girl at cruise with the same hourly fuel burn as she'd always had.
On they pushed, Airwolf's alarms went off as the inbuilt warning limiters were activated, but the crew didn't need alarms to tell them that they were hitting critical parameters. The lady shook and shuddered, losing her aerodynamic grip on the air. At twenty five thousand feet, they eased up and had plenty of time to recover from the rollercoaster before repeating the exercise with Nash as Pilot in Charge.
What Nash felt was what he could only describe as emotionally exhilarating. The chopper was so tight and sensitive to fly, that it was almost as if The Lady was reading his thoughts. Even though man and machine were working together, he wasn't all that sure which was in control.
He knew he too had now also fallen under her spell.
They headed back to base to check Airwolf over for any damage and for a debrief.
Once Le calculated the readings fed back from diagnostics, he answered some of the questions on The Lady's latest flying behaviour.
"The only way to get any more speed out of her now would be to change her design completely. Doing that of course, will mean losing her executive good looks. She'd require a complete back to the drawing board build, and she'd end up sticking out like a sore thumb and let's face it, a new Airwolf, could never be The Lady." Le said as he checked and rechecked the data.
Airwolf was checked over with a fine tooth comb and she'd weathered the turbulent flight with no ill effect.
The next two flights were also fairly non-eventful, and they gave Dale some valuable flight time. Airwolf aced her concluding assessments and easily proved to be a far superior ship in every way. As much as that was to be expected, it didn't stop the four Pilots stepping from the helicopter with the flushed and overawed look on their faces reminiscent of a child's first rollercoaster ride while they chattered away excitedly and relived every move. Dale was just disappointed that she passed out a couple of times, but the others assured her that all she needed to do was practice her breathing and muscle control so that it became habit during G-Force manoeuvres.
There was only a day left before AMRB would be due to cancel the search for Airwolf for good.
Airwolf and her crew were ready to practice battle sequences. Something that Le had also taken care of thanks to his integrated slave helmets and their ability to be able to be programmed to be used like a simulator whilst flying live. This saved on infrastructure, weapons, made it safer for the less experienced crew and for the precious machine.
Now there were some integral decisions to be made.
The most pressing one being who would crew The Lady should they go on this mission? They would need to dedicate a first tear crew to do any training that time would permit.
That decision was made sooner than expected when the group received the call from Michael, they had been both dreading, and also by some twisted paradox - eagerly awaiting.
"We've finally received the smoking gun." Michael said ominously once Branson had joined their conversation from Atlanta. "One of the operatives that President Tobias consigned to China has just turned up dead.
"But not before leaking an email that Project Guardian intercepted before going any further.
"The CCP has recruited more than a hundred thousand Daigou shoppers already working in America on a project called..." Michael paused for dramatic effect. "Shǔ nián."
